Blogs from Columbus, Indiana, United States, North America
Big Architecture in a Small City
Published: March 4th 2012North America » United States » Indiana » Columbus
June 9th 2011
My first item for today was another Midwestern art museum, the Cincinnati Art Museum. Like the other Cs, Columbus (see June 7th) and Cleveland (see June 2nd), it’s a midsize comprehensive museum. Just like the other two, most of the museum is a little bit of lots of things, leaving me wanting more. The museum does have one incredible exhibit, called the Art of Cincinnati. Like most newly rich areas (see Charlotte on April 10th) wealthy Cincinnati residents supported the arts to gain cultural cache. Unlike many cities in this area, they were doing so as early as the 183... read more
Architecture of the Magical Midwest
Published: August 10th 2007North America » United States » Indiana » Columbus
July 2nd 2007
Columbus, Indiana is a strange place. It's an industrial, company town, home to Cummins Diesel, that happens to have some of the best architecture in the US. The philanthropist J. Irwin Miller offered to pay the architects' fees for the public buildings, not for their construction expenses. While this arrangement doesn't result in architecture on a monumental scale, it does result in clever solutions to architectural problems faced by many small, American towns. The best buildings in Columbus are Aero Saarinen's North Christian Church and Robert Venturi's Fire Station Number 4. Saarinen's church is a sublime piece of serious, formal modern architecture. The drive across the lawn and through the pew-like parking lot is also something ... read more
