Art & Architecture Tour 2022 | Day 5
Photo Above: First Christian Church by Eliel Saarinen
Our Adventure Continues
Day 5 | Columbus, IN to Columbus OH
Our Next Stop: Columbus, IN ('A' on Map)
We begin Day 5 by completing our drive to Columbus, Indiana. We made an appointment to visit a home designed by Eero Saarinen for J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia Simons Miller. (More on him later, but, you can go here to learn more about him and his contributions to the city of Columbus and how he became driving force behind it’s rise to architectural significance.) The gardens were design by modernist landscape architect Dan Kiley and the interiors of the home were designed by Alexander Girard. Both of these professionals were renown in their respective fields as Modernist leaders and contributed to many buildings you’ll certainly recognize.
In keeping with our theme of seeing how the “other half” live…although it’s closer to upper 1%…the home does not disappoint. As another prime example of Modern design, the Miller House and Garden stands apart from the Edith Farnsworth home (See Day 4) in that it is considered more “livable”. The home was designed for a family with 5 children in 1953, yet it was designed to provide flexible spaces for entertaining along with a lot of indoor ‘play-space’ complete with a sunken conversation pit. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
A few photos of our visit to the Miller House and Garden
More About Columbus
Columbus, Indiana, has a long history of civic pride when it comes to design. You will find works by Eliel and Eero Saarinen (father and son), Cesar Pelli, Kevin Roche, I.M. Pei, Robert Venturi, Deborah Berke, and Harry Weese, just to mention a few. Artistic works by Dale Chihuly, Robert Moore and Jean Tinguely have also made it to Columbus, scattered around the community. Due to its high concentration of modernist buildings, Columbus is known as a Modernist Meca by architects from around the world. We, unfortunately, did not have time to take in the plethora of architectural gems which the city offers but you can take a virtual visit, here. It’s worth a visit longer than a few hours!
It's On to Columbus, OH
With a long drive ahead of us to Columbus, Ohio, and with the weather changing to rain and storms, as the lights go out in Columbus (literally!), we head eastward. Flexibility is one of the main advantages of a road trip. When the going gets tough, the road-trip travelers can just keep traveling!
We’ll be back with Day 6 real soon!!.