I am not sure that I am dreaming this up, but I thought I once read there is a small college town with over 50 modern style Architecture houses built by some very famous architects. I was wondering what city this is, but does anyone have a link to a website about it?
Thanks
Ben
Columbus Indiana rates 6th on the list of cities in the US of architectural interest. I don’t know about the modern style homes, though.
Columbus, IN is the first city that popped into my mind, too. I’m not aware that a large number of private homes were designed by famous architects, but a lot of the public buildings were designed by very famous people or firms, including Eero Saarinen, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Gunnar Birkerts, I.M. Pei, and Roche-Dinkeloo.
The city’s architecture page
Link to an interesting-looking documentary about the town. The “companion web site” has some cool pictures.
Indiana is the bestest state in the union. What this has to do with the OP, I have no clue.
I’d like to see that list. What’s at the top? New Orleans? Las Vegas?
[severe hijack]
If you ever drive east from Illinois into Indiana, preferably on a state road (as opposed to an interstate highway), you’ll notice something unusual. In Illinois, many (if not most) of the farms and other rural houses have chipping paint, overgrown lawns, cars up on blocks, etc. Many houses have clearly been abandoned for decades. However, immediately after you cross the border into Indiana, nearly all of the houses have fresh paint, bright green, well-tended lawns, American flags flying proudly from their porches, etc.
This just goes to show… well, I don’t know what, but undoubtedly it’s something profound.
[/servere hijack]
I’m not sure about the validity of the above post, but every one of Indiana’s counties has a substantial community foundation, thanks to the Lilly Endowment. Most community foundations provide funds for that very thing - asthetic upgrades to your house and property, including landscaping and paint.
I grew up in Columbus. I do remember lots of fancy buildings; we lived a couple of blocks from the North Christian Church which got national writeups for its architecture. Some guy named Irwin, IIRC (I think he was a big banking tycoon) donated lots of money towards advancing the state of the art of architecture. My elementary school also had a notable design.
Thanks for your info
Ben
I’m not sure what is classified as modern, but I seem to recall South Bend had more than a few Frank Lloyd Wright homes, especially near Notre Dame.
I especially remember one our family was looking at one day whilst house-hunting. It had been “updated” sometime in the mid-1960s and was a horror of red laquer paint and flocked wallpaper. It truly made the baby Jesus cry.
From their website:
http://columbus.in.us/page.asp?page=Architecture
Columbus has earned world-wide recognition for its modern architecture. In 1991, the American Institute of Architects surveyed 829 of its members. They ranked Columbus 6th among U.S. cities in architectural quality and innovation. Only Chicago, New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Boston were ranked higher.
J. Irwin Miller built his family’s business, Cummins Engine Co., into a Fortune 500 corporation. Miller’s middle name reflects his descent from Joseph Irwin, who founded the bank that saw Miller assume its presidency in 1947.