June 3, 2017: Columbus, Indiana
Dear Friends and Relatives,
This morning we arose to a faultless day and temperatures in the mid-70s, with light breezes. Ideal! We dropped Gwen, Martin's mother, back off to her apartment, and then took a leisurely pace about 50 miles to the city of Columbus, Indiana, with its 45,000 inhabitants.
A series of events began in 1942 when the First Christian church dedicated its new building, which had been designed by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, as a break with traditional structures. That building heralded the beginning of modern architecture in Columbus. The next step was in 1954, when the Irwin Union Bank was constructed by Eliel Saarinen's son Eero. After that a variety of public buildings were constructed, among them schools, a library, a fire department building, and a jail, featuring the work of architects like Eero Saarinen, Harry Weese, Richard Meier, and I.M. Pei. Columbus was ranked 6th in a list that included Chicago, NY City, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, DC for architectural innovation and design. In 2000, the National Park Service designated six modernist buildings as National Historic Landmarks!
Our first stop was the Miller House and garden, by Eero Saarinen, 1957, in collaboration with Alexander Girard, Dan Kiley, and their patrons, J.I. And Xenia Miller. Travel and Leisure magazine said that "the Miller House ranks alongside Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, and Philip Johnson's Glass House as a hallmark of Modernist design and is surrounded by some of the most beautiful Modernist gardens in the United States."
Both from the exterior and interior vantage points, the house was breathtaking, with the highlight for me being its groves of trees, water moments, and sunken lawn, and, inside, the incredible sunken living room looking out a sea of glass towards the greensward. I could not stop taking photographs, and we were lucky to have the house to ourselves, as the property belongs to the IMA, and Charles was able to tour us through this incredible oasis of quiet and beauty, with only the birds providing a backdrop of sound.
From there we drove into the center of downtown, where we parked the car and had lunch at a Thai restaurant before touring more of this splendid town. Our agenda, following lunch, was as follows:
2. Irwin Conference Center, Eero Saarinen, 1954. When it was first built, it was the Irwin Bank and Trust, with landscape design by Dan Kiley. It is a low-slung, glass walled building set in a grove of trees. Unusual domed lights and an open interior create a large room and a feeling of openness and friendliness.
3. A little further down the street from the Irwin is the Bartholomew County Courthouse, built in 1874.
4. From there we drove to the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, designed in 1969 by I.M. Pei, and featuring a large arch by Henry Moore in front of it.
5. Across the street from the library, our next stop was the First Christian Church, designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942. It was the first contemporary building in Columbus and one of the first churches of contemporary architecture in the US. The geometric design is one of direct simplicity. A large stone cross accents the limestone facade. To the west of the church stands the 166-foot high campanile or bell tower, which reminds me very much if the campanile of the courthouse in Oslo harbor.
6. Our next drive-by was the Bartholomew County Jail, built in 1990; then the Advanced Manufacturing Center by Cesar Pelli, 2011; and the Fire Station #3, built in 1983 by William Burd.
7. Our next stop was the North Christian Church, built by Eero Saarinen in 1964. It was the last building designed by him before his death. Roche Dinkeloo and Associates, the successive architectural firm, finished the building. It is six-sided, with a sloping roof. This low line accentuates the 192-foot spire, topped with a gold-leaf cross. Dan Kiley landscaped the site. About this church, Saarinen wrote: "...when I face St. Peter I am able to say that out of the buildings I did during my lifetime, one of the best was this little church, because it has in it a real spirit that speaks forth to all Christians as a witness to their faith."
8. Our last stop was the First Baptist Church, designed by Harry Weese in 1965. It is positioned on the brow of a gently sloping knoll. The steep roof, twice as high as the supporting brick walls, is covered with hand-laid slate. The highlight of the interior (and yes, this church was open), is a wall of pierced brick at the front of the chancel.
What an amazing town! There were so many other buildings to be seen, but we at least scratched the surface and were able to see a great variety of innovative design.
On the way back to Indianapolis, we stopped by an outlet mall and did about an hour's worth of shopping before wending our way home. We had an incredible dinner of salmon marinated in a fabulous sauce, all prepared by Alexandra. Mustard greens from the garden and roasted fingerling potatoes sprinkled with rosemary from the garden and totally scrumptious, rounded out the meal, and later on we added a piece of cherry pie, with very small cherries from their garden, which I had pitted the night before and whose taste was incredible, backed by a latticed pie crust which was one of the best I had ever eaten. We watched "The Crown" (one episode) on TV before turning in at about 2:00! Amazing day!
Sylvia M. Venable, PhD
Instructor, German
St. John's Episcopal School
Dallas,
This morning we arose to a faultless day and temperatures in the mid-70s, with light breezes. Ideal! We dropped Gwen, Martin's mother, back off to her apartment, and then took a leisurely pace about 50 miles to the city of Columbus, Indiana, with its 45,000 inhabitants.
A series of events began in 1942 when the First Christian church dedicated its new building, which had been designed by the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, as a break with traditional structures. That building heralded the beginning of modern architecture in Columbus. The next step was in 1954, when the Irwin Union Bank was constructed by Eliel Saarinen's son Eero. After that a variety of public buildings were constructed, among them schools, a library, a fire department building, and a jail, featuring the work of architects like Eero Saarinen, Harry Weese, Richard Meier, and I.M. Pei. Columbus was ranked 6th in a list that included Chicago, NY City, San Francisco, Boston, and Washington, DC for architectural innovation and design. In 2000, the National Park Service designated six modernist buildings as National Historic Landmarks!
Our first stop was the Miller House and garden, by Eero Saarinen, 1957, in collaboration with Alexander Girard, Dan Kiley, and their patrons, J.I. And Xenia Miller. Travel and Leisure magazine said that "the Miller House ranks alongside Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth House, and Philip Johnson's Glass House as a hallmark of Modernist design and is surrounded by some of the most beautiful Modernist gardens in the United States."
Both from the exterior and interior vantage points, the house was breathtaking, with the highlight for me being its groves of trees, water moments, and sunken lawn, and, inside, the incredible sunken living room looking out a sea of glass towards the greensward. I could not stop taking photographs, and we were lucky to have the house to ourselves, as the property belongs to the IMA, and Charles was able to tour us through this incredible oasis of quiet and beauty, with only the birds providing a backdrop of sound.
From there we drove into the center of downtown, where we parked the car and had lunch at a Thai restaurant before touring more of this splendid town. Our agenda, following lunch, was as follows:
2. Irwin Conference Center, Eero Saarinen, 1954. When it was first built, it was the Irwin Bank and Trust, with landscape design by Dan Kiley. It is a low-slung, glass walled building set in a grove of trees. Unusual domed lights and an open interior create a large room and a feeling of openness and friendliness.
3. A little further down the street from the Irwin is the Bartholomew County Courthouse, built in 1874.
4. From there we drove to the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, designed in 1969 by I.M. Pei, and featuring a large arch by Henry Moore in front of it.
5. Across the street from the library, our next stop was the First Christian Church, designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1942. It was the first contemporary building in Columbus and one of the first churches of contemporary architecture in the US. The geometric design is one of direct simplicity. A large stone cross accents the limestone facade. To the west of the church stands the 166-foot high campanile or bell tower, which reminds me very much if the campanile of the courthouse in Oslo harbor.
6. Our next drive-by was the Bartholomew County Jail, built in 1990; then the Advanced Manufacturing Center by Cesar Pelli, 2011; and the Fire Station #3, built in 1983 by William Burd.
7. Our next stop was the North Christian Church, built by Eero Saarinen in 1964. It was the last building designed by him before his death. Roche Dinkeloo and Associates, the successive architectural firm, finished the building. It is six-sided, with a sloping roof. This low line accentuates the 192-foot spire, topped with a gold-leaf cross. Dan Kiley landscaped the site. About this church, Saarinen wrote: "...when I face St. Peter I am able to say that out of the buildings I did during my lifetime, one of the best was this little church, because it has in it a real spirit that speaks forth to all Christians as a witness to their faith."
8. Our last stop was the First Baptist Church, designed by Harry Weese in 1965. It is positioned on the brow of a gently sloping knoll. The steep roof, twice as high as the supporting brick walls, is covered with hand-laid slate. The highlight of the interior (and yes, this church was open), is a wall of pierced brick at the front of the chancel.
What an amazing town! There were so many other buildings to be seen, but we at least scratched the surface and were able to see a great variety of innovative design.
On the way back to Indianapolis, we stopped by an outlet mall and did about an hour's worth of shopping before wending our way home. We had an incredible dinner of salmon marinated in a fabulous sauce, all prepared by Alexandra. Mustard greens from the garden and roasted fingerling potatoes sprinkled with rosemary from the garden and totally scrumptious, rounded out the meal, and later on we added a piece of cherry pie, with very small cherries from their garden, which I had pitted the night before and whose taste was incredible, backed by a latticed pie crust which was one of the best I had ever eaten. We watched "The Crown" (one episode) on TV before turning in at about 2:00! Amazing day!
Sylvia M. Venable, PhD
Instructor, German
St. John's Episcopal School
Dallas,
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