COLUMBUS, Indiana – Ordinary Indiana? Not this town, which became a mecca of modern architecture in the second half of the 20th century.

The story of how it happened is almost as interesting as the architecture itself.

J. Irwin Miller, a Columbus native and the chairman of Cummins Engine Co., wasn’t a fan of bland post-World War II buildings. So he challenged his hometown to do better.

To encourage the use of some of the world’s best-known architects, his company established a fund that covered the design fees for dozens of public projects.

The idea worked. Columbus, population about 50,600, is home to dozens of striking and imaginative buildings, designed by a who’s-who of 20th and 21st century architects.

Among the big-name designers: I.M. Pei, Harry Weese, Eero Saarinen and numerous others.

The American Institute of Architects in 2012 listed Columbus sixth in its ranking of most architecturally important cities in the U.S. – behind Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, after a visit in the late 1960s, dubbed Columbus “the Athens of the prairie.”

Miller’s initiative also made Columbus, about 90 miles west of Cincinnati, a tourist draw, a top destination for art and architecture students, as well as anyone who appreciates good design.

Informal Saturday morning architecture tours were offered starting in the 1970s, according to Erin Hawkins, director of marketing for the Columbus Area Visitors Center. Today, they’re offered five days a week and regularly sell out.

Separately, visitors can tour the Miller House, the 1953-era home designed by Eero Saarinen for Irwin and Xenia Miller, and their five children. It’s considered among the very finest examples of mid-century modern architecture in the country.

Touring the town

The Architecture Highlights Tour starts downtown, across the street from the visitors center at the First Christian Church, built in 1942, the city’s first foray into modern architecture. Miller, a member of the church, helped convince his fellow parishioners to hire Eliel Saarinen — father of Eero – who defied contemporary expectations of what a religious building should look like with this creation.

Made of steel, brick and concrete, the church is simple but stunning, a study in geometric shapes, with a soaring 166-foot bell tower. (Alas, the tower was largely behind scaffolding during my visit.)

This is one of a handful of buildings on the tour that visitors can experience from the inside. The sanctuary, spare but elegant, features high, vertical windows, no stained glass to be seen, and a cross that is off-center.

“Everything is off-center except for the communion table,” said tour guide Sally Madge. “It’s the idea that nobody’s perfect – we’re all human.”

The church set the stage for what was to come later, throughout the community.

In the late 1950s, Eero Saarinen – perhaps best known for designing the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. – was commissioned to design another church.

North Christian Church, with its hexagon shape and 192-foot-high spire, became the symbol of modernist Columbus, featured on brochures and other materials promoting the city.

Unfortunately, the church closed last year, due to falling membership, so we could only admire the structure from the outside.

It was Saarinen’s favorite design, according to Madge, completed in 1964, three years his death.

The only problem with its circular design, according to Madge: “If you were late for church, everybody knew it.”

Community leaders are in discussions to keep the building in use. A library branch is one possibility, according to Hawkins.

Also on the tour:

* The Bartholomew County Library, designed by I.M Pei in 1969, is one of the famous architect’s earliest designs. (He designed Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.) Pei conceived of the library as a community gathering place, with a large outdoor plaza out front. Miller commissioned British artist Henry Moore’s now-iconic Large Arch for the space. This is another building tourgoers can see from the inside, including Pei’s intricate coffered ceiling.

* Schmitt Elementary, the first design funded by the Cummins Foundation, was designed by Harry Weese in 1957. The school features classrooms separated to look like small residences. “He wanted the kids to feel comfortable,” said Madge. “He wanted them to look like little houses for the kids.”

* And the Irwin Conference Center, formerly the Irwin Union Bank, also designed by Eero Saarinen, in 1954. It features white domes on top, which led to its nickname as the bra factory, said Madge.

“I was a little kid when this was built,” she said. “I remember walking into that one and wanting to do cartwheels in it. It was so gorgeous inside.”

Not all buildings were so well received, however.

“In the 1960s, this was a pretty conservative community,” she said. “Some of these buildings were difficult for some to understand.”

Some people in the community complained that one of the modern school buildings looked too much like a prison, according to Madge.

And speaking of prisons – others said the county jail, designed in 1990 by Don Hisaka, was much too beautiful.

Touring the Miller House

Not long after he finished the bank, Saarinen was back in town, working on a more personal commission: a house for Miller, his wife Xenia and their five children.

The Miller House, located about a mile and a half north of downtown, is accessed via a separate tour, also offered by the Columbus Area Visitors Center.

The house, nearly 6,800 square feet on 13.5 acres, is a wonder of modern design, simple but elegant, with floor-to-ceiling windows, white marble walls and bold colors.

The living room – with its four-sided couch and sunken conversation pit – is the showstopper.

“The kids used to run from the dining room and launch into the conversation pit,” said guide Bob Bolner, a retired Cummins engineer. “I call it a house. It’s really a home. They raised five children here.”

Bolner also pointed out teeth marks on the Steinway piano – perhaps made by an unenthusiastic young musician.

“The children had a lot of fun here,” noted Bolner.

But there was plenty for the adults to like, too, including a handmade rug with panels recounting periods of family history; Xenia Miller’s extra-large dressing room; and the large kitchen with three ovens, two sinks and a built-in refrigerator.

The garden, designed by landscape architect Dan Kiley, extends the living space outside, with a rectangular lawn, walls of arborvitae and trees planted in perfect lines.

Bolner called the property “the perfect example of mid-century modern architecture.”

Miller passed away in 2008 and his wife died a year later. The house, donated to Newfields in Indianapolis, was opened for tours in 2010.

The house adds to Miller’s legacy, which is omnipresent throughout town. “He really did feel architecture helped shape a community, who lived here and how they felt about a place,” said Madge.

The city, meanwhile, continues to add to its collection of modern buildings, even as modern architecture has become more mainstream.

Ivy Tech Community College most recently used funding from the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program to help pay the design fees for its new Columbus campus building, designed by IwamotoScott Architecture of San Francisco. It opened last summer.

Columbus, Indiana: If you go

Where: Columbus is about a five-hour drive from Cleveland, 90 miles west of Cincinnati.

Tours: Columbus Area Visitors Center offers several guided public tours, including its popular Architectural Highlights Tour, which runs Tuesday through Saturday. Price is $30 for adults, $25 for students. Miller House and Garden Tours are also offered Tuesday through Saturday, also for $30. Other tours: Iconic Columbus Walking Tour and Inn at Irwin Gardens Tour. For a schedule and reservations: columbus.in.us/tour-options

Staying overnight: The Inn at Irwin Gardens, located downtown, features five overnight rooms in a spectacular setting; room rates start at $220. Information: irwingardens.com

Where to eat: Upland Columbus Pump House, in an historic building overlooking the Flatrock River, with beer, burgers and more; and don’t miss Zaharakos, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that dates back to 1900.

Information: columbus.in.us

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