A student from Great Hearts Monte Vista South peers out of a window in the Koehler House during a tour the new owners of the house, Weston Urban, organized especially for them.A fifth-grade boy was following his gushy classmates in a line across the dining room toward a light-filled solarium when his gaze went to a fancy crystal chandelier hanging from the coffered ceiling.
“We love the idea of returning it a bit to its roots … a social gathering spot, with the potential for events and a wonderful place to have supper with your family,” said Randy Smith, president and CEO ofRandy Smith , president and CEO of Weston Urban, cheers as a bowling ball thrown by a Great Hearts Monte Vista South student rolls toward the pins in the one-lane bowling alley in the Koehler House’s basement.
As a backdrop for playtime at a classical school, the Koehler House was the perfect setting, said Monet Lessner, headmaster of the school. “They’ve been playing in the field here since kindergarten,” she said. At the bottom of the narrow stairwell, Smith asked the children to transport themselves back in time, imagine they are German and make beer for a living. “What would you put in your basement?” he asked.Three wrong guesses later, he led them to a bowling lane, murals with bowling gnomes flanking it, where each got a turn trying for a strike, Smith resetting the pins after each roll.
Up another set of stairs, Katherine Fontenot, director of construction for Weston Urban, met the students in what was once a ballroom. She led them past the prohibition era two-way glass behind a bar. “Stalker central,” said one of the kids.