LOVING Lakebottom

As your calendar fills up with special activities this December, make sure to reserve time for the Holiday Tour of Homes. Not only will you get to admire festive and fabulous holiday decorations, you’ll get the chance to go behind the closed doors of some of Columbus’ most beautiful and historic private homes.

This year the tour returns to Lakebottom, a residential area of Midtown that was built in the early 20th century around the city’s oldest park—called at various times Wildwood Park, Weracoba Park or Lakebottom Park.

The towering trees in Lakebottom create quiet, shady streets that are lined with houses of all styles and sizes. There are Craftsman-style bungalows, two-story traditionals and English cottages. Mature yards and gardens are meticulously maintained and the people of Lakebottom are passionate about living in Columbus’ “best” neighborhood.

Six generous and adventurous Lakebottom residents will open up their homes the first weekend of December to help raise money for Historic Columbus, a non-profit organization that works to preserve the city’s wonderful past. At each stop, visitors will be treated to live musical entertainment provided by students and faculty at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music. There’ll be something different at each house—vocalists, French horns, guitars, a jazz combo or a harpist— all performing holiday music.

As the homeowners began planning their displays, we asked them to give us a sneak peek.

When Justin Krieg was asked if hed open his home for the Tour, he couldn’t very well say, no. He’s a preservationist for Historic Columbus, and understands better than most why it’s important to both share the city’s treasures and support the organization.

A glimpse of what you will see at the Kreigs' home

Justin and Katie plan to use lots of greenery and natural decorations this holiday season. “We both love the smell of a real Christmas tree in the house” Justin said. “I have memories as a kid of picking out Christmas trees and trying to get the biggest one possible to fit in the house. My parents’ home still has marks on the ceiling from the top of the tree scraping the ceiling”

Justin says the family’s outdoor decorations have evolved in recent years. The display was rather sparse until Katie started complaining about it a couple years ago. That year, just before Thanksgiving, some large boxes were left on the front porch. “Now when you turn on our street you can see our house from the end of the block” Justin said. “My neighbors jokingly said they might have to put tin foil on their windows to get to sleep” Neighbors take note: the Krieg house holds the current title in Lakebottom for Best Light Display.

Five-year-old George Krieg will be helping his dad with those lights, and two-year-old Witt will help decorate the tree. The Kriegs like traditional decorations, but say theyd rather spend the holidays focusing on family time than creating a picture postcard display.

The Krieg house is a 1924 Craftsman-style bungalow built by E.S. Gates for the Pulliam family. There have been a number of renovations and additions over the years. One of the couple’s favorite features is an enormous wall map that has been there for at least the last three owners. With pushpins, Justin and Katie keep track of their travels and dream about future trips.

This wall map offers the Krieg family the opportunity to mark places they've travelled.

The Kriegs love living in Lakebottom because of its true neighborhood feel: sidewalks, big trees, the park, great neighbors. “On any given afternoon our boys are playing with a handful of neighborhood kids in someone’s front yard” Justin said. “I hope the tour gives people a taste of the charm this historic Columbus neighborhood has to offer”

The first thing you’ll notice at the Smith home on 18th Avenue will be the scent of Christmas. Carolyn Smith says she’s looking forward to filling both her house and her yard with as much fresh greenery as she can find.

“I may have to pillage my neighbors’ yards” she joked. “But it just looks so much prettier than artificial greenery”

The Christmas tree will hold many of the homemade ornaments the couple’s children made over the years. The Smiths have grown twin daughters and an 11-year-old son. Carolyn has spent the past couple months scouring the Internet for decorations appropriate to the era of their 1923-built house. She discovered candles and greenery were widely used during the holidays, which will fit nicely with her preference for traditional decor.

Carolyn says she’s excited to be able to put lights outside for only the second time since buying the house. “I finally got an outlet installed outside, and I guess I got a little crazy with the lights last year” she said. “Not Chevy-Chase-in-Christmas-Vacation crazy, but a little crazy”

The Smith home is a classic brick Craftsman-style bungalow, with dentil molding details outlining the eaves and gables. It was built for Prentiss D. Neal, and remained in the Neal family for almost 60 years. After renovations to the kitchen and the addition of a detached garage, the Smiths bought the home in 2012. The house still has original lighting fixtures, crystal doorknobs and working transom windows. It has a characteristically large and lazy front porch, and Carolyn likes nothing better than to sit on the porch swing and watch families enjoying the park across the street.

Carolyn is looking forward to the tour, saying she loves to have people over to visit. And she jokes that being asked to be part of the tour will cross one more thing off her bucket list. “I got Yard of the Month, and now I’m on the Holiday Tour of Homes—all of my Lakebottom dreams have come true!”

If the Johnsons are scrambling to put finishing touches on their holiday decor as you ring the bell, try not to be too critical. They’ve been awfully busy restoring the house next door.

Yes, the Johnsons now own two, side-by-side Lakebottom homes. When their elderly neighbor passed away, they worried what would become of the beautiful old home. Rather than watch it fall into the wrong hands, they bought it themselves, and are now giving it a major facelift. Toney Johnson is a carpenter and is doing the work himself, just as he did in their own home.

The brick bungalow was built in 1929 for W. C. Davidson. It’s an excellent example of Craftsman architecture with clipped gables, half-timbering and knee braces at the eaves. In the four years the Johnsons have lived there, they’ve remodeled the kitchen, added a bathroom, side porch, arbor and pool, and rebuilt the old carriage house, even to the point of making its roofline match that of the main house.

Inside, Cheryl has dressed up the house with traditional furnishings. She has some antiques, and bought some period lamps that her neighbor had owned. The Johnsons also brought home a big outdoor dinner bell that’s now used to call the grandchildren inside for supper.

Cheryl is drawn to the character of older homes. The first house she bought was in Lakebottom, not far from St. Elmo. Later, she and Toney renovated a shotgun house in the downtown Historic District. But with each new grandchild, the house grew smaller and smaller, and they eventually returned to Lakebottom.

“I love this neighborhood” she said. “It’s quiet and quaint, and there are always children playing outside. I love listening to the Columbus High School band practicing two blocks away. And with the park so close, it’s a great place to take all the grandbabies to wear them out”

Cheryl’s not yet worried about her lack of plans for the tour. “We work well under pressure” she said. And if all else fails, she’s got the pros at Ann’s Porch on standby.

You’ll see Christmas trees at most of the houses on the tour, but they’ll be nothing like what you’ll see at the Stewarts’ house. “Ours is a metal tree made with pieces cut from the tops of steel drums” Leigh Stewart described. “It’s all different colors—red, yellow, green, orange, purple. We’ll put lights on it. It’s very different”

“We don’t do Christmas like everybody else does” Jon confirmed.

The tree will hold heirloom family ornaments and some of Leigh’s favorite childhood ornaments.

Outside, there’ll be lights on the trees and bushes, and a spotlight on the super-sized wreath gracing the home’s towering chimney. Every year Jon climbs a tall ladder to put it in place. “I usually have to move it several times to get the ribbon to hang exactly where Leigh wants it” he said.

Keep an eye out for wreaths in unusual places, too. Jon’s an avid sailor, and each of the decorative sailboats in the house will sport a holiday wreath. Leigh says there’ll be “a little bit of Christmas in every room”

The architectural style of the Stewarts’ home is English Vernacular Revival. One of the characteristics of that style is so-called “weeping mortar” joints, where masons slather extra mortar on the brick and then press down to make some of it ooze out. The architectural element was popular in the first half of the 20th century.

Jon and
Leigh Stewart 1608 Springer Street

It was built for Mr. and Mrs. Roy Burns in 1929, just a few years after the city of Columbus bought Wildwood Park and drained the lake that was its centerpiece. The home’s exterior is detailed with a prominent front gable and chimney and an arched front door. When the Stewarts bought the house in 1994, they became only the second owners to ever live in it. Since then they’ve made significant improvements, including removing some walls to open up living spaces, enlarging bathrooms and adding crown molding throughout the main floor.

Out back is a patio worth noting. Jon, who retired two years ago from Boral Brick in Phenix City, laid pavers that were custom-cut in the shape of dog bones. (Be sure to say hi to Walter the beagle if he’s allowed to stay for the tour!)

Pete Battiato has lived in Lakebottom longer than most. He’s been in this house on 17th Avenue for 25 years.

Pete says he usually goes “all out” decorating for the holidays. The decorations will be very traditional, with lots of greenery and a Christmas tree with lights and ornaments from his own childhood.

Pete Battiato and John Land
1605 17th Avenue

A local businessman, Robert M. Lewis, and Columbus architect F. Roy Duncan built Pete and John’s small cottage in 1925. The first residents of the home were Hilda and Saul Hertz. Judge and Mrs. Homer G. Suggs lived in the home for 35 years, enclosing the side porch and adding a small side addition. Pete bought the cottage in 1990. He appreciates some of its original features, like its pine paneling.

The home’s architectural style is English Vernacular Revival like the Stewarts, including weeping mortar.

Pete and John walk two miles every morning, so their location just a block from the park is perfect. They like that the neighborhood is quiet, yet convenient to everything.

Pete’s happy to have guests in his home for the tour, and hopes they won’t mind the close quarters. “I used to live in the Historic District and was on the tour once there. But that was a much larger house. This is just a little cottage. It will be a new experience!”

Although Jack and Fontaine Jenkins’ three boys are now teenagers, they’re still at the center of the family’s holiday traditions. Seventeen-year-old William, 15-year-old Jack and 13-year-old Sutton will all pitch in to decorate this year, hanging lots of wreaths and garlands.

“All fresh, nothing fake,” Jack said. The big Christmas tree will be covered in ornaments the kids have made and collected over the years. There’ll be some lights outside, but Jack says it will be understated. “When the boys were younger, we did a lot of lights. It was kind of tacky, but they liked it so much. Now we’ve tamed it down a bit.”

The Jenkins’ Greek Revival bungalow was built in 1910 as a guesthouse on the Wildwood estate, which was the home of Anna Leonard and Louis F. Garrard dating back to 1831. The estate was divided up in the 1920s and the family continued to live there until 1960, but the guesthouse sat empty and covered in vines for 30 years. Frances and Hugh Royer eventually brought it back to life, and in 1999, the Jenkins bought it from the Royers. They’ve since done extensive remodeling, including adding a second floor, two porches and a laundry room, and opening up walls to create larger living spaces. Jack, an architect, says the work may never be done. “There’s always something. We like a project.”

The couple has also preserved many of the 105-year-old home’s original features, including a unique metal mantle in the living room, pine floors and a pair of old pine doors that can be opened only with an old, 10-inch skeleton key.

Jack, who serves on the board of Historic Columbus, says he probably didn’t have much choice when he was asked to open his home for the tour. But he says he’s happy to do what he can to help the organization so that it can continue to protect and preserve historic homes like his.

The 2015 Tour of Homes event kicks off Saturday, December 5, with a holiday concert at St. Elmo, 7 to 9 p.m. On Sunday, December 6, there’ll be a brunch at the Country Club of Columbus, followed by the Tour of Homes between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.

St. Elmo will be the site of the Holiday Concert that kicks off Historic Columbus' weekend of events.

You’ll be able to shop for unique gifts at the Mistletoe Market also held at the Country Club. One bonus stop will be the garden of Margaret Lewis on Garrard St., where tourists may stop and enjoy light refreshments and music performed by CSU students. For ticket information for all events, visit HistoricColumbus.com.