By Adam Scott Williams
On every trip, there’s a moment when architecture catches your eye, and whether you’re gazing across a meadow or standing half off the curb with a crick in your neck, you murmur, “I wonder what that building is.” Here are a few unexpected locales, far from cities’ skyscraper canyons and well within range for a weekend getaway.
Spirit Taking Shape: New Harmony, Ind. Entering New Harmony, a historic town born of utopian dreams, you’re struck by the sight of a pure white, formally modern building set on gently rolling farmland above the river. The Atheneum was named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and the arts, and borne of internationally recognized architect Richard Meier’s imagination.
The Roofless Church in the center of town is interdenominational, designed by architect Philip Johnson as a reminder that only the sky is large enough to shelter people of all beliefs. Stepping through massive bronze gates, you enter an interior courtyard filled with sculpture, including a domed altar that casts the shadow of a perfect rose.
Other structures of interest: the Cathedral Labyrinth, Harmonist Labyrinth, Thrall’s Opera House and the Rapp-Owen Granary. Visit usi.edu/hnh or newharmony.biz.
Bold Blueprints: Columbus, Ind. Richard Meier also had a hand in making Columbus, Ind., a ranking city of architectural innovation, as did a father-son pair from Finland, Eliel and Eero Saarinen. The son, forever tied to the St. Louis landscape as designer of the Gateway Arch, also made a large-scale formal sculpture functional with the North Christian Church, a hexagonal, spaceship-like structure that appears to hover above the ground: Its 192-foot needle-shaped spire lances the sky from the middle of the roof. In 1942, Eliel Saarinen designed another house of worship that reaches boldly into the thin blue above: the First Christian Church, the first modern structure in a town that is now home to dozens of modern masterpieces. Visit columbus.in.us.
A Dutch Village—in Pella, Iowa Pella, Iowa—the City of Refuge—was settled more than 150 years ago. In its historic village, brick sidewalks and a courtyard connect more than 20 buildings designed with traditional Dutch aesthetics. The Vermeer Mill & Interpretive Center is a functioning windmill, originally built in Holland in the 1850s; the Molengracht Plaza features restaurants and shops that straddle a canal; and the Klokkenspel is a 147-bell musical town clock with several 4-foot figures in revolving motion. Adding pure eco-modernism is the Weller Center for Business and International Studies, on the campus of Central College. The building’s hard-lined geometry is paired with sustainable and recycled materials, a daylight-harvesting system and photovoltaic solar cells for energy efficiency. Visit pella.org.
Neptune’s Gift in Independence, Mo. The hometown of our 33rd president, Harry S. Truman, is bursting with historical architectural value: the Truman Home, the Harry S. Truman Presidential Museum and Library and the Vaile Mansion. But it’s the audacious world-headquarters temple of the Community of Christ denomination (formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) that draws the awe of architecture enthusiasts. The temple is a nautilus laid on its side, its spiral facing the sky and most easily recognized in one of two ways: from a hot-air balloon as you fly over the 300-foot stainless-steel spire or as you stand within the main sanctuary. The design came from St. Louis architect Gyo Obata’s pencil. The temple is open to visitors during the day and is an illuminated beacon at night. Visit ci.independence.mo.us.
