Columbus Indiana Architecture: Small Town Earns Great Acclaim
Columbus Indiana Architecture Tours reveal why this city of just 39,000 ranks sixth in the United States in architectural innovation and design. The American Institute of Architects ranked Columbus sixth in architectural innovation and design in the entire United States, and National Geographic Traveler called the town “[a] jewel in the region, and a model of what a small town can do to differentiate itself from the crowd. This town is truly part of America’s architectural heritage.”
From March through November, a daily guided bus tour of more than 60 internationally renowned buildings and public works of art begins at the Columbus Indiana Visitors Center at 10 a.m., Monday through Friday. There are two of these whirlwind tours on Saturday, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and another at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The two-hour tours begin with a 15-minute video on the history of Columbus and includes the chance to explore two building interiors.
The tour will show you the building that started it all: First Christian Church, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001, one of six in the city. J. Irwin Miller, co-founder of Columbus-based Cummins Engine Co., personally prevailed on Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen to design what was to be the first of many contemporary and modernist buildings in Columbus. First Christian, completed in 1941, was one of the first contemporary design churches in the nation.
The tour also includes North Christian Church, designed by Saarinen’s son, Eero Saarinen, who also designed the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, MO, and the former Trans World Airlines Terminal 5 at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. The hexagonal Disciples of Christ church, completed in 1964, sports a distinctive central spire that rises 192 feet high. A circular window, known as an oculus, just below the spire admits light to the sanctuary below. The tour also includes the colorful AT&T /SBC Switching Station, the Mabel McDowell Elementary School, the former Irwin Union Bank and Trust (now First Financial Bank) and many, many more nationally recognized buildings and public art.
HelloBloomington Tip: Can’t fit in the bus tour? You can take a tour by cell phone. That’s right: using your mobile telephone, you can dial into recorded messages describing 11 buildings on a walking tour of downtown Columbus.
Posted on Jun 15, 2011 by Ivonne Rovira
