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Columbus, Indiana architecture

A town of about 50,000 people, Columbus is famous worldwide for its modern architecture. J. Irwin Miller, head of the engine maker Cummins, set up a program in which the Cummins Foundation paid architects' fees for public buildings, as long as the client chose from a list of top firms. The result is works by Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I. M. Pei, Harry Weese and Robert Venturi, and seven National Historic Landmarks.

  • 12Landmarks
  • 1874Oldest · Bartholomew County Courthouse
  • 58 mTallest · North Christian Church
  • 11Architects

Before you go

  • Fly intoIndianapolis International (IND)

    Columbus has no airline service of its own, so most visitors fly into Indianapolis International, about 40 miles (65 km) north as the crow flies. The airport handled more than 10.6 million passengers in 2025, while the small Columbus Municipal Airport just north of town serves private flights.

  • CurrencyUS Dollar ($)
  • LanguageEnglish

    English is spoken everywhere, with the easygoing accent of southern Indiana. People from Indiana have long called themselves Hoosiers, and you will hear the word all over town.

  • Getting aroundColumBUS & Walking

    The city's ColumBUS service runs five routes from Monday to Saturday. Downtown, many of the landmark buildings sit within a few blocks of each other, so walking is the best way to see them. Interstate 65 passes the city to the west, and Indiana Route 46 crosses the south side.

  • Where to stayFind hotels in Columbus, Indiana on Expedia Vacation rentals on Vrbo

    Stamped! may earn a commission when you book through these links.

  • Tours and ticketsFind tours in Columbus, Indiana on GetYourGuide More tours on Viator

    Skip-the-line tickets and guided tours of the landmarks. Stamped! may earn a commission.

12 landmarks in Columbus, Indiana

  1. First Christian Church
    Photo: Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    First Christian Church

    531 Fifth St, Columbus, IN

    Finished in 1942, Eliel Saarinen's church was the first modern-style building in Columbus and one of the first contemporary-style churches in the whole country. His son Eero and Charles Eames worked on the details and furnishings. Two brick wings frame a sunken courtyard, joined by a bridge, while a freestanding 166-foot campanile with a clock rises beside them. The church has been praised for its design ever since and is now a National Historic Landmark.

    Built
    1942
    Architect
    Eliel Saarinen (with Eero Saarinen and Charles Eames)
    Style
    Modernism
    Height
    51 m (166 ft)
    Today
    Church
  2. North Christian Church
    Photo: Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    North Christian Church

    850 Tipton Lane, Columbus, IN

    Eero Saarinen designed this church, completed in 1964, and it is often compared with the First Christian Church built by his father. A hexagonal base with a slate roof sweeps up into a slender metal spire, making the whole structure 192 feet tall. An oculus at the base of the spire lets light pour into the sanctuary. Dan Kiley landscaped the grounds and Alexander Girard designed the interior. The congregation disbanded in 2022, and the county library has owned the building since 2024.

    Built
    1964
    Architect
    Eero Saarinen (with Kevin Roche, Dan Kiley and Alexander Girard)
    Style
    Modernism
    Height
    58 m (192 ft)
    Today
    Library Branch (Planned)
  3. Miller House
    Photo: Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Miller House

    2760 Highland Way, Columbus, IN

    Eero Saarinen designed this mid-century modern house for Cummins chief J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia, who moved in in March 1957. The single-story home sits under a flat roof, with four zones branching off a central living room famous for its sunken conversation pit. Alexander Girard designed the furnishings, while Dan Kiley turned the 13.5-acre grounds by the Flatrock River into allées, groves and meadow. Owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art since 2009, it is now a house museum.

    Built
    1957
    Architect
    Eero Saarinen (with Kevin Roche, Dan Kiley and Alexander Girard)
    Style
    Mid-century Modern
    Stories
    1
    Today
    Museum
  4. Irwin Conference Center
    Photo: Reywas92, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Irwin Conference Center

    500 Washington St, Columbus, IN

    Built as the downtown branch of the Irwin Union Bank, this corner building was designed by Eero Saarinen in the early 1950s. The one-story banking hall is wrapped in glass and topped by a concrete roof of nine shallow domes, with an open-plan banking floor inside. Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo added an office annex in the 1970s, and Dan Kiley planted the lawn and trees. Now a conference center, it was named a National Historic Landmark in 2000.

    Built
    1955
    Architect
    Eero Saarinen (expansion by Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo)
    Style
    Modernism
    Stories
    1
    Today
    Conference Center
  5. Cleo Rogers Memorial Library
    Photo: User:RichardMcCoy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Cleo Rogers Memorial Library

    536 Fifth St, Columbus, IN

    I. M. Pei & Partners designed the main library of Bartholomew County, which was completed in 1969 and dedicated in 1971. The building is known for its red brick with concrete details and for the plaza in front, anchored by Henry Moore's bronze sculpture Large Arch. It is named for Cleo Rogers, who served as county librarian for 28 years. Like many civic buildings in Columbus, it came out of the city's tradition of commissioning leading modern architects.

    Built
    1969
    Style
    International Style
    Today
    Library
  6. First Baptist Church
    Photo: Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    First Baptist Church

    3300 Fairlawn Dr, Columbus, IN

    Harry Weese designed this church on Fairlawn Drive, completed in 1965. It was one of the first church designs to pair modern architecture with a non-traditional church plan. The building has seen few changes since it opened and still looks much as Weese intended. It is one of seven National Historic Landmarks in Columbus.

    Built
    1965
    Architect
    Harry Weese
    Style
    Modernism
    Today
    Church
  7. Bartholomew County Courthouse
    Photo: User:RichardMcCoy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Bartholomew County Courthouse

    Third St & Washington St, Columbus, IN

    Long before the modernists arrived, Indiana architect Isaac Hodgson gave Columbus this grand courthouse, built from 1871 to 1874 for $250,000. On completion it was hailed as the finest in the West. The three-story red-brick building is trimmed in limestone and has a mansard roof, corner pavilions and a Corinthian portico. Its six-level clock tower rises 154 feet over Washington Street.

    Built
    1874
    Architect
    Isaac Hodgson
    Style
    Second Empire
    Height
    47 m (154 ft)
    Stories
    3
    Today
    Courthouse
  8. Fire Station No. 4
    Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Fire Station No. 4

    4730 East 25th St, Columbus, IN

    In 1967 the city's fire department asked Robert Venturi for an ordinary building that was easy to maintain, and he delivered one of the earliest examples of postmodern architecture. Completed in 1968, the station has a trapezoid-shaped plan and a semicircular tower at the entrance. The tower's most famous feature is the large yellow number 4 at its top. It shows a very different side of the city's architecture from the sleek modernism downtown.

    Built
    1968
    Architect
    Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown
    Style
    Postmodernism
    Today
    Fire Station
  9. Columbus City Hall
    Photo: Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Columbus City Hall

    Fifth St & Franklin St, Columbus, IN

    Charles Franklin Sparrell designed this red-brick city hall at Fifth and Franklin Streets, built in 1895. The three-story Romanesque Revival building sits on a limestone foundation, with a steep slate roof, prominent parapet gables and a four-story tower over the arched entrance. In 1899 the county's first library opened in two of its rooms. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

    Built
    1895
    Architect
    Charles Franklin Sparrell
    Style
    Romanesque Revival
    Stories
    3
    Today
    Historic Building
  10. Crump Theatre
    Photo: User:RichardMcCoy, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Crump Theatre

    425 Third St, Columbus, IN

    This downtown theater began in 1889, when John Smith Crump hired Charles Franklin Sparrell to add a theatre to an existing building on Third Street. In 1941 Alden Meranda remodeled it, giving the facade the Art Deco look it still has today. It is part of the Columbus Historic District. Now owned by the Columbus Capital Foundation, it is used from time to time for concerts, comedy and other events.

    Built
    1889
    Architect
    Charles Franklin Sparrell & Alden Meranda
    Style
    Romanesque Revival / Art Deco
    Today
    Event Venue
  11. Mabel McDowell Elementary School
    Photo: Greg Hume (Greg5030 at English Wikipedia), CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Mabel McDowell Elementary School

    2700 McKinley Ave, Columbus, IN

    Built in 1960, this school was a major early work by architect John Carl Warnecke. He arranged it as a cluster of pods linked by covered walkways, each topped by its own pyramid-shaped roof. Warnecke said he wanted to echo the flat southern Indiana landscape, with its farm buildings grouped among trees. The building became an adult education center in 1982 and was named a National Historic Landmark in 2001.

    Built
    1960
    Style
    Modernism
    Today
    Adult Education Center
  12. Cummins Corporate Office Building
    Photo: United States Geological Survey (USGS), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Cummins Corporate Office Building

    500 Jackson St, Columbus, IN

    The world headquarters of the Cummins engine company was designed by Kevin Roche and completed in 1983 on the site of an old railroad yard. Roche wrapped his new precast concrete and glass building around the Cerealine Building, the company's first factory, which was turned into the staff cafeteria. The complex covers about 200,000 square feet across three city blocks. A large lawn on its east side is open to the public as a park.

    Built
    1983
    Architect
    Kevin Roche (Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates)
    Style
    Modernism
    Today
    Office

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