By Ginger Dawson
Special to NKyTribune
Fritz Kuhlmann is at the beginning of phase three of a very creative life.
Growing up in Greenhills, Ohio, his first step on this path was in the Performing Arts.
Fritz at his desk enjoying the fruits of hard-won computer expertise.
In the late sixties and early seventies, an era ripe for social change and expression, the American Theatre had at its center these landmark musicals: Hair, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar—and many other lesser known, but equally influential plays and companies. This new era had a great impact on the culture and brought theatre to a whole new generation.
Fritz was drawn to this and caught the bug starting in high school. He headed off to Ohio University, then to the University of Cincinnati to study Theatre and the Performing Arts, when this was interrupted by an opportunity to be a part of a children’s theatre in Eastern Michigan. He got the best education — hands-on —producing plays and doing some directing.
This quickly lead to other opportunities that brought him back to Cincinnati, by way of Charleston, South Carolina.
Back home, Fritz linked up with a group of friends and established the American Repertory Theatre here, a Cincinnati branch of the Philadelphia American Repertory Theatre.
During these years, the late seventies to the early eighties, he also started his first Covington project—The Peanut Butter Theatre, which was a lunch theatre for children put on at the Carnegie Art Center, back in its pre-restoration era. The plays were actually held in the main rotunda—a theatre in the round, as the original theatre was in pretty rough shape at that time.
Blueprints for a project slated for Covington.
He continued to produce and direct, and also did some set design. He accomplished a lot. It was his life.
But, Society and its culture marched on and it became obvious that sometimes, some things can’t last forever. After funding for the Arts dried up in the eighties, Fritz realized he was going to have to change direction.
In his theatrical experience, he had always enjoyed set design, so, at the ripe old age of thirty, he went back to school to study Architecture.
After graduating from the University of Cincinnati’s Design, Art and Architecture in 1989; with co-op experience in Los Angeles, he got down to business. He pursued this second phase with the same passion that he had had for Theatre.
Over the years, he has sometimes been self-employed and sometimes he has worked for others. He has that rare quality of being comfortable with either arrangement. No doubt his experience in producing and directing plays has given him this capable attitude.
The Overseer’s view of Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum.
His most recent work title is as Architectural Design Director of The HÄUS Co., his own company which he started in late 2016. He couples this with a position as a Realtor with Pivot Realty.
The HÄUS Co. centers its business in Covington. In addition to the renovation and restoration of his own residence in the city’s Westside neighborhood, Fritz’s most recent Covington project entails reclaiming eight different lots that will be redeveloped into new townhouses.
As a third act in an accomplished life, it is his wish to help build Covington, in his words, into a “beautiful urban experience — a Twenty-first Century version of a Nineteenth Century life.”
Fritz is very excited about what the future will bring and feels as if he is just starting to hit his stride.
As a sort of personal mission statement, he finds games of chance “boring as hell,” but considers gambling with resources and opportunity to be an exhilarating experience. This can only happen from confidence bought with experience.
Fritz is also engaged in the community in his work as a member of the Code Enforcement Hearing Board for the City of Covington.
Fritz Kuhlmann at home with memorabilia of past successes.
He is also on the Board of Overseers of the Historic Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Covington’s Westside Neighborhood. He is the only board member who has the distinction of truly “overseeing” the cemetery. He has a deck on the roof of his house that provides a bird’s eye view of it.
Obviously no one-trick pony, Fritz has a few other specialties.
He likes vintage cars and has owned a few over the years.
One thing in his vintage car experiences could have only happened in the Twenty-first century. He actually sold a 1963 Studebaker Avanti, sight unseen, to a guy in France. The transaction and negotiation were conducted online, and the car was shipped to the spiritual home of its “frenchy” name. No tire-kicker there.
A secret talent— Fritz is a former bandy and can play trombone, baritone, and tuba!
When I asked if there was any other unusual trait or talent he had, he offered this — he is left-handed.
That went flat and I was a little puzzled by it until he told me this— his MOTHER sent him a newspaper clipping when he was in college. Here is the title: Left-handedness is a Birth Defect.
I was gobsmacked. What a sly way to reveal a wicked sense of humor!
Ginger Dawson will be writing about the People of NKY — the neighbors you need to know and people you need to meet and understand. The feature will appear periodically at the NKyTribune. If you have ideas for subjects, please share them with Ginger at ginger@fuse.net.
