Athens of the Prairie
Chicago. New York City. San Francisco. Columbus, Indiana?
When it comes to modern architecture, tiny Columbus (population 40,000) joins the ranks of major American cities, according to the American Institute of Architects. The city, located about halfway between Louisville and Indianapolis boasts over 60 buildings designed by some of the most renowned architects of the 20th Century, such as Eero Saarinen and Pritzker Prize (the Nobel of architecture) winners, Richard Meier and I.M. Pei. Meier is responsible for the design of the High Museum in Atlanta and the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Chinese born American Pei designed the East Building of the National Gallery in Washington D.C. and the pyramid entrance to the Louvre. Columbus contains six National Landmarks of modern architecture and approximately 50,000 people visit the city each year just to see its architectural gems.
This Midwestern town did not achieve international acclaim by accident. It is different by design. The transformation began in the early 1940’s under the guidance of a rare visionary, J. Irwin Miller, who died this past Monday at 95-years-old.
Miller’s interest in architecture began in the 1930’s while he was a student at Yale. He was swept up in the optimistic fervor of Modernism and carried this passion back home to Columbus. “Columbus, Ind., and J. Irwin Miller are almost holy words in architectural circles,” wrote a New York Times architecture critic in 1976. “There is no other place in which a single philanthropist has placed so much faith in architecture as a means to civic improvement.” Miller and his company, Cummins Engine, were instrumental in bringing these world famous architects to Columbus where they produced school buildings, churches, plazas, and important civic buildings. I love the Second Street Bridge, created to announce to visitors that Columbus is a “special place,” although the urbanist in me wonders why they left out the sidewalks.
To be sure, Miller was born into a family that had money. But after receiving his Master’s from Oxford, he is given credit for building Cummins into a Fortune 500 company. The company now employs more than 24,000 people and earns $6 billion in annual sales. The earlier success of the company afforded an opportunity to establish a foundation to subsidize the kind of projects Miller thought would be benefit the town. For example, frustrated by the generic schools produced in the 1950’s and 1960’s Miller agreed to pay the architectural fees for a new school, if he could select the designer. Chicago’s Harry Weese got the nod.
Miller wasn’t just interested in architecture, however. He was a progressive social reform advocate and helped launch the 1963 civil rights march on Washington. He advised both John F. Kennedy and Nelson Mandela. A few years ago he publicly supported (a 90 year-old man remember) Cummin’s stance on extending domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian employees. It is interesting that Miller’s unwavering faith in Modernism was easily reconciled with a faith in God–arguably two opposing worldviews. He was actively involved with the Disciples of Christ flavor of Christianity and was president of the National Council of Churches from 1960 to 1963. Cummins even had a faith-based corporate metric used in the 1970’s: The Irwin Miller Transparency Test. It’s pretty simple. “If an individual is willing to explain to the local minister what he or she was doing, then it passed the transparency test and could ’stand the light of day.’” It’s no surprise that churches are some of the highlights of Columbus’ architectural showcase.
I want to think that there was a time when people trusted and respected leaders even if they disagreed with some of his or her views on religion, the role of government in public life, progressive reforms, domestic and foreign policy, and so on. They recognized integrity and character and were willing to give the leader some breathing room on some issues. I feel like we’re exiting an era where leaders could be complicated human beings and not sign-off on a predetermined list of beliefs that happen to be in vogue for their party. Can you imagine George W. Bush addressing a large evangelical rally and saying, “While scientific progress must not come at any price, we’re not doing our kids favors by putting warning labels about evolution in high school textbooks. Just like global warming, evolution is the real deal. Let’s accept the facts and move on.” Or what about Kerry and his strange stance on abortion. At a Catholic mass in Iowa, he told reporters that life begins at conception. Really? If it does than how can abortion not be murder? If life begins at conception, then how can you possiblity not be unequivocally against abortion? Of course, like the evangelicals, large segments of Kerry’s base can’t accept this departure from orthodoxy. All or nothing.
J. Irwin Miller, we hardly knew ye.
August 22nd, 2004
