Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Place.....Goetchius House Ad ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 9, 2007, 1:20 pm Source: Sesquicentennial Supplement II, Ledger- Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/goetchiu12788gph.jpg Image file size: 150.2 Kb Goetchius House Ad The 1839 Goetchius House Restaurant Established March 8, 1971 It was 1839, two years after Victoria was crowned Queen of England and one year after the first steamship crossed the Atlantic that Richard Rose Goetchius, a member of an old Dutch New York family came to Columbus and built a home for his bride. Being an architect and a builder, Goetchius supervised the construction of his home. He used heart of pine timber and cut it to his own specifications at the lumber mill he operated across the avenue from his homesite on 11th Street and 2nd Avenue. The house was designed in the popular style of the second era of New Orleans. The wide front veranda was decorated with the typical intricate iron lacework of the period. Carved double doors flanked with stained glass panels form the entrance. From the center hall double doorways open into high ceilinged parlors decorated with ornate plaster cornices and wood carvings over the portals. Chandeliers were suspended from elaborately cast plaster medallions. The Goetchius House remained in the same family until 1969. From Richard and Mary Anne Bennett Goetchius. the house passed to their daughter, Mary Goetchius McKinley, who in turn gave it to her daughter, Mary McKinley Wellborn. Later it was the home of her son, S.M. Wellborn, Jr. The Wellborns lived in it until 1924. A generation of young people in Columbus remember the house because it served as the pediatric offices of Dr. Mercer Blanchard and his son for over twenty years. In 1969, The Goetchius House was acquired by J. W. Woodruff Jr., who moved it to lower Broadway in the Historic Columbus district. The one-level house was cut into seven sections and the veranda was taken apart in order to move the sections and leave uncut the many old and stately oaks along the route. The new site of The Goetchius is shaded by giant oaks and sugarberry trees and graced with a pecan tree that was a seedling when Columbus was first laid out as a city. Here the house and veranda were reassembled and the interior restored to the beauty and splendor of the Victorian and Empire period. The Goetchius is now a fine restaurant with Continental Cuisine. The main dining rooms are named for those men who played an important part in the creation of Columbus and for whom the original six Avenues of the old city were named. They are: Oglethorpe, English general and founder of Georgia: Troup and Jackson. early Governors of Georgia; Forsyth, Governor when Columbus was chartered; Mercer, early philanthropist in education and Mcintosh, half-breed Chief of the Lower Creeks and friend of the settlers. The Captain's Table is in the lower level and it serves traditional southern dishes. The Out-Building is a period structure similar to those known to have stood behind the original home. It was customary to have servants quarters and service buildings located in the gardens of large town houses. Historic Columbus District 405 Broadway Columbus, Georgia People visiting The Goetchius discover for themselves the charm and grace of the antebellum era expressed in the elegance of this early nineteenth century structure transformed to modern usage. Its atmosphere reflects the warm hospitality of the Old South and offers a view of the Chattahoochee a river of poetry and song. Special Sesquicentennial Supplement II Ledger- Enquirer, Sunday, April 23, 1978, pg S-3 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/goetchiu12788gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 4.2 Kb