Resident Profile – Rob Harris and Tim Bledsoe

Tim Bledsoe & Rob Harrisby Mary Martineau

Rob and Tim have lived in Harrison West since 1990. The couple met in 1988 at Columbus’ Fourth of July mainstay, Red, White & Boom! They were each walking to the event with different sets of mutual friends when they were introduced. Apparently, they saw fireworks in the sky and felt sparks fly between them that night because they have been together ever since.

Rob graduated from Texas Tech with a degree in architecture. His grandfather had taken graduate classes at Ohio State, and when Rob came to visit Columbus, he liked it so much that he moved here straight out of college in 1981. He started out living in German Village, but he wanted a change of scenery and found the Short North to be more exciting and felt it to have more activity geared toward a recent college graduate. He bought a house on Neil Avenue and enjoyed the bustle of the neighborhood until he met Tim and decided to “settle down.” Tim and Rob bought a house together on West Fourth Avenue because they liked the quieter atmosphere it offered compared to the Neil Avenue house.

Rob works as an independent contractor on residential and commercial projects; the Wagenbrenner Company is his largest client. Rob first became involved with Wagenbrenner when he competed against seven other architects to work on the Brewer’s Yard project in German Village. After winning that job, he continued working with Mark Wagenbrenner on another project closer to heart and home, Harrison Park. Rob likes working on projects in older neighborhoods because they give him an opportunity to help “reinstate the fabric of the neighborhood”; he has proven himself to be adept at blending newer neighborhood into older ones. It’s obvious that Rob is proud of his work because after he designed the Harrison Park houses, he and Tim moved to one in 2008.

Tim is a native of West Virginia who, after graduating from Huntington High, moved to Houston, Texas in search of employment and warmer weather. When he decided to move back east to be nearer to his family, Tim settled on Columbus; it was the closest city to his hometown in which he could find a job. He works for Discover Card Services, where he has been a facilities technician for 23 years.

Rob and Tim have been involved in the Harrison West Society from the very first day that they moved here, which is when they met the inimitable Mary Funk. They were out for a walk around their new neighborhood when they happened to turn down Pennsylvania Avenue and were “summoned” by Mary from her porch. They became dear friends with the stalwart neighborhood advocate who passed away last year. The couple both currently hold positions on the Harrison West Society Executive Committee; Rob serves as president, and Tim is secretary.

Rob and Tim love their house. They find it to be close to things they love, including the Short North and the North Market. They also like the convenience of living near all of the local interstates. Most of all, they love their neighbors. They have recently expanded their family with the addition of Chelsie, their goldendoodle puppy, who keeps them entertained with her endless antics. Rob and Tim share the guilty pleasure of frequent visits to El Vaquero, made ever so accessible by the Third Avenue bridge.

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