Prominent by design
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Architecture — even great architecture — often goes down easier when it’s wrapped around a big ice cream sundae or an old-fashioned chocolate malt, complete with cherry on top.
I was visiting Columbus to see the city’s impressive and world-famous collection of 20th-century modernist buildings.
My wife and 11-year-old twins were with me because it was spring break. The twins are marvelous travelers, but Columbus, Indiana, no matter how you slice it, is no Magic Kingdom, and I.M Pei, despite his credentials as a world-famous architect, is no Walt Disney.
We all enjoyed, or at least stoically endured, our guided walking tour of downtown Columbus past many of the city's most renowned architectural gems. Perhaps our guide always concludes her tours at Zaharakos, a historic downtown ice cream parlor. But I suspect that the presence of two polite but antsy fifth-graders steered us to the final stop.
After a morning gorging on modernism, followed by sweet, creamy goodness, we were all sated.
Walking or driving the streets of Columbus, especially on one of several guided tours offered from the downtown Visitors Center, is like a master's course in mid-20th-century architecture.
Only about 2,500 sites in the country have been named National Historic Landmarks. Columbus, a city with a population of less than 45,000, has seven, all built in the 1940s or later. What the Columbus landmarks lack in age, they make up for in architectural significance.
Our morning walking tour began just behind the Visitors Center in a plaza surrounded by representative buildings and art, including Pei’s Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, sculptor Henry Moore's “Large Arch,” and the First Christian Church, which really began the city’s enduring love affair with world-class architecture and architects.
First Christian was designed by prominent Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. Although completed in 1942, the building still looks almost-shockingly modern. The style embodies modernist simplicity and functionality. But it also features an engaging decorative style and a clock tower that can be called anything but modest. The 160-foot-tall tower might seem to have no function (besides telling time), but given that this is a church, drawing eyes upwards is quite functional.
Eliel’s son Eero Saarinen, who designed the St. Louis Gateway Arch and many other world-famous structures, later designed three more buildings in Columbus that are now National Historic Landmarks: North Christian Church, the Irwin Union Bank and one of his few home designs, the J. Irwin Miller house. (The uniquely named architect is also a frequent crossword-puzzle answer.)
It was Miller, chairman of the family-owned Cummins Inc., a diesel-engine maker, who helped encourage the city to become the architectural center it is today. Since the 1950s, the Cummins Foundation has offered to pay the architect’s fee for schools and other public buildings that are built with a foundation-approved architect.
Individuals and other organizations jumped on the high-design bandwagon, and the city also has done an admirable job of preserving the architecture of the more-distant past. Those significant examples of 19th- and early-20th-century architecture include many lovely downtown business blocks, one home to the Zaharakos ice cream parlor.
Begun by three Greek brothers in 1900 (the shop is still referred to by locals as “the Greeks”), Zaharakos was closed by the family in the early 2000s. The building sat empty for several years before the business was resurrected by a local businessman.
The ice cream shop is in a turn-of-the-20th-century commercial building, one that is pretty but not unique — until you go inside. Fully restored and reopened in 2009, Zaharakos is one of the finest examples in the country of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. It features beautifully restored antique soda fountains, a 50-foot double-back bar with all the trimmings, and an orchestron, an old-fashioned machine that provides carousel-style musical accompaniment.
Kids (of all ages) might also be interested in the indoor playground at the downtown Commons — another interesting modern structure — and in the Kidscommons children’s museum. The museum features hands-on exhibits, including, of course, a “city by design” center where youngsters can try their hand at urban planning and design.
Thirsty grown-ups should stop by the Pump House, a 1903 city water plant on the East Fork of the White River that's been restored as a brewpub.
When it came time to pick up a souvenir of our trip at the Visitors Center, we opted for an architectural Christmas-tree ornament.
We could have picked something by Pei or a Saarinen, but we walked out with a golden depiction of Zaharakos. It wasn’t the most architecturally significant place we saw, but it's probably where we made the most significant memories.
sstephens@dispatch.com
@SteveStephens
COLUMBUS, Ind.
This small city of about 45,000 people is one of the best sites in the country to explore the best of modern architecture. The walkable downtown also features wonderfully preserved buildings of an earlier era, with many shops, restaurants, museums and more. The city's downtown parks are beautifully designed and fun to explore.
THE ARCHITECTURE
Columbus features seven National Historic Landmarks, all notable modernist buildings constructed since 1942.
The architects and their buildings:
* Eliel Saarinen: First Christian Church, 1942
* Eero Saarinen: Irwin Union Bank, 1954; J. Irwin Miller house, 1957; North Christian Church, 1964
* John Carl Warnecke: Mabel McDowell Elementary School, 1960
* Edward Larrabee Barnes: First Baptist Church, 1965
* Myron Goldsmith: Republic newspaper building, 1971 — the youngest of any architectural National Historic Landmarks
Many other buildings by prominent modern architects can also be seen in Columbus, including the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library by I.M. Pei.
MORE INFORMATION
To learn more or to book an architectural tour, contact the Columbus Area Visitors Center at 1-800-468-6564 or visit columbus.in.us.