America's MCM capital

[editor]

I never would have thought it, but it appears the midcentury modern capital of America is in... Columbus, Indiana.

Yeah, I had to look on a map, too.

According to this article, a panel of 280 experts hired by National Geographic picked it as the 11th best sustainable destination in the world. The big reason: "world-class mid-century modern architecture."

Anyone been? Anyone even heard of it?

Here's a Google Map. Looks like it's about four hours from Chicago. Sounds like an excuse for a road trip.

[missjanel]

Here is a link with some pics from Columbus, Indiana.

http://www.columbusarchives.org/landmarks.html

I never would have thought it, but it appears the midcentury modern capital of America is in... Columbus, Indiana.

Yeah, I had to look on a map, too.

According to this article, a panel of 280 experts hired by National Geographic picked it as the 11th best sustainable destination in the world. The big reason: "world-class mid-century modern architecture."

Anyone been? Anyone even heard of it?

Here's a Google Map. Looks like it's about four hours from Chicago. Sounds like an excuse for a road trip.

[Subdude]

I certainly have heard of it. It is quite famous in MCM circles for the quality of its architecture. I'd love to go, but it's a tad out of the way.

[mdadm]

Can anyone be more specific? What is there to see exactly?

I just came back from an amazing modernist architecture/art trip...beginning in Long Island up through Connecticut and all the way to Buffalo, NY. We visited the Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner house, Phillip Johnson's Glass House, DIA Beacon, Russel Wright's Dragon Rock, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Roycroft Inn and the F.L. Wright Darwin Martin house. We missed Jack Larson's Longhouse, New Haven's architecture and museums and the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford. We will have to go back!

That is what I call a trip. What is in or around Columbus Indiana along those lines?

[sdmarc]

Columbus, Indiana is blessed with some of the world's finest architecture thanks to the forethought of Irwin J. Miller, an heir to the Cummins Engine fortune.

Mr. Miller created a fund that paid for architectural fees to hire top-tier firms to design basically every major public building, from firehouses to electrical substations.

Represented are works by Eero Saarinen (bank, church and Miller's home), Eliel Saarinen (church) Caudill Rowlett Scott (electrical station and elementary school), I.M. Pei (library), SOM (newspaper printing plant, town hall), Cesar Pelli (shopping mall in city center), Alexander Girard (downtown preservation), Roche Dinkeloo (post office, Cummins headquarters building), Venturi (firehouse), Architects Collaborative including Gropius (school), Harry Weese (Cummins buildings, numerous bank branches and schools) and many, many others. Landscapes by Kiley and others.

It's about a 90 minute drive outside of Indianapolis. Worth the trip. The local Chamber of Commerce offers a fold out map with a guide to the buildings enabling a driving tour of the area. Plan on spending the entire day to see everything. Columbus is a small town, so not everything is jumbo-sized. But some of the most impressive things are the little gems like the banks, small schools and Miller's own house.

http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/facul..._christian.html

http://www.barth.lib.in.us/LibPei.html

http://www.irwinunion.com/iub/docs/Dwell_magazine.pdf

[Willowisp]

I'm glad you weighed in on it "SD" because I instantly thought of you when I read the first post...

"SD" encouraged me to read up on Eero Saarinen, and in a book on him, I found pictures of one of the most amazing houses I've ever seen, the Irwin Miller House. It's not open for tours is it?

Here are some pics on flickr:

http://flickr.com/photos/laurandy/sets/721...3002391/?page=3

http://flickr.com/photos/superadaptoid/1325725198/

http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Miller_Hou...mbus%2C_Indiana

mdadm - did you have time to drive around New Canaan? or did you just go to the Glass House?

I've got to get our New Canaan trip up on flickr... As for a "capital of MCM" I would vote for New Canaan as a small town, and Los Angeles (area) as the big city having all those case study houses, as far as single family housing goes, but if you include apartments, you have to go with Chicago for its Lakeshore Apts, and Marina City.

Columbus, Indiana is blessed with some of the world's finest architecture thanks to the forethought of Irwin J. Miller, an heir to the Cummins Engine fortune.

Mr. Miller created a fund that paid for architectural fees to hire top-tier firms to design basically every major public building, from firehouses to electrical substations.

Represented are works by Eero Saarinen (bank, church and Miller's home), Eliel Saarinen (church) Caudill Rowlett Scott (electrical station and elementary school), I.M. Pei (library), SOM (newspaper printing plant, town hall), Cesar Pelli (shopping mall in city center), Alexander Girard (downtown preservation), Roche Dinkeloo (post office, Cummins headquarters building), Venturi (firehouse), Architects Collaborative including Gropius (school), Harry Weese (Cummins buildings, numerous bank branches and schools) and many, many others. Landscapes by Kiley and others.

It's about a 90 minute drive outside of Indianapolis. Worth the trip. The local Chamber of Commerce offers a fold out map with a guide to the buildings enabling a driving tour of the area. Plan on spending the entire day to see everything. Columbus is a small town, so not everything is jumbo-sized. But some of the most impressive things are the little gems like the banks, small schools and Miller's own house.

http://www.architecture.uwaterloo.ca/facul..._christian.html

http://www.barth.lib.in.us/LibPei.html

http://www.irwinunion.com/iub/docs/Dwell_magazine.pdf

[sdmarc]

It appears the Miller house will open for tours at some point after restoration. The family just donated it to the Indianapolis Art Museum this week.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20081118/LOCAL/81118057 donation article

http://www.therepublic.com/main.asp?Sectio...rticleID=123829 great photos of interior (multiple pages, use arrows to navigate)

http://wikimapia.org/9981937/J-Irwin-Miller-Home

[Willowisp]

It looks even better than the pictures in the book. It's a lot more colorful than most of "the iconic houses" and probably more reflective of how people really live, though very wealthy people with marble walls...

Jason

It appears the Miller house will open for tours at some point after restoration. The family just donated it to the Indianapolis Art Museum this week.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20081118/LOCAL/81118057 donation article

http://www.therepublic.com/main.asp?Sectio...rticleID=123829 great photos of interior (multiple pages, use arrows to navigate)

http://wikimapia.org/9981937/J-Irwin-Miller-Home

[IronTiger]

Oh, so it's Midcentury Mod. Gee, I was wondering and was about to ask. After hearing so much about it, I decided it WASN'T "Memorial City Mall", though it was a good guess.