Harry Weese’s First Baptist Church, built in 1965, embraces simplicity to stunning effect. The exterior features steep sloping roofs that are expressed inside as soaring, wood-paneled ceilings, illuminated by a single skylight. Considering its basic geometries, the design feels as though it could be drawn up in just a few seconds, but that belies the complexity needed to create such a grand sanctuary.

Eero Saarinen may have only helped his father with the interior design of his game-changing First Christian Church, but, by the time the dust settled, the junior Saarinen’s legacy far outstripped the elder’s in Columbus. The North Christian Church, completed in 1964, was Eero’s stunning meditation on faith, adorned with an iconic slender spire that reaches toward the sky and is topped with a small gold-leaf cross that inspired copies for decades after. The base of the church is built in a hexagonal shape that slopes toward the landscape around it. Inside, pews encircle the central altar, alluding to Saarinen’s belief in the centrality of worship.

Eero Saarinen’s Miller House epitomizes modernist design with its flat roof and stone walls. Built in 1957 with help from interior designer Alexander Girard and landscape architect Dan Kiley, the home and its sprawling gardens were commissioned by business magnate J. Irwin Miller and his wife, and is today a national landmark. The glass and concrete interior features the world’s first living room conversation pit, while a grid of skylights illuminates the 6,800-square-foot home.

Though it was built in 2006, the Deborah Berke Partners-designed Creekview branch of the First Financial Bank fits seamlessly into the modernist tradition that has carried this town. Situated amid an array of big-box retail buildings, this understated building comprises two sections: a brick volume that houses the banking hall, and a glass box that sits above it, filtering light into its interior. Outside, the glass volume serves as a dramatic canopy for drive-thru customers, lighting up at night to create a striking landmark.

Architect Paul Kennon took advantage of a routine update of a mundane piece of telecommunications infrastructure and used the opportunity to create a playful, colorful addition to downtown Columbus. When the telephone company, then Indiana Bell, needed to update an antiquated, three-story, yellow-brick mechanical switching site from 1936, Kennon decided to wrap the structure in a reflective, metallic material and create color-coded “organ pipes” (intake and exhaust vents for heating and cooling the electrical gear inside). The AIA bestowed the quirky example of placemaking with its 1980 Honor award.

Gunnar Birkerts was tasked with designing a school that could mediate the dangers of a site on a busy downtown street while being confined to a small city block. The resulting structure, built in 1967, was a two-story school partially sunken into the ground, showcasing a physical separation from the street without sacrificing space. In addition, both levels were accessible via ramps and elevators, the first school in the country to consider the needs of students with disabilities—years before the ADA would mandate it.

This Kevin Roche-designed corporate head office for Cummins wrapped the old Cerealine Building, the company’s first office, in a maze-like series of precast concrete elements, mirrors, and glass, which was then bounded by a landscape designed by Jack Curtis. The modular system led to a number of unique features, including precast spandrels covered in mirrors and a large arcade, park, and pergola covered in ivy and hydrangea. A recent $50 million renovation to update the office to reflect more modern trends in workspace design should be complete by next summer. Roche fans can stand at the corner of Fifth and Jackson streets outside the Cummins HQ and see two other works by the Pritzker winner: his Post Office, and his addition to Irwin Union Bank and Trust. 

Though Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece in Columbus is widely considered to be the Miller House, the architect had already established a rapport with J. Irwin Miller in 1954 after he was commissioned to build a conference center. Place the two buildings side by side and you can see that Miller had a type; the center is low-slung and features walls upon walls of windows, while the interior features an open floor plan that allows light to flood the space. The similarities don’t end there, as here, too, Saarinen enlisted Dan Kiley to design the surrounding gardens.

When this church rose in 1942, it was unlike any that Americans had ever seen. Designed by Eliel Saarinen and built to accommodate a growing congregation during World War II, the church featured a stark design that marked a daring departure from classical ecclesiastical architecture and would ultimately vault church design toward a more progressive and contemporary future. The building, clad in brick and limestone and featuring a simple geometric design, was also the first of many that would make Columbus renowned for its modernist architecture.

Don’t let the classic facade of this former bank building fool you; inside lies a midcentury time capsule. As Curbed critic Alexandra Lange wrote in a piece about designer Alexander Girard, who had a long-time relationship with the Miller family, he was commissioned in 1962 to create an office for J. Irwin Miller. The “up-to-the-moment modern suite” in a tobacco-leaf color palette of brown-on-brown has been restored, along with many of Girard’s other period designs, by the current building owner. The Cummins Company.

A 19th century opera and playhouse that was reborn with a 1940s Art Deco makeover by architect Alden Meranda, the Crump has been seen as a link to the city’s architectural past, as well as a potential anchor for downtown’s future. While the venue has been mostly abandoned and unused, except for special events, for decades, preservationist have long called for adaptive reuse to create a new arts space for Columbus.

Columbus City Hall was built in 1981 as the city grappled with the growth of its downtown area and recognized the need for a space that reflected the town’s storied history. Built of brick and limestone, this three-story building was designed by Edward Charles Bassett of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and forms a triangle, with a central courtyard onto which glassed-in interior spaces look.

Yes, even Columbus has its monuments to Brutalism. Southside Elementary, designed by Eliot Noyes and built in 1969, has the look of a fortress with its exterior of precast concrete, slot windows, and vertical fins. But its intimidating exterior opens up to a bright, two-story central common area illuminated by a skylight, a space which Noyes saw as the town square to the school’s city. Meanwhile, bright, abstract murals designed by Ivan Chermayeff adorn the stairwell walls, bringing more color to the space.