500 Washington St., Columbus, Indiana. County/parish: Bartholomew.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places May 16, 2000. NRIS 00000704.
The Irwin Conference Center (also the Irwin Office Building and Conference Center; formerly known as the Irwin Union Bank Building) is a commercial building at 500 Washington Street, on the northwest corner with Fifth Street, in Columbus, Indiana, United States. Constructed as the Irwin Union Bank's downtown Columbus branch, the building was designed in a modern style. Eero Saarinen designed the one-story main building and the original three-story office wing in 1954, while his associates Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo designed a three-story office annex in 1973. Dan Kiley designed the surrounding landscape, which includes a lawn, trees, and a drive-through facility.
The main building, at Washington and Fifth streets, has a square floor plan with a glass facade and a concrete roof with nine shallow domes. The original office wing, north of the banking hall, is set back behind another building and has a brick and concrete facade and windows. A steel-and-glass arcade leads westward to the annex, which is made of similar materials. Inside, the first floor of the main building is an open plan space with tellers' counters, a conference area, and various pieces of furniture. A staircase descends to a basement that originally included a kitchen, dining area, vaults, and offices. The office wing and annex contains additional offices. The building has received critical acclaim for its design over the years, and it is designated as a National Historic Landmark because of its architectural significance.
The idea for the bank came from J. Irwin Miller, the president of the Irwin Union Trust Company (later the Irwin Union Bank) and a major architectural patron. He commissioned Saarinen to design a new building for the bank in 1950, and Irwin Union Trust acquired the site the next year. Although construction began in 1953, most work did not take place until the following year. The building opened on March 10, 1955. The design helped increase the Irwin Union Bank's patronage, and the bank decided to expand the building in 1970; the annex was completed in 1973. The bank acquired further properties nearby in the late 1980s and early 2000s. After the Irwin Union Bank went bankrupt in 2009, the building was acquired by the First Financial Bank, which sold it the next year to the conglomerate Cummins Inc. The bank building became a conference center and office building until it closed in 2020.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/132002370