'A win-win for the entire community': Restored 1884 Home in Weston to open as learning center and collaborative workspace

Guided by the HEART mission — Health, Engagement, Arts, Recollection and Training — the facility will offer yoga classes, meeting rooms, learning areas, a collaborative workspace, a reading room and short-term lodging for visiting creatives.

With renovations nearing completion, HeartHouse is expected to become a vital community resource. Additional details on its launch and programming will be announced soon.

Owner Thom Haller said his inspiration for the project stems from his deep connection to the building.

“I am a Weston native,” he said. “My dad had moved his office into that building in 1974, and when we were closing down my mother’s estate, it was either move forward with a building that I loved or just let the winds of fate take it.

“And I felt my love for that building might sustain me enough that I could do something with it. I was trying to build a vision around ‘how can I provide outreach for arts and health,’ and from that, this emerged.”

Haller hopes the project will foster collaboration within the community.

“I want this to bring collaboration. This is an opportunity for people to connect in different areas of interest,” he said. “We will have programming that is on each of those letters (HEART), such as programming around health, civic engagement, technical training, programs about art and local history.

“We will have the opportunity for classes but also conversations that I have invited local leaders to come speak at. Even though at this moment I don’t know when exactly programming can begin because we are still in phase one, which is renovating and remodeling the building ... It will allow people to come experience a space that wasn’t available before.”

Mayor Kim Harrison-Edwards said the initiative will be a valuable addition to the community.

“Celebrating and preserving your arts and culture is very important to any community,” she said.

Harrison-Edwards said she thinks Haller is doing a wonderful job.

“I want to thank Thom Haller for his foresight in bringing together people in the community to promote not only intergenerational activities but also to provide a space for learning and sharing arts and other activities,” she said. “Every community does need a way to interweave and work with one another, and he is helping make that possible.”

She is very optimistic of where this project can go, Harrison-Edwards said.

“His plan was not only to promote local talent and produce local talent, but he was going to provide a space for other artisans to come in and share their talents or learn other talents,” she said. “I think as those artisans mix with the local residents, I think it is a win-win for the entire community.”