Renovated home's modern touches on display in German Village Haus und Garten Tour

Seth Whitlow, 42, is a nurse anesthetist; and his husband Todd Barrett, 40, is a doctor.

Whitlow is originally from North Carolina and Barrett is originally from Kansas. The two met in Los Angeles. They've been together for seven years and married for four, but they don't mark their milestones by the years.

They mark them by the art.

"We usually try to, rather than presents for major occasion, do artwork for each other," Barrett said.

The two have taken their passion for midcentury modernism and LGBTQ artwork into renovating their home for the 61st Haus und Garten Tour. The tour has taken place since 1960, and is the longest running event of its kind in Columbus.

The two visited German Village in 2019, not expecting to find a home of their own, as they already had a house in the Short North.

"We come down and walk around German Village to see different streets and different homes," Whitlow said. "And we turn the corner and see an open house sign. We literally just walked in and we were like 'Oh this house has a lot of potential.'"

The house, on Jackson Street, was completed in 1870 shortly after the Civil War.

Whitlow and Barrett bought the house in November 2019 and began planning the renovation, moving into a studio apartment in Franklinton  while the work was being done.

However, once the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, their plans, like everyone else's in the world, faced delays. The German Village Commission shut down, and the couple's planned six-month renovation turned into a year.

"We were so lucky that we started when we did," Whitlow said.

The two lived in the studio apartment for the entirety of the renovation, and even though it didn't go according to plan, they were able to finish the renovation unscathed.

"We didn't divorce," Whitlow said.

Originally a duplex, the two renovated the home into a 2,100-square-foot, three-bedroom, 2½-bath home. They even put in a hot tub, swimming pool and a pool house.

"We bought it for the yard, essentially," Barrett said. "Being from California and going to Palm Springs a lot, if we're going to be in Columbus for the six months you can have it, we wanted a pool."

Barrett describes their home as midcentury modern Palm Springs meets historic, decorated with the artwork the two have accumulated throughout their relationship and individual lives. The artwork includes a custom-made painting of Columbus drag icon Nina West by artist Hank Hudson.

The two blended their midcentury modern style while also maintaining the original historic aesthetic of the home. They kept the original floor plan and updated the flooring to match the original wood. They exposed as much brick as they could and only added more space to make an upstairs bathroom.

"We just decided that if we could add this other bathroom that we really didn't need more space," Barrett said. "We ended up doing more of the aesthetics with the pool. We have a pretty good sense of our style and picking the finishes mixed with the architect's (contributions)."

Creative EdgeWorks used walnut for the countertops and added a 30-foot stairwell complete with the original skylight. The original front entry stoop is near the entrance to the backyard.

The two enjoyed the process of renovating the home together and have thought about continuing it wherever their next chapter takes them.

"We like to live life in 5-year chunks," Barrett said. "We've thought about (renovating), but I don't know that we want to move from here. This was sort of our test to see if we could not kill each other and liked doing it."

Though they enjoyed the design portion, they were just as involved with the renovation process.

"We really like designing, not for other people just for ourselves," Whitlow said. "We find  that fun. We did the pool house, we did everything ourselves in the closet that's upstairs. In the guest bedroom, me and Todd did all the construction work, made the closet. Everything from the the trim to the countertops, to the tile, to the drywall, to the wallpaper to the floor, me and Todd did all of it because we just like doing it."

As for the day of the tour, Whitlow is excited that the event is back after two years, and that the couple will have a special guest.

"Todd's mom is coming," Whitlow said. "We're going to take her on the tour ... I'm very proud of what we've done, but I'm also just excited to see other people's houses."

While the thought of people walking through their house is a little nerve-wracking, they know this event is one of the biggest fundraisers the German Village Society puts on.

"It raises a lot of money for the Historical Society," Whitlow said. "It's good for the upkeep of the community."

Their love for German Village and each other has only grown throughout this process.

"We just really love German Village," Barrett said. "We thought that however long we're going to be in Columbus, this is where we're going to be. We decided rather than getting a house that's mostly done, we bought a cheaper house and sort of made it our style."

David Kwiatkowski is a features intern for The Columbus Dispatch. You can reach him on Twitter @kwiatkdm or his email dkwiatkowski@gannett.com.

If you go

The 61st German Village Haus und Garten Tour, presented by the German Village Society, will begin with the pre-tour at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Tickets for the pre-tour start at $100, which includes a preview tour of the 14 homes and an invitation to a cocktail party. For $175, guests get both the preview tour and cocktail party and an additional invitation to either a private dinner party or a "Party on the Platz." 

The tour will take place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets cost $25. For $50, guests can purchase an Autobahn ticket, which allows them to skip any line. 

For more information on ticket packages and parking, visit the German Village Society's www.germanvillage.com 

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: German Village Haus & Garten Tour: Historic homes, modern renovations