The Miller House Was Thought To Be Ugly When It Was Built In The '50s But Now It's A Modern Work Of Art
By Tori Jane|Published May 25, 2021
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Tori Jane
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Tori Jane is a storm chaser, writer, photographer, and the village idiot - in that order. When she's not out and about dancing with the meanest storms on planet Earth for funsies she can be found wandering, shooting landscapes, writing, editing photos, and otherwise up to no good. Legend has it that she can also be occasionally spotted typing up short bios in the third person, but those rumors are unsubstantiated.
Lovers of modern architecture have reason to be excited; did you know that in the heart of small-town Columbus, there is a house that one would likely assume was built very recently. It’s beautiful, with excellent lines and stunning trees blossoming out front. However, the intriguing part is this: it’s the Miller House in Indiana, and it was built back in the 1950s – not last year.
The Miller House was dreamed up by industrialist and philanthropist J. Irwin Miller, and in 1953, his vision became a reality, with the help of a friend and architect by the name of Eero Saarinen.
Miller moved into the home with his wife, Xenia, and their family shortly after; it was one of the only single-family homes that Saarinen had ever built. At the time, people didn't understand it. It seemed to stick out and was considered unattractive.
Anyone who thought it was an "eyesore" clearly had never been inside the 6,838-square-foot home; the attention to detail and design within is worth a closer look to really appreciate.
Colorful stained glass and skylights add brilliance to an already visually stunning place, which one could certainly argue was well ahead of its time. Instead of going for the more traditional family home layout, Miller and Saarinen opted to emulate the style of the Villa Rotunda in Italy, with rooms all serving a functional purpose arranged around a central room of the home.
The Miller House also features a cylindrical fireplace, and each and every window is carefully positioned to maximize the play of light and shadow throughout every room.
The living room, which serves as the centerpiece of the project, has a cozy sunken conversation pit, the likes of which wouldn't become more widely popular inside homes until the late 1950s and into the late 1970s.
The exterior is, in our opinion, just as exquisite and ahead of its time as the interior of the home.
The walls and windows complement one another nicely, creating sharp shadows and aesthetically pleasing lines that draw the eye across the entire building. The garden surrounding the home was designed with equal care by world-renowned landscape architect Dan Kiley, with whom Saarinen has worked in designing the world-famous St. Louis Arch.
The more earthen-tone colors of the house ensure that the brilliance of the garden is never outshined.
Though the home is painted in greys and whites, the garden is vibrant and alive. Saarinen and Kiley worked painstakingly hard to make sure the garden was a perfect complement to the house in every way, from its lines and trees to the way the light scatters across the grounds.
The entire property is like something out of a dream, and it's certainly interesting even to those who may not exactly be intrigued by architecture alone.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, while Xenia Miller still lived in the home. When she passed away in 2008, the home and the furnishings were donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. If you’d like to see more pictures or get a more in-depth history on the Miller House, the Visit Columbus website will prove to be quite helpful. Tickets are $25 per person, and tours last for one and a half hours. No children under 10 years of age are permitted, so it’s perfect to find a babysitter and make a date of it!
What do you think? Have you ever visited this architectural marvel?
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