Sia Etemadi: Collaboration and communication, with a little artistic vision, can transform neighborhoods
Uptown Columbus in the early 1980s was, in many ways, not an attractive neighborhood. Blighted, dilapidated and almost hopeless, it is easy, 30 years later, to take for granted the area’s transformation into a show-piece historic district full of colorful homes and businesses. But real people, guided by their individual visions and willingness to collaborate, made the remarkable transformation possible. One of those people is Sia Etemadi.
After two years at Columbus College, Etemadi moved to Auburn, where he studied architecture. He came to architecture through his interest in art. While taking photos for a class project in 1982, he fell in love with the old homes of the historic district.
“The beauty catches you first,” he says. “You start daydreaming.”
After graduating from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1984, with a thesis on revitalizing downtown Columbus, Etemadi began making those daydreams real. He returned to Columbus and purchased the Captain Charles Blank House at 501 2nd Avenue, inaugurating his long career transforming Columbus into a more beautiful, safe and friendlier place to live.
Etemadi is not an architect. He is a designer, which he sees as an artistic pursuit. Since 1984, Etemadi has lent his artistic eye to some 150 Historic District homes, a career that has transformed the neighborhood and brought him dozens of awards and honors, including at least a dozen recognitions for outstanding contribution in the field of historic preservation by the Historic Columbus Foundation. For Etemadi, the mission is about people.
“If you like the structures and the people,” he says, finding ways to bring a community together are natural. Whether working with neighbors to contribute time and “sweat equity” to a particular house, or organizing yard sales to raise money for community reinvestment, Etemadi’s energies have been integral to the steady remodeling of Uptown Columbus into the community we enjoy today.
Etemadi’s mark is not limited to Uptown. Working with established architectural firms and eventually his own company, Etemadi’s designs can be seen across our community and the country. Most notably, the Sun Trust building on First Avenue is his work. He also designed many other Sun Trust banks in Columbus, including the buildings at Bradley Park, Cross Country Plaza and 13th Street. Many of the United Artists movie theaters are his design, too.
But Etemadi’s focus is always at home. From his 2nd Avenue loft office, in an old school building he owns, surrounded by pictures of his family and sketchbooks, blueprints and art, Etemadi’s energies are concentrated on the community. Even as he continues with various plans to improve Uptown, including burying power lines to help beautify the district, his eye is moving south to other neighborhoods in need of vision and engagement. At the moment, he looks to South Lumpkin Road.
Etemadi sees parallels between South Lumpkin Road today and the Uptown he moved to in the 80s. There are charming homes throughout, and there’s a winding riverfront space waiting for redevelopment. For Etemadi, so much of a neighborhood’s future is contingent upon beautification. Beautifying a neighborhood, Etemadi says, “changes your whole vision, inspires you to do more for your home.”
“The city can do more to help neighborhoods along,” Etemadi says. “We need better communication, collaboration.”
Given his history of communication and collaboration in Uptown, Etemadi is poised to play a key role in the revitalization of yet another vital Columbus neighborhood.
by Tom Ingram
image provided by Garry Pound