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 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 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.

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 verandah were reassembled and the interior restored to the beauty and splendor of the Victorian and Empire period.

The Goetchius was purchased by Werner Bludau in 1979. The home is now a fine restaurant serving an exquisite Continental Cuisine.

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.

People visiting The Goetchius discover for themselves the charm and grace of the ante-bellum 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.