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When Tom Betti was looking for a home in 2006, his love for history helped him find his home in the Hartman Loft Condominiums building. He was looking for a home that was unique and different. When he was doing an internship, he often walked past the building and had seen it in disrepair and wondered “what it would have been like back in the day.” He wanted to find out the story of the building. Dr. Samuel B. Hartman built the hotel in 1898 as an extension of the patient rooms for the smaller Surgical Hotel next door and in 1901, it opened to the public for hotel stays. The building had various uses over the years, and in 2005 it was converted to the Hartman Loft Condominiums that it is today, housing about sixty residents.
Tom lives in his condo with his two dogs, Hugo, a Boston Terrier and Samuel, a Pug. The 720 square foot, one bedroom, one bathroom condo has plenty of room for them. Tom’s favorite thing about his condo is its original Mahogany Wood Ceiling – his condo was a section of hotel’s bar/gentlemen’s smoking room over 100 years ago. He also likes the exposed brick. The modern feel of the hard wood and brick, combined with the historical elements really sold him on the building.
Because he signed on to the building early, he was able to pick out all of the furnishings and cabinets. The kitchen is a beautiful, bold red design from IKEA. He also opted to keep an open feel to the space, by changing what was to be a closet in the living room to a bookcase. He also opted to put in a built-in wardrobe.
His condo has a modern contemporary feel, or as he calls it “Tom’s Taste.” He likes to shop at Crate & Barrel, EQ3, Boltz Steel Furniture and IKEA. He has also picked up a few Hartman artifacts from The Grandview Mercantile. He has been able to find several postcards, dinnerware, a soup ladle and a sugar bowl from the hotel.
Tom is hosting a Progressive Dinner Party for this year’s City Hop. He also serves as a Board Member for the Columbus Landmarks Foundation. If you’d like to read more about the history of the Hartman Building, Tom wrote a nice piece for the City Hop Online Magazine. You can find the story on page 63. You can find out more information about the Hartman Loft Condominium building here. They currently have units available on the 5th and 6th floors, ranging from $155,000 to $350,000. Photos courtesy Tom Betti.
love the curved brick casing around the windows.
Very cool space! All of the exposed brick is really nice.
I think the Hartman Lofts building is a bit of a hidden gem in the Downtown condo market. Their website shows a variety of units available in the sub-$200 range:
http://www.hartmanlofts.com/prices/
Agreed, such a great building. Still kicking myself for not getting the last studio they had when I was looking. DUMB :(
Tom’s place is great, much more spacious than you’d imagine for 720sq ft. And his TV doesn’t give migraines, heehee :)
I love the Hartman Lofts building. Particularly the bricks, the ceiling, and the extra long windows. If I moved downtown, it would probably be my top pick.
Once Dirty Frank’s opens just across the street, it will be that much more appealing. The units are all beautiful.
Love the red IKEA furnishings, really makes his unit unique.
the Hartman is a great building in our little hood,
the nice thing about our end of downtown is that’s possible to develop units that are much more within financial reach of people.
The Renaissance had some of the best prices of any of the condo projects and no surprise it sold very very quickly.
The Ohio Lofts also have great spaces and I believe will be on the cIty Hop this year.
As cool as these lofts are, this depresses the crap out of me. The top floor of the Hartman used to include a VERY fancy ballroom, with amazing ceiling and wall murals, mirrors, and light fixtures. The folks who own Valley View had bought it and were fixing it up to be another banquet/vent location. I actually had my wedding reception up there and it was absolutely an amazing space.
Does anyone know what they’ve done with the top floor? Is the ballroom still there?
The ballroom is gone.
I met Tom during a progressive dinner at the Hartman Lofts, because my good friend lives there. First, the building is amazing. We were able to visit several homes and the uniqueness to each, but the common thread of exposed brick and original fixtures, was really cool to see.
(And Tom is a total rockstar!)
Great article. Tom’s place is S-W-A-N-K. His remote-controlled ”blackout” window shades are awesome too.
The older pic of the Hartman reminds me: why don’t places have awnings anymore? Is it because of UV glass? The newer pic shows a few awnings, but not as many.
Awnings are so attractive.
Yes, Tom has made himself a nice spot.
Many of us here at the Hartman wished that we could keep the ballroom as it was, but that wish was not feasible. The ballroom area has been ‘re-purposed’, converted into individual units. The beautifully ornate ceiling of the ballroom, from what I remember of the ideas for that floor, was to be covered with a false celing below it, minimizing the need to permanently destroy it. However, I’m not sure whether this idea was put into action.
I still have hopes that it might one day be feasible to re-purpose the roof into a rooftop garden and common area, despite the lack of positive signs for that to occur.
Awnings can be attractive. I prefer to be able to see out of my own windows in all directions, however, so I’m happy that there are no awnings on my own part of the building. I do like the way the awnings look now, at the base of the building, where the upward view might not be as important. The UV glass probably does a good job at filtering out the UV rays, but it doesn’t keep the sun from blaring through the windows in the brighter parts of the day, which keeps my own place filled with light. I like that.
I preferred the Hartman over the Rennaissance, because the Hartman is situated in a spot that seems, to me, to be more open to possibility. The history of the building and the mixed-modern style was also far more appealing to me, as was the multi-leveled building community concept. However, from what I remember, the Rennaissance has a better parking situation.
We went to Dirty Frank’s for lunch yesterday, and since we had a 20 minute wait for a table, we decided to head across the street to check out one of the model units in the Hartman Building during their standard weekend open house.
We looked at the 1457 sqft 2br2a unit on the 5th floor. Floorplan. Very cool condo, and felt really spacious for 1500 sq ft. Loved the large windows facing south and west looking both towards German Village and the Riverfront. Would have a pretty nice view of the fireworks for Red White & Boom from there. On the Hartman website, the price is listed at $349k, but the Realtor there said it was $298k and includes 2 parking spots in their secure lot behind the building.
Anyway, I just wanted to mention this in case anyone else is looking to kill a few minutes during a wait at Dirty Frank’s and the model is open for touring. Very cool historical building, and some of the architectural details are great. Worth stopping in to check this place out. :D