Miller House (Columbus, Indiana)
Encyclopedia
The Miller House, also known as Miller House and Garden, is a Mid-Century modern
home designed by Eero Saarinen
and located in Columbus, Indiana
, United States
. The residence, commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller
and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953, is now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art
. Miller supported modern architecture in the construction of a number of buildings throughout Columbus, Indiana. Design and construction on the Miller House took four years and was completed in 1957. The home was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 2000. The Miller family owned the home until 2008, when Xenia Miller, the last resident of the home, died.
In 2009, the home and gardens, along with many of the original furnishings, were donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art by members of the Miller family. In addition to Eero Saarinen, the house and gardens showcases the work of leading 20th-century figures such as interior designer Alexander Girard
, landscape architect Dan Kiley
, and principal design associate at the Saarinen office, Kevin Roche
.
in the Muskoka region of Ontario
, Canada
for the family and was then asked to conceptualize and build the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. The Miller house was meant to be a year-round residence, rather than just a vacation home. The Millers wanted a home in which they could entertain heads of states and titans of industry. At about 6,838 square feet, the Miller House is one of very few single family homes that Saarinen designed.
The Miller House epitomizes the modernist architectural tradition developed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
with its open and flowing layout, flat roof, and stone and glass walls. Within the interior of the home, four non-public areas branch off from a central space, which features a conversation pit. These four branches include rooms for parents, children, guests and servants, and utilitarian areas (kitchen and laundry). The plan avoids a conventional axial organization, instead displacing the hierarchy of the rooms with a more egalitarian and functional arrangement. The geometry of the house's plan is similar to Andrea Palladio's
sixteenth-century Villa Rotunda in its organization of rooms around a central space.
A grid pattern of skylights, supported by sixteen free-standing cruciform steel columns, show concern for the play of light and shadow. A cylindrical fireplace, a 50-foot long storage wall, and the sunken conversation pit are key elements of the modern design of the central space.
The completed house was photographed in 1958 by Ezra Stoller
for an article that appeared in The Architecture Forum. The Millers made only minor changes to the house over the years, including the removal of an interior wall in order to enlarge a guest room.
. Kiley wanted the landscape to be an extension of the home, loosely divided into four sections extending from the corresponding sections of the house, each with its own identity. The Miller House is an example of residential landscape design that puts a modernist face on formal European gardens
, which rely on symmetry
and geometry
.
The plot of land, bounded by the Flatrock River
on the west and Washington Street on the east, measures about 13.5 acres. Kiley left the long meadow that sweeps toward the river largely untouched, choosing to focus his attention on shaping spaces around the house. Much of the vegetation, like the weeping beeches
on the west side of the house, were placed there strategically to protect living areas from natural intruders like sun and wind.
An allée
of horse chestnut trees lines the entry drive, which reveals the house slowly as one approaches. The Miller's did not want their home to be an imposing object in the landscape from the entrance of their property or from their neighbor's homes. Gridded blocks of apple trees are present on the lawn farther east. The easternmost edge of the property is planted with staggered blocks of arborvitae, creating a hedge that serves as a porous boundary. The garden areas to the north of the house were originally planted with redbuds
, which were later replaced with crabapples
. In the southwest corner there is a swimming pool also surrounded by arborvitae hedges.
One of the most notable features of the landscape design is the allée of honey locust trees
that runs along the west side of the house which frames the view of the meadow and the river beyond it. The allée received a terminus
at each end in subsequent years: Henry Moore’s
Draped Reclining Woman at the north end, and a bas relief by Jacques Lipchitz
at the south. As part of a landscape renovation conducted by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. of Cambridge, MA, the Honey Locust allée was replanted in the Spring of 2008. The iconic Moore sculpture was sold and removed from garden following Xenia Miller's death in 2008.
, furniture
, and ornaments are said to bring warmth and color to the rectilinearity
and geometry of the house.
Girard designed a 50-foot storage wall made up of cabinets, bookshelves, and niches
that allow equipment to remain hidden while the Millers' eclectic objects can be displayed. Some of these objects included folk art from Mexico, Asia and Eastern Europe. He designed patterns for many of the curtains in the house, as well as several rugs. One of the latter is composed of emblems
that represent family history
and interests. His designs for cushions for the dining room chairs feature the initials of family members. Girard is credited with suggesting the idea of the conversation pit, which eliminates the look of cluttered seating in the expansive living room, reinforcing the linearity of the architecture.
Mid-century modern
Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...
home designed by Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
and located in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 44,061 at the 2010 census, and the current mayor is Fred Armstrong. Located approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the east fork of the White River, it is the state's 20th largest...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The residence, commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller
J. Irwin Miller
Joseph Irwin Miller was an American industrialist, patron of modern architecture, and lay leader in the Christian ecumenical movement and civil rights...
and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953, is now owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis Museum of Art
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...
. Miller supported modern architecture in the construction of a number of buildings throughout Columbus, Indiana. Design and construction on the Miller House took four years and was completed in 1957. The home was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2000. The Miller family owned the home until 2008, when Xenia Miller, the last resident of the home, died.
In 2009, the home and gardens, along with many of the original furnishings, were donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art by members of the Miller family. In addition to Eero Saarinen, the house and gardens showcases the work of leading 20th-century figures such as interior designer Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect and a textile designer born in New York City to an American mother from Boston and a French-Italian father. He was raised in Florence, Italy...
, landscape architect Dan Kiley
Dan Kiley
Daniel Urban Kiley was a noted American landscape architect in the modernist style.- Life and career :Kiley was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
, and principal design associate at the Saarinen office, Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche is an Irish-American architect known for his creative work with glass.Born in Dublin, Roche spent his formative years in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork before he graduated from University College Dublin in 1945. He then worked with Michael Scott from 1945-1946...
.
Architecture
As a friend of J. Irwin and Xenia Miller, Eero Saarinen had first designed a summer houseSummer house
A summer house or summerhouse has traditionally referred to a building or shelter used for relaxation in warm weather. This would often take the form of a small, roofed building on the grounds of a larger one, but could also be built in a garden or park, often designed to provide cool shady places...
in the Muskoka region of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
for the family and was then asked to conceptualize and build the Miller House in Columbus, Indiana. The Miller house was meant to be a year-round residence, rather than just a vacation home. The Millers wanted a home in which they could entertain heads of states and titans of industry. At about 6,838 square feet, the Miller House is one of very few single family homes that Saarinen designed.
The Miller House epitomizes the modernist architectural tradition developed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German architect. He is commonly referred to and addressed as Mies, his surname....
with its open and flowing layout, flat roof, and stone and glass walls. Within the interior of the home, four non-public areas branch off from a central space, which features a conversation pit. These four branches include rooms for parents, children, guests and servants, and utilitarian areas (kitchen and laundry). The plan avoids a conventional axial organization, instead displacing the hierarchy of the rooms with a more egalitarian and functional arrangement. The geometry of the house's plan is similar to Andrea Palladio's
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
sixteenth-century Villa Rotunda in its organization of rooms around a central space.
A grid pattern of skylights, supported by sixteen free-standing cruciform steel columns, show concern for the play of light and shadow. A cylindrical fireplace, a 50-foot long storage wall, and the sunken conversation pit are key elements of the modern design of the central space.
The completed house was photographed in 1958 by Ezra Stoller
Ezra Stoller
Ezra Stoller was an American architectural photographer.Stoller was born in Chicago. His interest in photography began while he was an architecture student at New York University, when he began making lantern slides and photographs of architectural models, drawings and sculpture...
for an article that appeared in The Architecture Forum. The Millers made only minor changes to the house over the years, including the removal of an interior wall in order to enlarge a guest room.
Landscape architecture
Saarinen brought in landscape architect Dan Kiley, with whom he had worked on the St. Louis Gateway ArchGateway Arch
The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States...
. Kiley wanted the landscape to be an extension of the home, loosely divided into four sections extending from the corresponding sections of the house, each with its own identity. The Miller House is an example of residential landscape design that puts a modernist face on formal European gardens
Garden design
Garden design is the art and process of designing and creating plans for layout and planting of gardens and landscapes. Garden design may be done by the garden owner themselves, or by professionals of varying levels of experience and expertise...
, which rely on symmetry
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
and geometry
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
.
The plot of land, bounded by the Flatrock River
Flatrock River
The Flatrock River, also known as Flatrock Creek and other variants of the two names, is a tributary of the East Fork of the White River in east-central Indiana in the United States...
on the west and Washington Street on the east, measures about 13.5 acres. Kiley left the long meadow that sweeps toward the river largely untouched, choosing to focus his attention on shaping spaces around the house. Much of the vegetation, like the weeping beeches
Weeping Beech
The Weeping Beech, Fagus sylvatica "pendula", is a cultured variety of the deciduous European Beech. It is considered the most picturesque of all the weeping trees....
on the west side of the house, were placed there strategically to protect living areas from natural intruders like sun and wind.
An allée
Allee
Allee may refer to:* Alfred Allee , U.S. sheriff.* J. Frank Allee , U.S. merchant and politician.* Warder Clyde Allee , U.S. ecologist, discoverer of the Allee effect.* Verna Allee , U.S. business consultant....
of horse chestnut trees lines the entry drive, which reveals the house slowly as one approaches. The Miller's did not want their home to be an imposing object in the landscape from the entrance of their property or from their neighbor's homes. Gridded blocks of apple trees are present on the lawn farther east. The easternmost edge of the property is planted with staggered blocks of arborvitae, creating a hedge that serves as a porous boundary. The garden areas to the north of the house were originally planted with redbuds
Cercis
Cercis , is a genus of about 10 species in the subfamily Caesalpinioideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to warm-temperate regions. It contains small deciduous trees or large shrubs commonly known as Redbuds...
, which were later replaced with crabapples
Malus
Malus , the apples, are a genus of about 30–35 species of small deciduous trees or shrubs in the family Rosaceae. Other studies go as far as 55 species including the domesticated Orchard Apple, or Table apple as it was formerly called...
. In the southwest corner there is a swimming pool also surrounded by arborvitae hedges.
One of the most notable features of the landscape design is the allée of honey locust trees
Honey locust
The Honey locust, Gleditsia triacanthos, is a deciduous tree native to central North America. It is mostly found in the moist soil of river valleys ranging from southeastern South Dakota to New Orleans and central Texas, and as far east as eastern Massachusetts.-Description:Honey locusts, Gleditsia...
that runs along the west side of the house which frames the view of the meadow and the river beyond it. The allée received a terminus
Boundary marker
A boundary marker, boundary stone or border stone is a robust physical marker that identifies the start of a land boundary or the change in a boundary, especially a change in a direction of a boundary...
at each end in subsequent years: Henry Moore’s
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
Draped Reclining Woman at the north end, and a bas relief by Jacques Lipchitz
Jacques Lipchitz
Jacques Lipchitz was a Cubist sculptor.Jacques Lipchitz was born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, son of a building contractor in Druskininkai, Lithuania, then within the Russian Empire...
at the south. As part of a landscape renovation conducted by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, Inc. of Cambridge, MA, the Honey Locust allée was replanted in the Spring of 2008. The iconic Moore sculpture was sold and removed from garden following Xenia Miller's death in 2008.
Interior design
Architect and interior designer Alexander Girard worked closely with the Millers to furnish the residence. His choices for fabrics, textilesTextile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
, furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
, and ornaments are said to bring warmth and color to the rectilinearity
Rectilinear polygon
A rectilinear polygon is a polygon all of whose edges meet at right angles. Thus the interior angle at each vertex is either 90° or 270°. Rectilinear polygons are a special case of isothetic polygons....
and geometry of the house.
Girard designed a 50-foot storage wall made up of cabinets, bookshelves, and niches
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
that allow equipment to remain hidden while the Millers' eclectic objects can be displayed. Some of these objects included folk art from Mexico, Asia and Eastern Europe. He designed patterns for many of the curtains in the house, as well as several rugs. One of the latter is composed of emblems
Emblem
An emblem is a pictorial image, abstract or representational, that epitomizes a concept — e.g., a moral truth, or an allegory — or that represents a person, such as a king or saint.-Distinction: emblem and symbol:...
that represent family history
Family history
Family history is the systematic narrative and research of past events relating to a specific family, or specific families.- Introduction :...
and interests. His designs for cushions for the dining room chairs feature the initials of family members. Girard is credited with suggesting the idea of the conversation pit, which eliminates the look of cluttered seating in the expansive living room, reinforcing the linearity of the architecture.
External links
- Miller House and Garden - official site at Indianapolis Museum of ArtIndianapolis Museum of ArtThe Indianapolis Museum of Art is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery.The...