IM Pei library
The goal of the library and library plaza project was to transform this area of the city and encourage residents to spend time downtown.To accomplish this, the architect suggested the closing of Lafayette Avenue between Fifth and Sixth Street.When architect Pei was chosen to create the library, he decided to relate to and recognize the design of the First Christian Church, directly across the street, and the historic Irwin House to the east.Pei later went on to great fame, and is especially known for his renovation of the Louvre Museum in Paris, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Large Arch
Henry Moore may be the most influential public sculptor of the twentieth century, and his Large Arch is the largest of its kind in the United States.The library architect, I M Pei, thought that the plaza needed a sculpture to enliven and, in his words, hold the space, and he recommended Moore.Its abstract and organic form provide a contrast to the geometric shapes of the buildings surrounding it.Pei wanted the piece to be interactive and requested that it be big enough for people to stroll through. Henry Moore said, “As a young sculptor, I saw Stonehenge, and ever since, I’ve wanted to do work that could be walked through and around.”The sculpture was designed at Moore’s studio in Hertfordshire in England, and sandcast in bronze sections at a foundry in West Germany. The pieces, one-fourth to one-half inch thick, were welded with invisible seams. The sculpture was commissioned by J Irwin and Xenia Miller, as a gift to the City of Columbus, in 1971.
Irwin Home
Built in 1864 by Joseph I Irwin, Columbus banker and businessman (and J Irwin Miller's grandfather), this Italianate design was remodeled in 1880.The home is now a bed and breakfast.To accommodate four generations of the Irwin family, the home has been enlarged and redesigned over the years. The current mansion was completed by Henry Phillips, a Massachusetts architect, who was hired by William G Irwin in 1910. The old brick exterior was covered by tapestry brick with stone trim, and several new chimneys, which are now a prominent feature of the house, were added.The intricate detail of the extensive fine woodwork and moldings throughout the house are reminiscent of a European estateThe highlight of this two-acre property is the garden, a beautiful maze based on a famous garden in Pompeii. The gardens are open for public viewing Tuesday and Saturday afternoons, generally from April through October.Several fountains and a long pool are the focal point of a lowered, sunken garden. There is a statue under the center arch of the garden house designed from a lakeside structure at the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli in Italy. Pompeian murals accent the garden house. A tall brick wall is rounded in imitation of 16th-century gardens at Mantua in Italy. Wisteria vines on the terrace’s pergolas were planted in 1911, and continue to bloom in the spring.
AT&T Switching Station
Paul Kennon of Caudill, Rowlett, Scott designed this building in 1978.Distinctive for its mirrored glass facade and its primary colored accents, the building houses electronic equipment. Originally a three-story brick building, Indiana Bell commissioned Paul Kennon to add an addition and create a new cohesive design on a transitional site, joining the business district and one of the community’s older residential areas.Kennon’s solution was to unify the existing building and the new addition by encasing both in a skin of reflective glass. Giant yellow, orange, red, and blue “organ pipes” on the west alley side of the building provide a colorful accent, and have become an iconic image of the modern architecture of Columbus (and a great spot for Facebook or Instagram photos). The majority of the trellis structure and the pear trees, an integral part of the original design concept, were removed when birds became a nuisance. The AIA (American Institute of Architects) gave the building an Honor award in 1980, describing it as, “a delightfully whimsical solution to the use of mirrored glass.”
Cummins public park
The landscape surrounding the Cummins Inc. corporate headquarters creates a park-like setting for the operations of this Fortune 500 Company – the project won an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects. The central park area is grand year round and features glory maple, sugar maple, Boston ivy, birch, redbud, dogwood, and climbing hydrangea bloom on the columns surrounding the building.Landscape Architect Jack Curtis of Monroe, Connecticut has completed many projects in Columbus, including Cummins Corporate Office Building, Cummins Technical Center, Cummins Fuel System Plan, Cummins Engine Plant One, Cummins Child Development Center, Columbus Visitors Center, and Irwin Gardens restorations.The historic Cerealine Building, with its gracefully-arched windows and doors, has been a part of the Columbus skyline for more than a century. The building originally was the main structure of the old Cerealine grain complex, believed to have been built in 1867. A former building to the north housed Cummins’ first factory and office for the seven years following the company’s founding in 1919. Cerealine, a dried corn product which was one of the world’s first dry breakfast cereals, and was featured on the menu of the Titanic, was made in this building.The exterior of this historic structure, significant to both Columbus and Cummins, has been carefully renovated and is now an important part of the new office complex. The original 3,000 square feet on the ground floor have been doubled by means of a U-shaped addition which has become an employee cafeteria with views of the fountains and reflecting pond.The park is also a very popular spot for photos for weddings, seniors, and prom - it might be a good choice for your Columbus group selfie, too!
Cummins Inc
Designed by Kevin Roche (Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates) the Cummins Corporate Office Building, completed in 1984, serves as the world headquarters for Cummins, Inc., a Fortune 200 Company and diesel engine manufacturer. The one-story building with a mezzanine level occupies three blocks in downtown Columbus.The zigzag plan configuration interacts with a park-like setting on the east side of the building, defined by a portico surrounding the four-story historic Cerealine building, which serves as the employee cafeteria.The office building is primarily cast-in-place octagonal concrete columns with infilled precast concrete spandrels and narrow windows to provide noise and sun control.From the Roche Dinkeloo website :An arcade of columns connects the two embracing ends of the main structure and establishes both the continuity of the street line and the containing wall of the public garden. The strong exterior column expression relates to the portico of the adjacent Post Office Building; and the materials, enclosed garden, and pool also relate to one of the earliest modern buildings built in Columbus - the Tabernacle Church of Christ designed by Eliel Saarinen in 1940, which is located on the other side of the business district. The corner of the building nearest the center of the City is cut away to provide a visitor's entrance and also to recognize the small park across the street, which is an integral part of the expanded Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company.
Chaos, by Jean Tinguley
(Inside the Commons)Chaos I is a seven-ton, kinetic sculpture by Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925-1991). The 30-foot high piece is the largest work by Tinguely in the United States. Clair Beltz, archivist at the Museum Tinguely in Basil, Switzerland said, “The artist’s philosophy was that everything has to be in motion, like life; if not, it’s not ‘real.’”It seems fitting that the centerpiece of Columbus, Indiana, a city known for both its great architectural designs and its world-class manufacturing operations, would be a sculpture that successfully marries art and engineering. Tinguely, a colorful character sporting a bushy moustache, took up residence in Columbus’s former city powerhouse near Mill Race Park for nearly two years from 1973 to 1974. Locals have wonderful memories of the artist-in-residence. Tinguely became a regular at the local “watering holes” during that time. He was said to have been delighted by the quality of the scrap he found in local junkyards about town because they provided the raw material for his work.Chaos I cycles through a series of motions to simulate a day in a life, beginning slowly at first, adding movements and then winding down again. At the peak of its chaotic movements, steel balls roll and crash through a caged track, making a ruckus. So special is Chaos to the community, for the three years that the new Commons was being constructed, it was safely protected in a climate-controlled box while The Commons was razed and rebuilt all around it.The architect of the original Commons, Cesar Pelli, first suggested to J. Irwin Miller, CEO of Cummins Engine Co., that a sculpture by Tinguely would be the perfect centerpiece to this downtown facility. The structure filled three city blocks and was designed to be a public gathering space, playground, and performance area within an urban shopping mall. Pelli stated, “We would like a great magnet, a focal point such as the old town clock…a place for people to meet and greet one another.” The work was commissioned by J. Irwin and Xenia Irwin Miller and Mrs. Robert Tangeman in late 1971.
Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans
The memorial was designed by Thompson and Rose Architects and received the Boston Society of Architects Unbuilt Architecture Design Award in 1996.From Charles Rose website:Situated on Bartholomew County Courthouse Square near entrance to the city; 25 columns of rock-cut Indiana limestone honor the county’s veterans of 20th century wars. The winner of a national design competition, the Veterans Memorial is a grid of limestone pillars: a monolith of rough and naturally textured stone when viewed from afar and - from its interior meditative spaces - a forest of soaring columns separated by narrow passageways. Veterans’ names, letters and diary entries were etched on the smooth surfaces. At night, lights embedded in the base create a dramatic play of light and shadow and illuminate the memorial’s interior.Materials: Indiana limestone; black granite.
Former Republic newspaper offices
(The office is across 2nd Street.)One of seven national historic landmarks in Columbus.Myron Goldsmith of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) designed the newspaper in 1971 of glass and steel and provided onlookers with a window into the business of communications. Originally, the paper’s printing presses could be viewed from the street, as they printed the daily paper (see photo). The open concept reflected the newspaper’s role as a central link in the information for the community. The Republic was the seventh Columbus structure to be named an historic landmark, The U.S. Interior said, “The Republic is an exceptional work of modern architecture and one of the best examples of the work of Myron Goldsmith...."The AIA (American Institute of Architects) gave the building an Honor award in 1975, one of five recognized in Columbus by the AIA.Excerpt from The New York Times obituary for Goldsmith:He was disarming in person, almost an antithesis of his architecture; perpetually rumpled, with a bird’s-nest tangle of hair and a shy, soft-spoken demeanor. “He managed with gentleness to exist and prosper in a field that is otherwise eaten up by tigerish egos,” said Franz Schulze, an art historian and Mies biographer.Mr. Goldsmith was born in Chicago and graduated in 1939 from the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he studied under Mies van der Rohe. The Republic is only the second SOM building to become a National Historic Landmark - the other is the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. The American Institute of Architects has recognized SOM twice with its highest honor, the Architecture Firm Award—in 1962 and again in 1996. This building is currently in transition (the Republic offices were moved to the north side of Columbus), it has recently been purchased by Columbus hospital and will continue to be occupied.
Eliel Saarinen's First Christian Church
The First Christian Church was designed by architect Eliel Saarinen, father of Eero Saarinen. Completed in 1942, it was the first contemporary building in Columbus and one of the first churches of contemporary architecture in the United States. The geometric design is one of direct simplicity. A large stone cross accents the limestone façade. To the west stands the 166-foot high campanile, or free-standing bell tower. The materials, exterior and interior, are mostly buff brick and limestone.One of seven national historic landmarks in Columbus.From Curbed.com :In the midst of World War II, the opening of a small-town church in south central Indiana became national news before it even opened its doors. When the design for the church was announced, Time magazine rhapsodized about how, “the costliest modern church in the world, planned by Europe’s most famous modern architect and his son, is going up across the street from a Victorian city hall.“The architects were Eliel and Eero Saarinen, and the church was the First Christian Church, occupying an entire city block in Columbus, Indiana.The boxy brick-and-limestone-clad complex, a series of rectangular masses accented by a 166-foot-high bell tower and a yard dotted with maple trees and a reflecting pool, was a revelation when it first welcomed parishioners in 1942. The progressive design was considered “the most daring innovation in American church architecture,” according to a reporter from Christian Century, and would become both a model for 20th century ecclesiastical architecture. It was also the first of many stunning contemporary buildings that make Columbus a mecca of modern design. In a town of less than 12,000 residents, more than 10,000 visitors signed the guest book in its first six weeks.“It’s amazing that a city could raise that kind of money to build a church the size of a city block in the midst of World War II, especially one that’s so radical in its design,” says Richard McCoy, founder of Landmark Columbus, a preservation organization dedicated to protecting the town’s architectural heritage. “The total budget Newsweek published for the church, $950,000, would be $15 million in today’s dollars.”- by Patrick Sisson, Feb 2, 2017
