IN December, small towns all across America usher in the Christmas season like nobody’s business: Festive decor dresses up Main Street, a handsome evergreen stands proudly over the public square, Santa and the Missus make cameos at the local shopping center.
No different is Columbus, Indiana — a town of 40,000 people set 40 miles south of Indianapolis. White lights festoon the trees along downtown Columbus’s picturesque main thoroughfare, Washington Street. Here, among the turn-of-the-20th-century buildings, is the beautifully restored, circa-1900 ice-cream parlor Zaharakos, whose Victorian flourishes look even more fanciful dolled up in garland and red ribbon.
Along Washington Street’s sidewalks are unattended chairs, set up by folks claiming their spots for the big Festival of Lights parade that Saturday evening. Local marching bands, fire trucks, Boy and Girl Scout troops, church groups and, of course, Santa himself will take part in the December ritual.
It’s all so quaint and, well . . . typically Midwestern.
But Columbus is also, in fact, wonderfully atypical. It’s a design mecca, with more than 60 important Modernist buildings — six of them designated National Historic Landmarks — by a who’s-who of architectural heavies: Saarinen (both Eliel and son, Eero), Cesar Pelli, I.M. Pei, Harry Weese, Richard Meier, Robert A.M. Stern, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Todd Williams, Deborah Berke, Robert Venturi and Gwathmey Siegel. Sculptures by the likes of Henry Moore, Dale Chihuly and Jean Tinguely are on public display. And not to be outdone, the children’s museum boasts the world’s largest toilet (a nonfunctioning one that kids can slide down with a “flush”).
Just how did this small, Midwestern town manage to attract such a lofty lineup of architects? It started in the 1940s, when native son J. Irwin Miller headed up the Cummins Engine Company, which manufactures diesel engines (it remains Columbus’s largest employer). The progressive Miller revered Modernism and — this being the Midwest — God, too, so it came to be that Eliel Saarinen was enlisted to design the First Christian Church in 1942.
Saarinen’s boxy, asymmetrical creation stands out among the Victorian homes and Italianate mansions that surround it. Austere and remarkably un-churchlike, it’s hard to imagine the congregation fully accepted the building, especially in that day and age. Even today, the design leaves one a bit cold (though inside, the abundance of wood and sunlight through the tall windows provide some much-needed warmth).
The church presaged future development in Columbus; in 1957, Miller established the Cummins Foundation, which agreed to pay architects’ fees for any civic building, provided the client chose from Miller’s pre-approved list. Which meant that Modernist structures started springing up all over town — from schools to fire stations to banks to places of worship. (Miller lived the Modernist movement to such an extent that he had his own home built by Eero Saarinen; a national historic landmark, it was recently donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art and is scheduled to open to the public in the next two years.)
Top billing goes to Eero’s North Christian Church, built in 1964, which is almost as notable for its towering, 192-foot spire as it is for its rigidly defined setting by landscape architect Dan Kiley. A few blocks away, kids run around the playground at the Lillian C. Schmitt Elementary School, taking little notice of the fact that their building was designed by renowned modernist Harry Weese in 1957. And when they graduate to 6th grade, they’ll head down the street to attend Northside Middle School, another Weese project.
In fact, every day in Columbus, locals go about their ordinary tasks in some rather extraordinary buildings — banking at the Deborah Berke-designed branch of Irwin Union, mailing a letter at the main post office built by Roche Dinkeloo, checking out a book at the I.M. Pei library.
Many residents, while proud of their town, don’t quite get the fascination visitors have with Columbus. This despite some 10,000-plus people each year taking in the area’s architecture through organized bus or walking tours (as well as several thousand more who take their own self-guided tours).
One patron I spoke to at the 4th Street Bar thought I was in town to interview “The Biggest Loser” contestant (and Columbus resident) Allen Smith, who was sitting at a table behind me, signing autographs. (The affable Smith, though he didn’t win, shaved off over 100 pounds — better to serve as a volunteer firefighter, county coroner and caterer.)
Others couldn’t believe that I’d be braving the frigid temperatures for the Festival of Lights, but just about every one of them recalled having done so on a December night in years past.
I bundled up and joined the crowds who’d turned out for the parade despite the single-digit weather. There, in front of the sleek, Eero Saarinen-designed main office of the Irwin Union Bank, I watched as float after float of church groups, beauty queens and local businessmen dressed as elves and Grinches went by in a swirl of bright, blinking Christmas lights. They tossed candy canes and chocolates to the kids who scrambled to fill their bags like it was Halloween. The festivities culminated with the grand lighting of the Christmas tree at city hall and fireworks set to music.
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.
For more information, visit www.columbus.in.us
THE LOWDOWN
Sleep: Downtown Columbus’s first boutique hotel, the Hotel Indigo, features funky décor and the friendliest dog in town (from $99; 400 Brown St., hotelindigo.com).
Eat & drink: A “Cheers”-like atmosphere pervades the 4th Street Bar & Grill, with plenty of regulars, live music, sports and something called indoor smoking (433 Fourth St., 812-376-7063). Looking for that upscale option? You’ll find a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef at Bistro 310 (310 Fourth St., bistro310.com). Order up the specialty Green River soda with a sloppy Gom sandwich at the historic ice cream parlor Zaharakos. If you’re there during the holidays, try a scoop of peppermint ice cream (329 Washington St., zaharakos.com).
Do: Take a guided architectural tour of Columbus led by a trained staff who can take you inside some of the churches (which are otherwise off-limits to the public). Call 800-468-6564 to make a reservation ($12). Or, do a self-guided tour using a map and your cell phone for $10. Visit the Columbus Visitors Center, 506 Fifth St., for more information.