"Though we saw numerous public and private buildings, all of superior design, the highlight of the tour for me was seeing several incredible examples of the partnership between Eero Saarinen and modern landscape architect Dan Kiley. This powerful design team should ring a bell with St. Louisans — Saarinen and Kiley worked together to design the Gateway Arch and surrounding grounds of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial. They also worked together on the Irwin Union Bank in downtown Columbus, completed in 1954. With original furniture by George Nelson, another father of modernist design, the building remains a functional piece of art.
- from Columbus, Ind is an Architectural Treasure by Amy Burger, August 8, 2010, STLToday.com
"In the heart of the so-called Rust Belt lies an extraordinary example of what vision and open-mindedness did for a central Indiana industrial town set amid farm fields . . . Columbus, however, is a town that lifts your spirits. It is a community enhanced by modern architecture that dates from the 1950s to present, designed by notable names such as Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero, Harry Weese, I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Richard Meier and Robert Venturi. Some 60 architectural gems — schools, a library, churches, banks, a post office, fire stations, a newspaper and offices — make you ooh and aah."
- from Columbus, Ind. — glitter amid the rust by Alfred Borcover, March 22, 2010 Chicago Tribune
"...what made Columbus so appealing to me - important architecture notwithstanding - were the people. Like the bartender at the 4th Street Bar, who recalled my name and my drink after serving me just once. Or the owner of Zaharakos, who proudly demonstrated the restaurant's restored orchestrions (automated organs). Or the incredibly knowledgeable tour guides who volunteered their time showing off the town's architectural gems. And even the Hotel Indigo's resident dog, Miles, who greeted me with a furiously wagging tail. They were hardworking, friendly...and well, Midwestern."
- From "Fifty States: Indiana" by Jennifer Ceaser, New York Post, Dec. 2009
"There's something different about Columbus, Indiana, and it's immediately apparent as you approach the town from the I-65 interchange. Rising out of the rolling fields of soybeans, a triangular red suspension bridge slung across the White River announces the departure from the norm. Somewhat improbably, this small city of 39,000—hometown to basketball great Chuck Taylor—happens to house 60-odd gems of 20th-century architecture. As such, the town that Lady Bird Johnson dubbed “the Athens of the prairie” makes an ideal day trip or weekend getaway for A-and-D buffs."
"Start your visit with the two-hour bus tour that departs most mornings from the Visitors’ Center. Spend your afternoon exploring some of the buildings at a more leisurely pace; the churches alone - especially First Christian, First Baptist, and North Christian - warrant a close look inside and out . . . After dinner at Smith’s Row, take one last walk around town: Some Columbus buildings, such as the Pei-designed library, look their loveliest when illuminated from within at night."
"In this small southern Indiana town famous for modern architecture, the newest attraction is actually quite old.
"It's been an amazing adventure," said Zaharakos' owner, Anthony Moravec, president of a Columbus-based pharmaceutical company.
"There's nothing like this in the country today," Moravec said about Zaharakos, where the original maple floors from the 1890s are the stage for a slew of antiques. The shop's 1908 Welte orchestrion, a self-playing organ that sounds like an orchestra, is all tuned up and ready to roll. The 50-foot-long double backbar of mahogany, marble and mirrors looks good as new, even though it's nearly a century old.
Back in the '40s, Zaharakos is where (J. Irwin) Miller used to talk about modern design with the likes of Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames over ice cream. This also happens to be where a pretty little soda jerk caught Miller's eye. "He met his wife here in Zaharakos," Moravec said. "She served him his first banana split."
"(the new branch of Irwin Union bank designed by architect Deborah Berke is) a study in precise minimalism..."
"Decades before Richard Florida began touting the gospel of the creative class, (J. Irwin) Miller understood the wisdom of nurturing a well-rounded community where intelligent people wouldn't mind settling down."
"'Working there was incredibly satisfying,' William Rawn says . . . 'the earnestness of the people really impressed me . . . I grew to love them for their respect for what architects did.'"
- From article "Columbus Explored," by John King, July/Aug. 2006
"(The new branch of Irwin Union Bank is) one of the simplest and most sublime structures to have been built in the U.S. in recent memory."
"In fact, Columbus is one of the last remaining footholds of an architecture that, while often fabulous, just doesn't quite fit in anywhere else."
"It's this domino effect, with quality buildings attracting more quality buildings, which Deborah Berke argues, sets Columbus's experience apart from the flash-in-the-pan 'Bilbao Effect' that so many other towns find when they turn to sensational architecture in search of economic salvation."
"Columbus has become a town that invites architectural tourism without fetishising architecture, that warrants closer attention without requiring excessing analysis."
"...the people of Columbus live, breathe and use their architecture, constantly aware of what it does for them without stepping into self-conscious territory."
- From article "Best in the Midwest," Eva Hagberg, Aug. 2006
"...the people of Columbus fell in love with modern architecture, and modern architecture in turn fell in love with Columbus."
"What's remarkable about Columbus is not so much the astonishing fact that this small town has 65 buildings by world-class modern architects as that it wears them so well."
"I feel a great big 'aha!' coming on as I drive around town. This is what modernism is supposed to feel like."
"Columbus is the nation's finest example of how enlightened corporate titans and local citizens have discovered that the place of art is at the root of, not just the expression of, economic vitality."
- From "The Economy of Modernism" by Hillary Johnson, July/August 2000
"...Today, Columbus boasts buildings by I.M. Pei, Kevin Roche, Robert A.M. Stern, Richard Meier, John Carl Warnecke, and Harry Weese, establishing itself as an essential destination for the study of contemporary design and planning."
From article "62 Reasons to Love Your Country," July 2005
"Today, it seems fitting that the city's original commitment to school architecture continues with three education-based projects. An addition to the Lincoln Elementary School building is in the works by Gunnar Birkets, the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based firm that designed the original 1967 structure. The Columbus Learning Center, under design direction of Kevin Kennon of Kohn Pederson Fox in New York, and a new middle school are also under way."
- From article "40 Cities Where Design Rules," Aaron Able, Feb. 2002(both schools mentioned above are now completed)
"Columbus, it's clear, is a town that pays attention to architecture . . . For any fan of architecture, the roll call is impressive.
"The best is still Eliel Sarinen's First Christian church. No architect I spoke with failed to give it first place. First Christian is modernism at its best: logical in its order and orientation, bold in its shapes and spaces, but still in touch with the crafts tradition. Photographs don't do justice to the magic of its perfectly balanced yet asymmetrical architecture, especially in the main sanctuary."
"Among other winners are The Republic building, home of the town's newspaper and one of the most elegant modern glass boxes ever conceived."
"So there's plenty for the architecture buff to see. And there are less visible virtues, such as the fact that Columbus has jump-started the careers of a lot of good architects."
From I.D., Jan./Feb. 2005
"...Columbus, nestled amid corn and soybean fields halfway between Indianapolis and Louisville, is a veritable museum of modern architecture.
"Columbus, says Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin, is a 'small-town architectural mecca.'"
In downtown Columbus, the telephone switching station looks playful with its heating and air conditioning units encased in giant crayon-colored pipes. It is the work of Paul Kennon, whose son Kevin recently designed a local community college building. 'I grew up imbued with the mythology of Columbus,' says Kevin Kennon."
From "By Design," by Clay Risen, Dec. 2005
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