Legacy House: Moody Nolan is giving away houses to families in need in Columbus and more

Over the years, Moody Nolan has designed some large, high-profile structures — from Huntington Park and the OhioHealth headquarters in Columbus, to Wintrust Arena in Chicago, to the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

But these days, it's a different kind of project that officials at the Columbus-based architecture firm are excited about. 

Known as the Legacy House Project, it started a few years ago in the Linden neighborhood when Moody Nolan offered a mortgage-free home to a low-income family who couldn't afford to buy one but who still had the means to maintain it.

That first home was completed in 2019, and plans call for 10 more in other cities where the company has offices: Cleveland and Cincinnati in Ohio as well as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York City and Washington, D.C.

The next house currently underway is in Nashville. 

CEO Jonathan Moody, 37, said the idea came from the firm's founder and Moody's father, Curt Moody. While reviewing charitable donations a few years ago, he said the company should build a house and give it to someone in need. 

"We thought that maybe it was a combination of him looking at the numbers for the year about all of our charitable giving and watching too much HGTV," Jonathan Moody said. "I think there was a tiny home show that was popular at the time.

"He wanted our charitable work to not just be ... you spend money on a golf outing, buy a table at an event or you do something here and there," he continued. "Because our work is so tangible, I think there was just a little disappointment and not having anything to show for all of the commitments we've made."

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Creating a legacy

Moody Nolan partnered with more than 25 organizations for the project, including the Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, Kohler and Fifth Third Bank. 

The Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority donated two residential lots, while the YMCA of Central Ohio and Southeast Inc. chose the family who received the house. (The family wishes to remain anonymous.) 

Jonathan Moody said it took about 14 months to create a plan for the Legacy House Project and work with construction partners to complete the first house.

The CEO said the process took longer than expected partly because it was more scaled down than bigger projects the firm usually undertakes, such as a school, a library, or a sports arena. Plus, each architect had a different vision of what the house should look like, he said. Plans for aspects such as roofing, windows and flooring often were changing. 

"When you've got a whole team of architects ... we keep changing our mind. We've got strong opinions," he said. "And then we had never done anything like this. So, there was a little bit of getting over the hump of too many cooks in the kitchen."

Project Coordinator Christian Joosse was part of the design concept team for the early development of the house's interior. She said it was great to be able to focus more on detail and functionality for the project. 

What started out as 600 square feet for the Columbus house expanded to 750, with three bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms and a family room. The house features an extended outdoor living area and garden as well.

Jonathan Moody said keeping the house relatively small was an important factor during the process. 

"There's a lot of interesting discussions right now — and especially in the Midwest — about space," he said. "I think a lot of people are questioning the value of space in these times now that we've been working from home for so long. 

"It helped us to sort through a lot of that, like, how could we get the most of that space instead of trying to build it as big as possible." 

Joosse and the team of more than 100 people helped create the nonprofit entity of the Legacy House Project and handled donations for furniture, clothing and toys. Joosse said they had about two weeks to design the interior of the house. 

"We were able to obtain a little bit of information, especially from the kids, such as their favorite color, what kind of characters they like, those type of things," she said. "And the age range to make sure we're providing something that was age appropriate."

What's next?

With the Columbus home completed, Moody Nolan currently is constructing the second Legacy House in Nashville. Jonathan Moody said the house design will be similar and also include three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The project does not have a completion date yet due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. 

The third house will be in Chicago and is being designed, Joosse said. 

Jonathan Moody said seeing the Legacy House Project come to fruition has been great — but scary at the same time due to more people needing affordable housing during the pandemic. He hopes the initiative will inspire other architecture firms to do something similar. 

"My dad talks about a drop in the ocean that creates waves," he said. "And there's such a great need and people who don't have things like this ... that it can become overwhelming. But we've said over and over that our goal is not to solve the whole problem, it's just to do what we can. And so the excitement part was like, 'Hey, we were able to do something.'"

mwalker@dispatch.com

@micah_walker701