The North Christian Church in Columbus, Indiana. Photo by Mary Ann Sullivan. The North Christian Church is a church in Columbus, Indiana, United States in founded in 1955. It is part of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The church building of 1964 was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen (1910 — 1961), and is one of the many architectural structures that garner prestige for Columbus.
The building was designed by world-famous architect, Eero Saarinen and the building was completed in 1964. The church was the last building designed by Saarinen before his death. Saarinen's father, Eliel Saarinen had designed the First Christian Church in Columbus.
The building is hexagonal in shape, with a central spire which is 192 feet high. Below the spire, there is oculus that admits light into the main level. The sanctuary is located at the center of the building and the altar is at the center of the sanctuary with rows of pews radiating out from the center, reflecting the idea that worship should be a central aspect of the life of the congregation. The lower level contains an auditorium, classrooms, kitchen and activities area.
In detail
North Christian Church is a one-story building with a lower level nested into a moat within a surrounding earthen berm. The hexagonal plan is elongated in the east-west axis. The roof slopes on all sides to a 192-foot tall central spire that terminates in a cross.
The building is located in a suburban area of single family houses dating from the 1950s through the 1970s. It is bounded on the north by U.S. 31, on the east by Home Avenue, on the west by Sycamore Drive and on the south by Tipton Lane. The building stands on grounds of some thirteen-and-a-half acres in extent. The property is flat.
The site is entered near the southeast corner, off Tipton Lane. A one way drive leads through a small, mowed woods of mixed mature native hardwoods that include beech, chestnut oak, black walnut and white ash trees. Planted among these are younger beech and maple trees.
The building is located near the west end of the property on a berm about six feet high. The most dominant elements of the building are the roof and spire, which float over the massive concrete base (photo 1). The building rests on a base of concrete that appears as low walls at the top of the berm. The berm is held back to form “moats” on the north and south sides of the building that allow the entry of natural light into the building (photo 2). The exterior wall of the first floor is a continuous band of single-glazed bronze glass held in a system of wooden mullions. Just beyond the glazing line and well in from the roof edge, the welded steel buttresses that support the roof and spire are expressed at the six axial corners. These massive members taper down to a minimal bearing plate on the concrete podium, and by contrast in scale with the glazed perimeter curtain wall enhance the latter’s transparency
The roof edge hangs low on all sides and the exterior glass wall is held about 12 feet back from the edge of the roof. The fascia slopes back toward the building and is clad in flat-lock seamed lead-coated copper. The plastered soffit slopes with the roof. The lower edge of the roof at the perimeter is less than eight feet above grade. The glass of the exterior wall is about 12 feet high. There are large ribs between each plane of the roof, clad, like the fascia, in lead-coated copper, which run up from the edge of the roof, meet at the center and join to form the tall tapering ribbed spire. The main planes of the roof are shingled with a blue-black slate that has weathered and is now mottled with brown. A single bell is suspended in the space below the point where the roof ribs join to form the spire (photo 1).
The entrance drives at the east and west have drop-off areas at the level of the first floor of the church. From the drop-off, there are several steps down to the entrance and lobby area.
The main entrance is at the east end of the building (photo 1). This leads to a large open vestibule having doors leading to the sanctuary and stairs on two sides, which lead to the lower level. The first floor of the building is arranged as a ring of offices and Sunday school rooms along the outer wall with a wide corridor on the inside. On the inside of the corridor, a series of cloak and restrooms are set into the massive concrete walls – bush-hammered to expose the aggregate – that form the base of the sanctuary. These walls angle outward over the corridor and Sunday school rooms to stop just short of the ceiling. Between the planes of the underside of the sanctuary and the ceiling is set butt-jointed glass, which allows light from the corridor to filter up into the sanctuary, making the ceiling in that room appear to float.
The floor of the corridor is black slate with a cleft finish, laid in a running bond. The classrooms and offices are built as low structures of hardwood plywood with mahogany framing expressed on the insides of the rooms. All wood is stained a dark brown.
At the west end of the building a baptismal chapel (photo 5) is defined by free-standing walls along the diagonal axes. The seating area faces inward towards the center of the building. The baptismal pool is an elongated hexagon of white tile set into the floor. A stainless steel frame covers the pool when not in use.
The sanctuary is a large hexagonal bowl-shaped room with a sloping ceiling and seating on five sides (photo 4). The sixth side (west side) contains the choir and organ. The sanctuary is entered from the east by several steps that lead up to the main floor. This entrance bisects the east seating area. In the center of the floor are the tables of the communion service. Twelve tables, grouped in two rows, represent the 12 disciples. The thirteenth table, larger and placed at the endof the two rows, represents Christ. Opposite the entrance are the organ, pulpit and choir benches. The organ pipes are exposed in ranks as sculptural forms.
Seating is in rows of upholstered wooden benches with wood backs that wrap the space. Access to the seating is from slate steps coming up from the main floor. The benches, like all the wood in the building appears to be made of mahogany and oak, all stained the same dark brown.
The ceiling of the room is a continuation of the ceiling plane that starts at the fascia of the edge of the roof. It continues to rise until it meets a hexagon in the center of the ceiling that corresponds to the open area in the center of the floor. From there, ceiling panels angle downward to a central, symbolic “oculus,” a hexagonal skylight with slatted wood diffusers.
Lighting in the sanctuary is by a cluster of recessed can lights in the skylight area, and by hidden cove lighting in the zone where the sanctuary is held back from the ceiling. The diffusers and ductwork of the mechanical system are also hidden in this area.
The sanctuary is furnished with the communion tables mentioned above. The tables stand on a movable platform. Other sanctuary furnishings and liturgical objects are credited to Alexander Girard (1907-1994) including candlesticks, flower arrangement stands, the communion service, and the “Living Cross” tapestry behind the pulpit.
Like the first floor, the lower level is hexagonal in plan with perimeter classrooms that look into the bermed moat. In the center of this level, under the sanctuary, is a community room. There is a large kitchen under the east entry plaza and a mechanical room under the west chapel and entry plaza.
The building has few alterations and retains its integrity. A wheelchair lift was recently added in the sanctuary. It replaced a flight of stairs and is not visible from the main part of the sanctuary. Design of the lift was by Roche-Dinkeloo, Saarinen’s successor firm.
The landscape design was developed over a period of years. The site is fairly level and generally rectangular in plan. The building itself is located in the northwest corner of the property, and the parking lot is directly to the east. There are automobile turnarounds at the west and east entrances. These are elevated to the level of the berm that surrounds the building. The parking lot is accessed by a pair of one-way drives that wind through the wooded area of the site from Tipton Lane. The area around the drives and to the east boundary of the property is wooded, as it was prior to being acquired by the congregation. The west part of the property, where the building and parking lot are located, was a treeless, agricultural field when it was purchased in 1958.
Extending along the north side of Tipton Lane, the width of the property, is a staggered double row of red sunset maple trees bordering an expansive lawn which is between the trees and the parking lot hedges. Bosques of magnolia trees, planted in a grid, flank the structure to the north and south (photo 3). The north grove of magnolias was planted at the time the church was built; the south grove was added a few years later. Dwarf sergeant crabapple trees are planted at the east and west entrances. In the light wells on the north and south sides of the building are beds of myrtle. On the north and south berms there were originally beds of yews and cotoneaster. These were later removed and grass was planted for maintenance reasons.
Four parking lot courts are defined by six-foot high arborvitae hedges planted in double files with maples between the rows. A walk through the center of the parking lot, on axis with the steeple and entry, leads to the entrance steps of the building. The entire parking lot is screened in on the north, east, and south by arborvitae hedges. The drives and parking lot are asphalt.
The landscape has a high degree of integrity, both in design and in original plant material. Historic plantings are retained, except as noted.
In 1995, the fortieth anniversary of the congregation, a group of 43 Cherokee Princess dogwood trees were planted to commemorate the 43 charter members. These extend from the parking lot entrance east along Tipton Lane and north along Home Avenue to U.S. 31.
- US govt and therefore Public domain.
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