INDIANAPOLIS, IN.- Maxwell L. Anderson, The Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, announced today that the IMA is moving forward with the acquisition of the landmark Miller House and Garden in Columbus, Indiana. One of the country’s most highly-regarded examples of mid-century Modernist residences, the Miller House was designed by Eero Saarinen, with interiors by Alexander Girard, and landscape design by Daniel Urban Kiley.

Members of the Miller family and the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation have agreed to donate the house and gardens, along with many of its original furnishings, to the Museum and have pledged $5 million toward an $8 million endowment for the house and surrounding grounds. The IMA is raising $3 million for the remainder of the endowment and $2 million for the 18-month renovation of the house, which will entail a careful restoration of many of the original period details. Once the renovation is completed, the IMA will work with the Columbus Area Visitors Center to offer public access to the house and gardens.

Commissioned by industrialist and philanthropist J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1952, the Miller House and Garden was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. The house expands upon an architectural tradition developed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe—epitomizing the international Modernist aesthetic—with an open and flowing layout, flat roof and vast stone and glass walls. The rooms, configured beneath a grid pattern of skylights supported by cruciform steel columns, are filled with strong colors and playful patterns. Amid the residence’s large geometric gardens, its grandest feature is an allée of honey locust trees that runs along the west side of the house. The Miller House was the first designated National Historic Landmark listed with a still-living landscape architect that also was still occupied by its original owners at the date of its designation.

“The Miller House showcases the work of leading 20th-century architects and designers and we believe that it’s important to preserve this internationally known jewel in the Columbus, Indiana community,” said Maxwell L. Anderson, the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. “Upon the successful completion of our fundraising efforts, we look forward to making this significant Modernist landmark available to the public.”

Columbus, Indiana is ranked sixth in the nation by the American Institute of Architects for architectural innovation and design. National Geographic Traveler recently ranked Columbus as America’s most significant historic place on the strength of its architectural heritage. As a way to attract outstanding architectural talent to design civic buildings in the central Indiana community of Columbus, Miller created the Architectural Program within the Cummins Engine Foundation. Miller met Eero Saarinen during the construction of the First Christian Church in Columbus, which was designed by Saarinen’s father Eliel. Eero Saarinen helped Miller design the Architectural Program and recruit rising young architectural talent to participate in the 1950s. In addition to the Architectural Program, which funded excellent design for public buildings, Cummins, other businesses and many churches in Columbus adopted the same strategy of using good design to create a more economically vibrant and livable city. Today there are more than 70 buildings by noted modern architects—such as I. M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Robert Venturi, Richard Meier, John Carl Warnecke and Harry Weese—in the city, as well as public art works by internationally renowned architects and artists.

J. Irwin Miller and Xenia Simons Miller
In addition to being a patron of modern architecture, Joseph Irwin Miller was a philanthropist and industrialist best-known for his civic activism. A lay leader in the Christian ecumenical and civil rights movements, he was the first layman to be President of the National Council of Churches and was a strong advocate for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (working with Martin Luther King Jr. to organize the March on Washington). Miller was instrumental in the rise of Cummins Engine Company—founded by his great-uncle—which builds diesel engines in Columbus, Indiana. Although beset with early difficulties, under Miller’s leadership the company persevered to become the leading independent diesel manufacturer in the world. He attended Yale University for his undergraduate studies and later received a master’s degree from Oxford University. In 1943, Miller married Xenia Simons, the daughter of Luther A. Simons, the owner of an Indiana furniture manufacturing company.

Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was one of the outstanding American architects and designers of the 20th century. He worked fluently within the austere geometry of international Modernism, but also created highly expressive and boldly sculptural buildings. He designed such landmarks as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (St. Louis Arch), Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., and the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan. Kevin Roche, Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning architect, became Saarinen's principal design associate when he joined Eero Saarinen and Associates in 1950, and Roche played a significant role in the design of Miller House as well as many other Saarinen projects.

Daniel Urban Kiley
Dan Kiley’s work has been compared with that of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the DeStijl School of Art and Architecture, notably the work of Piet Mondrian. Kiley’s landscapes are highly structured geometric compositions that use three-dimensional natural elements as spatial enclosures. One of the earliest collaborations between Kiley and Saarinen was the winning submission for the 1947 Jefferson Expansion Memorial Competition in St. Louis. Kiley’s commissions with Eero Saarinen included Concordia College (Fort Wayne, IN), Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., Stiles and Morse Colleges (New Haven, CT) and North Christian Church (Columbus, Indiana). Kiley is a recipient of the Arnold W. Brunner Prize in Architecture (1995) and the National Medal of Arts (1997).

Alexander Girard
Trained at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London and at the Royal School of Architecture in Rome, Alexander Girard’s early associations with Eero Saarinen included his work as a collaborator on the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (St. Louis Arch) design team. He also served as a color consultant on the General Motors Technical Center (1948-1956) and on the Miller Cottage (1950-1952) in Ontario. In 1952, Girard became design director of the textile division of the furniture manufacturing firm of Herman Miller, which had been producing the designs of Charles and Ray Eames (who also designed furniture for the Miller House) since the late 1940s.