first baptist church, columbus, in (Harry Weese)

About  six weeks ago, a beautifully wrapped box arrived in the mail.  Inside was a Charles Eames ‘House of Cards’ and an invitation to visit Columbus, IN for a VIP Architecture Tour.   For those who don’t know, this small town in southern Indiana is ranked the 6^th best city in the US for Architectural Design.  In less than a two hour drive from Cincinnati, you can experience a thriving small town with strong community leadership – and some of the most drop dead gorgeous public buildings you will ever see.

So here I am for the weekend, with about 15 other lucky architecture & design bloggers from around the country, for an unprecedented behind the scenes tour.  The crown jewel of this tour is a cocktail party this evening at the Miller House (Eero Saarinen).  The house has been donated to the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) and will be open to the public sometime next summer – but we get a sneak peek!  Ever since I saw a picture of the ‘conversation pit’ in this house years ago I have been oogling it……and everyone here is just as geeky about seeing it  as I am.

I will have lots more info and photos to follow, but in the meantime, check out the Columbus, IN facebook page for links to more information on this great city!  And here is a slideshow of some photos from our tour this morning and pics of our gorgeous accommodations at Hotel Indigo.