New owners of historic Goetchius House want to make it a ‘home for everybody.’ Here’s how
The 182-year-old Goetchius House has new owners with a set of ambitious plans.
Matthew Lapides and Renata Martoni purchased the more than 8,500 square foot home in the city’s historic district with its wide entry hall, high ceilings and ornamental medallions for $436,000 in August and got right to work with renovations and repairs.
The couple currently resides in the Miami area, but they’ll soon live in Columbus. It won’t be at the Goetchius House. Other potential buyers wanted the home to be a private residence, but Lapides and Martoni said the concept wasn’t for them. They wanted to open the house to all of Columbus.
As workers hauled off layers of old flooring from the basement, Lapides and Martoni sat in the front parlor and spoke of their vision.
If all goes according to plan, visitors will be able to attend a rotating series of events such as yoga, candle making or cooking classes. The sounds of local and national music acts will grace the property. Diners will be served colorful meals from a Mediterranean-inspired menu at the home’s full-time restaurant.
There will be a boutique children’s toy store, a cafe, homemade ice creamery, indoor and outdoor activity space, artisanal retail items, and wine and beer services, too.
You could even spend the night. Four suites and an outdoor cottage will be available for booking. As it has in the past, the home will host weddings and receptions and other celebrations. Though it will be called 405 Broadway, the Goetchius House sign on the front porch will remain.
The end goal is to provide those who step through the front door with experiences they’ll never forget and to nourish the city with creative ideas.
“That sort of is what (405 Broadway) is about,” Martoni said. “To make this house here a home for everybody to enjoy.”
Columbus ‘just really felt like home’
Lapides and Martoni first visited Columbus three or four years ago. Their oldest son went through boot camp at Fort Benning, and when they attended his graduation, the couple became enamored with the city.
“It’s really with the people — how cordial, how polite,” Lapides said. “All the great features it has with the opera house and theater, baseball team, the river and outdoor activities and a village without brand names. It just really felt like home.”
Columbus popped back into their lives about six months ago when Martoni sent her husband a link to the real estate listing for the Goetchius House. She told Lapides about her ideas, and he thought about it for a few days. They came to look at the home, and Martoni immediately pictured the layouts of the rooms.
That sort of thing comes naturally for Martoni, who worked as a specialized interior designer for more than 30 years in Brazil and the United States.
Lapides, a self-described renaissance man from Annapolis, Maryland, has a background in finance and is a state-licensed general contractor. He’s the founder of Ethos Private Wealth and Casa Tua Construction Group.
Martoni and Lapides purchased the home from Mark Cantrell, a member of the Muscogee County School Board. Cantrell told the Ledger-Enquirer that it was “bittersweet” to sell the property.
“It was kind of spontaneous to see the house but it did take a lot of due diligence,” Lapides said. “We didn’t just jump in haphazardly. We took a good two months, maybe longer than the Cantrells wanted, to really make sure we knew what we were walking into.”
‘Everybody had a story’
Everyone seems to have a memory of the Goetchius House.
As Lapides and Martoni oversee repairs, contractors or random folks off the street pop their heads in the open front doors to share their connections to the home.
An air conditioner repairman recalled a decade of Christmas parties. A landscaper reminisced about his wedding party. Someone remembered a prom nearly three decades ago. An arborist remembered fine-dining experiences.
“Everybody had a story,” Lapides said. “Everyone had a piece of history. ...There was not a single person we spoke to that did not have an endearing story about being here at a milestone event in their life.”
Built less than a decade after the city was established, the home has long been part of Columbus’ story. Richard Rose Goetchius built it for his bride, a Southern belle named Mary Anne Bennett. He arrived in the city to be an architect and builder, and the home’s design was modeled after New Orleans’ Garden District.
Its original location was on the corner of present-day Second Avenue and 11th Street. Today, that corner is a parking lot.
In 1969, James Woodruff Jr. had the antebellum home cut into pieces and moved from 204 11th St. to 405 Broadway, setting it atop a brick basement. In 1971, he opened the Goetchius House restaurant. Woodruff died in 1976.
Werner Bludau bought the building in 1980, and the restaurant became Bludau’s Goetchius House. But eventually, the business fell on hard times.
The Cantrells purchased the home in 2012, and now, Martoni and Lapides hope to create new memories for Columbus residents.
Events, classes, food and more
The couple hopes to host a series of 50 to 75 rotating events at the home geared towards kids, couples, seniors and everyone in between.
A list of events Lapides mentioned includes:
Special chef meals for limited seating with discussion
Painter/portraits classes
Culinary classes / international cooking
Instructional meditations
Life classes/workshops
Dance classes
Theater/drama classes
Enrichment workshops, including corporate programming
Book readings/book club
Movie nights
Puppet shows/performers
Etiquette/finishing classes for children
“We’re going to rely on Columbus to bring us ideas,” Lapides said, encouraging residents to reach out once their website goes live.
One of the first events at the home will feature photographer Michael O’Neill, whose more than 50-year journalism career includes work at outlets such as New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Esquire, Time and others.
O’Neill found yoga after a spinal surgery left him paralyzed in one arm, and his 2015 book “On Yoga: The Architecture of Peace” is a photographic tribute to the discipline. It was turned into a documentary by the same name in 2017. O’Neill will host an exhibit of his images and talk about his yoga journey.
Music events will be a staple at the home as the couple has family in the industry. Martoni’s cousin is a well-known Brazilian-American guitarist and vocalist Rafael Moreira.
The home’s restaurant will be headed by chef Eduardo Neto Ferraro who most recently worked in fine dining in Savannah, Georgia. The Mediterranean-influenced menu will feature some familiar items. Some will likely be new to diners, but it will all have a special twist.
There will be ice cream as well. The couple plans to partner with a “really well known” boutique, but would not name the business. The sweet cold treats will pair well with a grassy, family play area towards the back of the property.
“Our vision is really having (405 Broadway) as a hub or center point of activities, experiences, and entrepreneurship for Columbus and beyond,” Lapides said.
If things go according to plan, 405 Broadway could open in winter 2021 or early 2022. But the COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to get certain supplies and workers needed.
“We really want to open the doors for folks,” Lapides said. “I think we saw this as our opportunity to make an impact with something special. Our opportunity to grab this thing … and let us do what our vision is for the betterment of the community.”
Ledger-Enquirer archives were used in this report.
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 1:45 PM.