Landmark Columbus


Landmark Columbus is the progressive preservation program of Landmark Columbus Foundation, an organization in Columbus, Indiana, United States, that is dedicated to caring for and celebrating the world-renowned cultural heritage of Columbus, a city which is home to seven of the forty three National Historic Landmarks in Indiana. Landmark Columbus was started as a program of Heritage Fund – The Community Foundation of Bartholomew County in 2015, and has been recognized for leading an innovative way to care for heritage without a protective law and making a positive impact in the community.,

History

The effort to start Landmark Columbus began in 2013 when the Columbus Redevelopment Commission began looking at new ways to research and examine the current state for the design heritage in the Columbus Arts and Entertainment District. The start of this project came at a time when some of the modern works of architecture had begun to age and show signs of transition.

The effort officially launched as "Landmark Columbus" in 2015 as a program of Heritage Fund, and began producing events in the community. The effort has been seen as a way to preserve the design legacy of the town without relying on traditional historic preservation ordinances.
In 2016 it became a "Friends Organization" of Docomomo US and remains a partner of the Indiana Modern committee of Indiana Landmarks.

Programs and advocacy projects

Landmark Columbus produces a number of ongoing programs and projects in an effort to care for the design heritage, most of which are created by an Advocacy and Education Committee. The organization is active in the community in various ways, including nominating the Irwin Conference Center for a Docomomo US National Citation of Merit in 2014 for the National Historic Landmark building designed by Eero Saarinen, which was restored through an adaptive reuse project by Cummins Columbus historians David Sechrest and Ricky Berkey have been involved with the organization from the beginning, helping to create projects around both the early and modern history of the community.

Getty Foundation Keeping it Modern Architectural Conservation Grant

Landmark Columbus received a 2019 Keeping it Modern Architectural Conservation Grant from the Getty Foundation for the iconic North Christian Church. With this grant, Landmark Columbus—together with Prudon & Partners, Reed-Hilderbrand, Bryony Roberts Studio, Enrique Ramirez, ICR-ICC and others—are developing a conservation management plan to provide the historical context and strategic guidance necessary for the church's long-term upkeep.

Friends of First Christian Church Architecture

Friends of First Christian Church Architecture is a collaborative effort with a mission to "is to preserve the architecture and design elements of FCC, a National Historic Landmark designed by Eliel & Eero Saarinen in 1942." The project was launched in January 2017 as a partnership with First Christian Church, Heritage Fund, Landmark Columbus, and Indiana Landmarks. The first project for FFCCA was to help save the sanctuary skylight, which leaked for years and caused damage. In August of 2018 FFCCA had raised enough resources from the congregation and throughout the community to have the skylight fully restored. Fundraising for the restoration of the skylight was a collaborative effort, and included contributions from the Church congregation, Kenny Glass, Inc., and the Columbus Area Visitors Center.

Columbus Conversations

Columbus Conversation is an annual symposium held to address a pressing need in the community related to Columbus' design heritage. The series began in 2014 and featured Theodore Prudon's keynote presentation "Modern Architecture as Heritage," and included lectures by Marsh Davis, from Indiana Landmarks; Louis Joyner, a Columbus-based architect; Richard McCoy; and a conversation moderated by Harry McCawley.
The 2015 Columbus Conversation featured a panel discussion by Jeff Baker, the last president of Preserve to Enjoy, Inc.; Tricia Gilson from the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives; Flora Chou, board member of Docomomo US; and Theodore Prudon, board president of Docomomo US. This moderated discussion defined ways that Landmark Columbus could raise awareness about caring for the areas design heritage and begin growing a constituency that actively helps in the cause.

Mayors' Institute on City Design

In 2019 Landmark Columbus hosted six mayors from cities around the country for a Mayors' Institute on City Design regional session in Columbus, Indiana. Each of the mayors brought to Columbus a pressing design challenge that its city is facing, and worked with a resource team of nationally-recognized design experts to find solutions to make their cities better places to live and work. MICD is a leadership initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts in partnership with the U.S. Conference of Mayors. MICD works to prepare mayors to be the chief urban designers of their cities and advocates for good design in their communities. The mayors of Bentonville, Arkansas; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Fairhope, Alabama; Gallatin, Tennessee; Salisbury, Maryland; and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, were in attendance for this regional session. The resource team, assembled by Landmark Columbus to help workshop the mayors’ design challenges, is composed of designers, all leading experts in their fields and many of which who are participants in the 2019 Exhibit Columbus program.

Chaotic Tuesdays

In celebration of Jean Tinguely's masterwork, Chaos 1, located inside the Commons, Landmark Columbus started "Chaotic Tuesdays" as a free community event during which everyone could see the kinetic artwork operate during the evening. The idea for the event came from the director of Museum Tinguely, Roland Wetzel, when he visited in 2014. The event happens on the fourth Tuesday of every month and has grown to be a partnership between many in the community and led by the Columbus Area Arts Council. Professors from Ivy Tech bring drawing materials for the community and provide lessons on how to draw the artwork, which Tinguely himself did many times; his drawings of Chaos 1 are in collections around the world.

Landscape architecture cleanups

Landmark Columbus has organized a number of community efforts to help clean and maintain the landscape at North Christian Church, which was designed by Dan Kiley and is one of seven National Historic Landmarks in the city. Cleanups have addressed issues caused by storms and ongoing maintenance, including the dormant pruning of the many magnolias that surround the church.

Yearly bicycle rides

Landmark Columbus started a yearly bicycle tour in May that coincides with National Preservation Month and National Bike Month.
In May 2016 Landmark Columbus held a first-of-its-kind competition that invited participants to build one of the seven National Historic Landmarks out of Lego bricks. This project was launched in partnership with the Indianapolis Museum of Art, kids commons, the Columbus Indiana Architectural Archives, and other organizations.

Docomomo US Tour Day

Various partners began participating in "Tour Day" starting in 2013 to draw regional interest in visiting Columbus and seeing the modern architecture.
In 2013 and 14, all of the public art in Bartholomew County was surveyed, photographed, and placed in the database of the Public Art Archive. The list of public art in Bartholomew County, Indiana includes more than 100 artworks in a diverse group of places. Also at this time, all of the resources in the Columbus Arts District and all of the modern buildings were surveyed, photographed, and published in the database of CultureNOW. Other research projects have included investigations for public artworks that are now missing.

Ongoing series of talks

Landmark Columbus occasionally hosts experts of architecture, art, and community.
With the rich history of public art throughout the community, walking tours are frequent. There is also a special walking tour every October in partnership with Reach Healthy Communities.

Exhibit Columbus

Exhibit Columbus is the flagship program of Landmark Columbus Foundation, whose mission is to care for the design heritage of Columbus and inspire communities to invest in architecture, art, and design to improve people’s lives and make cities better places to live. Exhibit Columbus is an "annual exploration of architecture, art, design, and community," that alternates between symposium and exhibition programming each year, and features the J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize.
The award winning and critically acclaimed project has been credited with renewing the design legacy of Columbus, Indiana. After hosting its inaugural symposium, "Foundations and Futures," in fall 2016 and inaugural exhibition in Fall 2017, the 2018 symposium, "Design, Community, and Progressive Preservation" took place in September 2018. The second exhibition, "," ran from August 24 to December 1, 2019. Exhibit Columbus has four key components: The Miller Prize, High School Design Team, University Design Research Fellowships, Washington Street Civic Projects, and Environmental design and Wayfinding.