Explore Our Collections

The Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives holds physical and digital materials documenting the significant architecture, landscape architecture, public planning, public art, and graphic design of Bartholomew County and Columbus, Indiana from the early 20th century to the present.

When the archival materials that make up CIAA’s holdings were first being collected in the late 1960s, architectural patronage by local families, foundations, and businesses had earned Columbus the name “The Athens of the Prairie” for its mid-century modern buildings. Collecting efforts focused on buildings designed by nationally recognized architects. Quickly the collecting scope expanded to include landscape architecture and public planning, and more recently the areas of public art and graphic design have been added. CIAA collects materials documenting all of Bartholomew County.

Materials are in many formats, including sketches, drawings, correspondence, reports, photographs, material samples, audio and video recordings, and models. The reference library and clipping files support the interpretation of our collection.

Read CIAA’s Collection Development Policy.

Explore the Collection

Selected Projects and Collections

  • The building at 301 Washington Street, completed in 1882, was originally home to Irwin’s Bank, a forerunner of Irwin Union Bank & Trust. In 1962, Alexander Girard was commissioned to design the office suite of J. Irwin Miller who, at that time, led Cummins Engine Company, Irwin Union Bank, and Union Starch and Refining Company. Girard returned in 1972 to design new interiors for Irwin Management Company. Both the 1962 and 1972 designs incorporated Girard-designed textiles for Herman Miller and many custom furnishings. The building’s exterior features the original 1882 cornice but painted to specifications Girard established for all downtown storefronts in 1965.

    Photo by Hadley Fruits. 301 Washington Street Collection (C0001)

  • The CIAA Audio and Moving Image Collection (C0031) is comprised of audio and video recordings from 1967 to the present documenting community involvement in the architecture, landscape architecture, planning, and public art projects for which Columbus and Bartholomew County are known. Recordings include interviews with community members, presentations by designers, educational programs for architecture tour guides, and public events such as building dedications. Funding from the Clarence E. and Inez. R. Custer Foundation and the Walter C. and Elizabeth Ruddick Nugent Foundation has supported the digitization of these materials.

    Photo by The Republic. Republic Newspaper Negative Collection (LC0002)

  • Swiss artist Jean Tinguely was commissioned in the early 1970s to create a kinetic sculpture for a new downtown Columbus, Indiana, mall designed by Cesar Pelli of Gruen Associates. Installed in 1974, Tinguely’s “Chaos I” is his largest work in the United States. Tinguely described “Chaos I” as being like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with periods of relative calm punctuated by cacophonous madness. Pelli envisioned the sculpture as a very large toy as well as a work of art around which community members could meet.

     Collage by Jean Tinguely. CIAA Legacy Collection (C0006)

  • Designed by I.M. Pei & Partners with Kenneth D.B. Carruthers as the project architect, the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library is the main branch of the Bartholomew County Public Library. Though the building was completed in 1969, the library plaza with Henry Moore’s monumental bronze “Large Arch” sculpture was dedicated in 1971. Columbus-based architect James K. Paris designed the 1987 addition to the library. Blue Marble Design renovated the plaza in 2014, connecting the library to the Columbus Area Visitors Center. The library stands across the street from Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s First Christian Church.

    Photo by Balthazar Korab.

  • Edward Bassett, a partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in San Francisco, designed Columbus City Hall. Serving as an anchor to downtown commercial corridor (Washington Street), the triangular building faces the Bartholomew County Courthouse and is next to The Republic newspaper building. Completed in 1981, the building is home to a public art collection that includes paintings by Robert Indiana and William T. Wiley, photographs by Balthazar Korab and J. Bruce Baumann, and quilts made in Indiana. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

    Drawing by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. City of Columbus Collection (C0019)

  • Landscape architect Dan Kiley completed so many projects in Columbus, Indiana, that some refer to Columbus as “Kileyville.” Among those projects are the Miller Garden, North Christian Church, Irwin Union Bank (central office), the Clarence Hamilton House, and the Bicentennial Project along State Road 46. Early projects for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation received support from the Hamilton Foundation. With possibly as many as forty projects in Columbus from 1955 to 1989, CIAA has drawings for sixteen projects.

    Drawing by Dan Kiley + Partners.

  • Venturi and Rauch’s first completed commission, Fire Station No. 4 is located northeast of downtown Columbus, Indiana. Built in 1967, the trapezoidal building occupies a narrow lot next to an electric substation on a busy corridor. The hose-drying tower centered on the building’s front has at its top the super graphic 4 beneath the much smaller FIRE STATION. Gerod Clark was the project architect. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

    Drawing by Venturi and Rauch. Fire Station No. 4 Collection (C0028)

  • When Chicago-based architect Harry Weese was commissioned for the project, he had already completed more than a dozen projects in Columbus and Hope, Indiana. First Baptist Church was completed in 1965 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The brick building is located on a small hill across the street from Edward Larrabee Barnes’ W.D. Richard Elementary School, also completed in 1965. Dan Kiley designed the landscape, and, in 1995, Columbus based architect Frank M. Adams, Jr. adapted the sanctuary to be accessible.

    Sketch by Harry Weese & Associates. Harry Weese & Associates Collection (C0010)

  • Designed by Eliel Saarinen and Eero Saarinen and completed in 1942, First Christian Church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The church, also called Tabernacle Church of Christ and Tabernacle Christian Church, is the first modern church in the United States and the first modern building in Columbus, Indiana. Columbus-based architect Nolan Bingham with the firm Paris/Bingham Partnership designed the 2002 three-story addition containing classrooms and offices.

    CIAA Clippings

  • CIAA has an extensive collection of brochures, pamphlets, annual reports, and books that document graphic design work from the 1950s to the present. Among the designers represented in the collection are Paul Rand, Rick Valicenti (Thirst), Michael Bierut (Pentagram), Bud Rodecker (Span), Alexander Giriard, and Commercial Artisan. There are many works by (as yet) unidentified designers.

    Photo by Hadley Fruits.

  • The Hope Branch Library was designed by Deborah Berke and completed in 1998. The branch library, part of the Bartholomew County Public Library system, is in the town of Hope, Indiana (population 2,100). The one-story brick building is located in the town’s Historic District on the town square. It stands next to a former Irwin Union Bank designed by Harry Weese. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

    Model by Deborah Berke & Associates. BCPL Buildings Collection (C0009)

  • Eero Saarinen’s Irwin Union Bank (central office) is located in downtown Columbus, Indiana and was completed in 1954. When additional drive-through canopies were added in 1965, Dan Kiley designed the enlarged landscape. In 1973, Kevin Roche added a three-story annex to the glass-walled bank. The annex featured textile murals by Alexander Girard. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

    Drawing by Eero Saarinen & Associates.

  • Lillian C. Schmitt Elementary School, designed by Harry Weese and completed in 1957, was the project that helped launch the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. In 1992, the Boston-based firm Leers, Weinzapfel Associates completed an addition, and Dan Kiley designed the landscape. Indianapolis-based CSO architects led a major renovation of the school in 2025. The architects’ fees for the original building and the addition were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

    Photo by Balthazar Korab. Harry Weese & Associates Collection (C0010)

  • Gunnar Birkert’s Lincoln Elementary School replaced the nineteenth-century Lincoln School by Charles F. Sparrell. Completed in 1967, the school was designed to be fully handicap accessible. Birkerts prepared drawings and a model for the school’s expansion in 2001, but the expansion went unrealized. In 2018, Hitchcock Design Group added a new playground and an outdoor learning area with seating by Jonathan Nesci. The architects’ fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

     Drawing by Gunnar Birkerts & Associates. Lincoln Elementary School Collection (C0029)

  • Designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000, John Carl Warnacke’s 1960 Mabel McDowell Elementary School is known today as the McDowell Education Center. The school’s 5 interconnected structures consist of a larger central building (originally with administrative offices and a multipurpose room) and 4 smaller buildings, each made up of 3 classroom clusters. The buildings are connected with covered walkways. The school was Columbus’ first to use the “park-school” concept that linked a neighborhood park to a school. The architects’ fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

     Drawing by John Carl Warnacke. Mabel McDowell Elementary School Collection (C0034)

  • Landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh designed the 85-acre Mill Race Park just blocks west of downtown Columbus, Indiana. Located where the Flat Rock and Driftwood rivers join, the park frequently floods, yet its design accommodates that. Architect Stanley Saitowitz designed a series of architectural follies including an observation tower, an amphitheater, restrooms, picnic shelters, a boat launch, a lookout platform, and an arbor. The park was completed in 1992. The architects’ fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program.

     Model by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates. Cummins Collection (C0002)

  • The Miller House and Garden was designed by architects Eero Saarinen and Alexander Girard and landscape architect Dan Kiley. Completed in 1957, the property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives holds a drawing set of the house as well as some photographs. Newfields and the Indianapolis Museum of Art is the repository for the primary archival collection documenting the design, construction, and maintenance of the house and garden. 

    Aerial photo depicting the Miller House and Garden under construction. Irwin Management Company Collection (C0002)

  • Located approximately 20 blocks north of downtown Columbus, Indiana, North Christian Church is one of the last buildings designed by Eero Saarinen. With a landscape by Dan Kiley and liturgical objects by Alexander Girard, the property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. After the congregation disbanded in 2023, the Bartholomew County Public Library acquired the building and grounds in 2024. The site has been renamed The LEX, Library of Experience.

     Drawing by Eero Saarinen & Associates.

  • Since the end of the Second World War, the City of Columbus, Indiana, has engaged scores of planning and architecture firms in its effort to maintain the vibrancy of its downtown. Among the firms and designers who have worked in Columbus are Lawrence V. Sheridan, F. Elwood Allen, Ladislas Segoe and Associates, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Myron Goldsmith, David Sharpe), Laurence A. Alexander & Company, Alexander Girard, Jack Curits & Associates, CRS Sirrine (Paul Kennon), Storrow Kinsella Partnership, The Rouse Company, Bill Johnson, Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, Development Concepts, Inc., Koetter | Kim & Associates, David Rubin Land Collective, James Lima Planning + Development, and Sasaki.

    Drawing from Columbus Master Plan by L. V. Sheridan and Son Planning Consultants.

  • The Republic newspaper building was designed by Myron Goldsmith, a Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) partner in the Chicago office. Completed in 1971 with a landscape by Dan Kiley, The Republic building housed the newspaper’s offices and printing press. Since 2019 the building, owned by Indiana University, has been home to the J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2012. Funding from the Clarence E. and Inez. R. Custer Foundation and the Walter C. and Elizabeth Ruddick Nugent Foundation supported processing this collection.

    The Republic building dedication brochure. CIAA Ephemera Collection

Online Exhibits

301 Washington Street: Cornerstone of Columbus, Indiana

The building at 301 Washington Street, with interiors by Alexander Girard, has played a role in the history of prominent families, businesses, and modern design in Columbus, Indiana. More than any other building in Columbus, 301 Washington Street tells the story of the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller family. While many families have contributed to shaping Columbus over the last two hundred years, the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller family holds a unique position for its involvement in business, religion, politics, art, and philanthropy locally, nationally, and internationally.

This project was supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered by the Indiana State Library.

Photo by Hadley Fruits.

Anchor, Move, Connect: Henry Moore’s “Large Arch”

Henry Moore's "Large Arch," located on the broad plaza of I.M. Pei's Cleo Rogers Memorial Library in downtown Columbus, Indiana, was installed in the spring of 1971. The monumental bronze sculpture serves as the plaza’s visual anchor for the surrounding buildings. And yet, the sculpture invites us to move under and around it; to allow our eyes to move over its surface to the buildings beyond. As a gathering place, the library plaza connects local residents with one another and with people and places around the world.

This project was supported by Friends of CIAA.

Illustration by Commercial Artisan.

Digital Collections

  • CIAA uses Omeka, a web publishing platform, to share digital materials and to host online exhibits. In addition to the exhibits on Henry Moore’s “Large Arch” and Alexander Girard’s 301 Washington Street, materials from a wide variety of projects may be browsed.

    Drawing by Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, Inc. Irwin Management Company Collection (C0002)

  • The BCSC Administration Building is the former Maple Grove School (later called Garfield School) and Arvin Company Headquarters. The original school building was designed by Charles F. Sparrell in 1896; William Brown Jr., of Ratio Architects designed the addition in 1989 when it became the Arvin Company Headquarters. The materials available online are the architectural drawings; site improvement drawings; construction photos, and a brochure about the Garfield School. This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Drawing by Ratio Architects. Orwic Johnson Collection (C0060)

  • Bartholomew County Hospital, known today as Columbus Regional Hospital, began serving the county in 1917. Materials available online capture much of that 100-year history with drawings of the Nurses Home (1929) by Norman Hill; additions and alterations to the hospital (1959) by Hill and Wuper, Inc.; additions to the hospital (1967) by Schmit, Garden & Erikson; the new Bartholomew County Hospital (1990) by Robert A.M. Stern; and signage (1992) by Robert A. M. Stern. (While CIAA does have drawings of the original building by D.A. Bohlen and Sons, these are not available online.)

    This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Drawing by Norman Hill, 1929.

  • Central Junior High School, razed in 2007, originally served as Columbus High School from 1905 to 1956. Materials available online pertain to two renovations by Columbus-based architecture firm Wood & Burd. The first renovation occurred in 1973 and the second in 1978. This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Drawing by Wood & Burd. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation Collection (C0012)

  • Ralph Johnson of Perkins + Will designed Central Middle School. The middle school, completed in 2007, replaced the former Central Junior High School. Materials available online are architectural drawings and the construction document manual. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Drawing by Perkins + Will. Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation Collection (C0012)

  • Built in 2005 and designed by Kevin Kennon of Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), the Columbus Learning Center has classrooms, offices, a library, and other resources for four educational institutions. Materials available online include planning documents from 1998, 1999, and 2000; the project timeline, a presentation booklet for the Indiana Commission of Higher Education, KPF’s schematic design, and the dedication brochure. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Model by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates. Columbus Learning Center Collection (C0053)

  • The 85-acre Mill Race Park is located where the Flat Rock and Driftwood rivers join in Columbus, Indiana. The park today is the work of landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh and architect Stanley Saitowitz. Materials available online are photos from 1963 documenting “Death Valley;” a Parks and Recreation department scrapbook; a booklet about the proposed park; funding documents; conceptual drawings by Stanley Saitowitz; drawings by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; and a dedication pamphlet. The architect’s fees were paid for by the Cummins Foundation Architecture Program. This digital collection is hosted by Indiana University Indianapolis and was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services.

    Drawing by Stanley Saitowitz Office. City of Columbus Collection (C0019)