This historic home in Coleman Highlands has an unusual history – it’s only had three owners since it was built in 1910. Realtor Dan Martin says that’s extremely rare. Even more rare is the fact that Dan’s mother, Julie Koppen, grew up in the house that he’s now selling. The family gathered at a recent open house. Front row: Gwen Koppen (Dan’s grandmother), Julie Koppen (Dan’s mother) who is holding Madison Martin (Dan’s daughter), Melissa Martin (Dan’s wife) is wearing the skirt. Back row: Jim Gottsch (Julie’s husband), Dan Martin.
The sturdy Arts & Crafts style three-story home at 910 West 33rd Street has hosted generations of families. But instead of residents moving in and out every ten years or so, the families that have lived here have simply stayed put. So much so that, with the home now on the market, it’s current and past owners know the stories of the three families who have lived in it.
At a recent open house, realtor Dan Martin was able to speak with great authority about the home in the Coleman Highlands neighborhood. That’s because his mother Julie Koppen and her four siblings grew up in it. “It’s almost unheard of for a house to have only three owners,” he said. “Most 20–year-old houses have had three at least.” And if Dan or Julie did not remember something about the house, Dan’s grandmother and Julie’s mother Gwen Koppen was there to fill in the details.
The Coleman Highlands home has the original bathroom and woodwork which has never been painted.
She says she and her husband Bill bought the house from the niece of the original family who owned the house from the time it was built until 1961. Although she remembers, “the first time we walked in, it had ugly red velvet drapes,” Koppen appreciates the fact that the woodwork had never been painted. The Koppens had been living north of Parkville, and they were thrilled to find such a house in a neighborhood full of young families attracted by nearby Redemptorist Catholic Church, which back then had a high school.
Coleman has always been known as a close neighborhood with a strong neighborhood organization. “ When we moved in, there wasn’t a homeowners association, but Bill and some other men got one started. It made a huge difference,” Koppen says. Over the years, the group fought for many improvements to the area, including maintaining the restriction that homes in the neighborhood must remain single family. Koppen says there was always a neighborhood issue to be involved in.
“They say you can’t fight city hall. But I moved in here and I found out you can fight city hall– every day,” she says.
In 1993, Koppen moved out of the home, but stayed in Coleman Highlands. “Coleman is a microcosm of what the world should be,” she says of the neighborhood.
When she and her husband were ready to sell the home, they didn’t need to look far. Family friends the Molini’s were looking for a place, and they became the third and final owners, until now.
When Dan Martin listed the house, he did research on its history and learned it was designed by Architect Horace LaPierre, dubbed by Wikipedia as the “eccentric French architect” who designed Epperson House at 5200 Cherry. Epperson also did the original design for the Liberty Memorial.
Martin says the open house brought back many old family friends and new neighbors. He’s confident the right buyer is out there. “I’m looking for a wonderful family who will stay in Coleman Highlands forever.”
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