About this property
The North Christian Church is a building and former congregation at 850 Tipton Lane in Columbus, Indiana, United States. Designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1964, the 192-foot-tall (59 m) structure originally housed a Protestant Disciples of Christ congregation of the same name. The interior designer Alexander Girard, the landscape architect Dan Kiley, and Saarinen's associate Kevin Roche assisted with various parts of the design. The building has been owned by the Bartholomew County Public Library since 2024. The design has received praise over the years, particularly for its spire and iconography, and was frequently compared to the First Christian Church, designed by Saarinen's father Eliel Saarinen. In addition, the building is designated as a National Historic Landmark. The church building is set on 13-acre (5.3 ha) grounds designed by Kiley. The grounds include a berm surrounding the building, with entrances accessed by driveways to the west and east, as well as various trees arranged across the site. The building has a hexagonal floor plan. Above a glass curtain wall, ribs divide a slate roof into six sections supporting the central metal spire. The base of the spire includes an oculus that admits light inside. The interior, designed by Girard, is split across two main levels, accessed by a narthex on an intermediate level. The lower level contains classrooms, an auditorium, a kitchen, and a chapel. The bowl-shaped sanctuary, on the upper story, consists of a central communion table, surrounded by pews on five sides and a pulpit, organ, and choir loft on the sixth. The North Christian Church congregation was founded in late 1955, and one of its early members, the industrialist J. Irwin Miller, helped the congregation acquire a plot of land in 1958. After interviewing various architects, the congregation's building committee hired Saarinen in 1959, and the plans were finalized shortly before his death two years later. A groundbreaking ceremony took place in 1962, and the building hosted its first service on March 8, 1964. Over the years, the congregation made numerous modifications to the building and expanded the grounds. By the early 21st century, the congregation faced dwindling membership and was unable to maintain the building. After the congregation was disbanded on July 16, 2022, the Bartholomew County Public Library took over the structure. The library system renamed the building The LEX: the Library of Experience, intending to renovate it into a library branch.
Location
Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was North Christian Church listed on the National Register?
North Christian Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 15, 2000.
What type of historic resource is North Christian Church?
North Christian Church is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
Is North Christian Church a National Historic Landmark?
Yes. North Christian Church has been designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL), the highest level of federal recognition for historic properties in the United States.
What is the period of significance for North Christian Church?
The period of significance for North Christian Church is recorded as the modern era, specifically around 1964.
Can I research the history near North Christian Church?
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