Address Restricted, Columbus, Indiana. County/parish: Bartholomew.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places May 16, 2000. NRIS 00000706.
The Miller House and Garden is a historic house museum at 2760 Highland Way in Columbus, Indiana, United States. It was designed by Eero Saarinen as a mid-century modern residence for the family of the businessman J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia Simons Miller. The interior designer Alexander Girard, the landscape architect Dan Kiley, and Saarinen's associate Kevin Roche assisted with various parts of the design. The house and gardens, owned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) since 2009, are designated as a National Historic Landmark. Both the house and the gardens have been praised for their design over the years.
The 13.5-acre (5.5 ha) plot of land, bounded by the Flatrock River on the west and Washington Street on the east, includes a meadow, two allées, and groves of trees. Kiley designed the landscape as an extension of the home, loosely divided into three sections extending from the house. The Miller House itself is a single-story house on a terrace, covered by a flat roof. It covers 6,838 square feet (635.3 m2) with six bedrooms. Inside, four zones branch off from a central living room that features a conversation pit. These four zones include rooms for parents, children, guests and servants, and service areas. Girard designed furnishings and furniture for the house, and the Millers displayed their art collection there.
After Miller acquired the site in September 1953, he commissioned Saarinen for the project, commencing a two-year design process. The Taylor Brothers Construction Company began constructing the house in 1955, and the Millers began moving into the house in March 1957. Over the years, the Millers hosted many meetings and social gatherings at the house. The Millers made several changes to the original design, including removing an interior wall to enlarge a room. Though the Miller children gradually moved out of the house, their parents continued to live there for the rest of their lives; Irwin Miller died in the house in 2004, followed by Xenia Miller in 2008. After the IMA acquired the house, the property was renovated, opening to the public in May 2011.
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