Covered bridge in Mill Race Park
Mental Health bridge
Eliel Saarinen First Christian Church, 1942
Henry Moore Arch, 1971
City Hall, 1981
Inn at Irwin Gardens, 1910 renovation, childhood home of J. Irwin Miller
Eero Saarinen Irwin Conference Center, 1954
Eero Saarinen Miller House, 1957
Eero Saarinen North Christian Church, 1964
Gunnar Birkerts St. Peter's Lutheran Church, 1988
Just returned from a few days in Columbus, Indiana, the
small town with all the major architectural artworks scattered around the town
(close to 100), home of seven national historic landmarks, adding a touch of
the sublime into the hearts of middle America.
Not sure many of the school kids are aware that their
schools have been designed by major international architects, but it’s a
curious aspect of growing up here.
It’s certainly one of the friendliest places on earth, with
a communal spirit of volunteerism, as it’s local volunteers who become the tour
guides, literally experts on their own history, willingly sharing it with each
and every new wave of tourists who come inquisitively to see and learn.
The small-town atmosphere is quite inviting, as there’s a
certain charm to simply being nice, not engaging in political discourse, but
this spirit of helpfulness, taking an interest in your well-being, is a major
aspect of this community.
It’s hard not to love that.
Each day we were there was sunny and delightful, while it
was muggy and oppressively hot just before and rainy afterwards.
So in just a few days, one gets an idealized view, where I’m
sure this town has all the racial disparity of other towns, with all the focus
on some of the millionaires who brought the architects into this town, who
appreciated an elevated spirit that would be passed on to each new
generation.
Starting in the 1950’s, a foundation backed by J. Irwin
Miller, president of diesel engine manufacturer Cummins Engine Company, agreed
to pay the architectural fees for public buildings such as schools, provided
that the community chose from architects on his approved list, where he and his
company, along with many other citizens and firms, hired top architects for
private commissions.
These folks lived in well-stocked mansions with servant’s
quarters, where the social divide between wealth and servitude was supposedly
invisible, not even worth thinking about, as the wealthy exist in their own
social class. In the Irwin Gardens home,
a hallway was designed exclusively for servants to travel in, unseen by those
in the larger sitting room, who preferred not being interrupted.
Like so many other towns, mansions are clearly visible in
exclusive neighborhoods, while smaller homes were more representative of the
local populace, a blue collar town where more than 30% work in a single
factory, the Cummins Engine Company, a Fortune 500 company. Blacks
comprise just 2% of the population. This
is a town where you’re not going to find a Trader Joe’s, or any other gourmet
food stores, independent cinemas, or high end boutiques. The malls here are near vacant and run down,
on the verge of extinction.
In Columbus, they spend significantly more than the median
Indiana communities, with a tax base that is the biggest while its tax rates
are just about the lowest, understanding that the best way to keep their tax
bills low is to keep general prosperity high, which requires a longstanding
commitment to excellence.
Other than Bloomington (home of the University of Indiana)
and Lafayette (home to Purdue University), Columbus has far higher college
degree attainment than all of the other cities in the state at just under
30%. Given the importance of educational
attainment as a predictor of civic commitment, that’s what separates this town
from other small towns.
There’s a plethora of churches, some amazingly designed by
world class architects, where the interiors are simply astounding. We
viewed them empty, with no parishioners, and no sermons being delivered, where
the symmetry and artistic design on display was stunning.
One of these churches is on the endangered list, the North
Christian Church, as the upkeep is more than any income brought in by a
dwindling flock, where it’s on the verge of shutting down.
These architects can conceive visual clarity, but have
little common sense when it comes to actually living in the designed space,
much like many of the Frank Lloyd Wright houses, which look spectacular, but
are nearly impossible to live in, as they’re not designed for modern convenience.
One of the more populated churches devised an air flow
system that kept the interior comfortable, while others with surrounding
windows and concrete slabs for a roof were stifling inside, making it difficult
to spend any time there.
So it’s not like these great minds had everything worked
out, but they provided a blueprint to the future, with each new generation
called upon to add their own imprint of improvements.
There were two scenes from the film that stood out for
me.
One was the house that John Cho stayed at, staying at The
Inn at Irwin Gardens (IrwinGardens)
where he was afraid of touching anything, afraid to break all the valuables on
display, as it felt like living inside a museum. The film made it seem
like he was living on the first floor, though his room was actually on the
third floor. When he stepped into the back yard, there is this immense
view of staggering proportions, which isn’t actually on the property, but is at
the Miller House (Miller
House and Garden :: Newfields), a modern era glass house where the outdoor
beauty becomes a prominent indoor feature, as the outside is seen from the
inside through floor-to ceiling windows, becoming a picturesque interior
wall. Here the freshly mowed back yard stretches to the horizons, as if
floating in air, with a line of trees at the back offering a panoramic vantage
point.
So we stayed at that same house which is downtown next to
the visitor’s center and visited the Miller House, both in all their
splendor.
The other scene was the covered bridge over the water, which
in its simplicity captured the essence of the natural world in all its beauty
and elegance.
Those two were the centerpieces of the visit, images carried
over from the film, which greatly expanded once we arrived and could see much
more for ourselves.
Because the town is relatively small, it is possible to see
many of the items on a tour, and then go inspect each one in more detail
afterwards, or check out things not on the tour.
So many are close to the downtown area, so people are
continually walking in and out of these buildings.
While tourism is a major draw, it’s also one of the
headaches to the locals, as there’s a constant influx of strangers, yet people
are friendly enough everywhere you go.
The restaurants have not kept pace, as the offerings were
not particularly inviting, though breakfasts at the Inn were
scrumptious.
While it’s a bit like stepping into another world, Columbus
(population 44,000) is listed as the #6 US city for architectural innovation
and design, behind Chicago (2.7 million), New York (8.5 million), Boston
(685,000), San Francisco (884,000), and Washington DC. (703,000)
Many of the people we visited had been back two or three
times, so it’s an individualized experience, one with personal ramifications,
exactly as suggested by the film.
Articles of interest
Great piece!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniel. Eero Saarinen FTW. #torille (an inside joke only Finns would understand.)
ReplyDeleteWell I don't begin to understand it, but that's OK, as it's only appropriate that a film about the relationship between children and their parents is so dynamically represented by a father and son architectural team, namely Eliel and Eero Saarinen. The work they've produced is simply timeless.
ReplyDeleteNice to learn Chicago ranks number one in architectural design among US cities.
ReplyDelete