The First Christian Church (originally known as the Tabernacle Church of Christ) is a church building at 531 Fifth Street in Columbus, Indiana, United States. The building was designed by Eliel Saarinen, with some details overseen by his son Eero Saarinen and his associate Charles Eames. Built in 1942, it was the first modern-style building in Columbus and one of the first churches in the United States to be built in a contemporary architectural style. and It houses the First Christian Church congregation, which is nondenominational and was founded in 1855 as the Christian Congregation in Columbus. The building has received praise for its design over the years and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.
The church is divided into four sections: an east wing, a west wing, a connecting bridge between the wings, and a freestanding tower or campanile. The two wings flank a sunken courtyard, which originally had a reflecting pool. In general, the church's facade is made of brick, stone, and concrete, along with sash windows. The main entrance, in the east wing, leads up to a small vestibule and an asymmetrical 800-seat sanctuary with a balcony. Steps from the sanctuary lead to a chancel with a baptistery, choir, tapestry, and church organ. There is also a chapel south of the sanctuary, and an auditorium, reception room, kitchen, and pantry in the basement. The bridge and the west wing contain offices and classrooms, while the tower houses a clock.
The congregation dates to 1855, when the Christian Congregation in Columbus split from the New Hope Church. After a succession of pastors, the congregation moved to a new site in 1878 or 1879, becoming the Tabernacle Church of Christ. Two siblings, William G. Irwin and Linnie I. Sweeney, acquired the current site in 1936 following substantial growth in the congregation. The Saarinens were hired to design a modern-style building after another architect withdrew from the project. Construction started in 1940, and the new church was dedicated on May 31, 1942; the congregation subsequently became the Christian Church, then the First Christian Church. Over the years, several congregations have split from the First Christian Church, including the short-lived Central Christian Church and the North Christian Church. The First Christian Church building was expanded in the early 2000s, and the tower was restored in the 2020s.
Site The First Christian Church spans an entire city block in downtown Columbus, Indiana, United States, surrounded clockwise from north by Fifth Street, Lafayette Avenue, Fourth Street, and Franklin Street. There are lawns and trees around the grounds, in contrast to similar churches that lacked such features.
The church, which is designed in a modernist style, is surrounded by numerous buildings of a similar style. Along Fifth Street in downtown Columbus, such modern-styled buildings include the Cummins Corporate Office Building, Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, and Irwin Union Bank. The library and the Columbus visitor's center are directly across Fifth Street to the north, and the grounds of the library contain the Large Arch sculpture by Henry Moore, which faces the church. The church is also close to other structures such as The Republic Newspaper Office and Columbus City Hall, along with the city's post office and the Lincoln Elementary School. A writer for local newspaper The Republic described the First Christian Church, Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, and Columbus City Hall as forming a "plaza" area in downtown Columbus, alongside the Storey and Irwin houses flanking the library.
Architecture The First Christian Church was designed by Eliel Saarinen, in conjunction with his son Eero. At the time of the building's development in the 1940s, the two men worked closely together, and many parts of the design cannot be attributed definitively to either man. The writer Harry McCawley states that Eero probably helped with planning, while Charles Eames, later to become a prominent furniture designer in his own right, designed other details. The architectural historian Russell D. Rudzinski attributes the massing, or general shape, to Eero but says that his father was certainly responsible for the articulation of details.
Rather than imitating a historic style with no direct relevance to Columbus, the design reflects the fundamentals of Christian faith in the church design, in an effort to unite the different denominations in the town. Eliel had believed Modern architecture was particularly appropriate for this form of Christianity, in that the church would be based on the fundamentals of religion and architecture and freed from traditional theology and style. Compared with more traditionally-styled churches, the First Christian Church has relatively simple architectural details.
The First Christian Church is one of seven buildings in Columbus designated as National Historic Landmarks. The others are The Republic Newspaper Office, the Mabel McDowell Adult Education Center, the Miller House, the Irwin Union Bank Building, the North Christian Church, and the First Baptist Church.
Form The church has an asymmetrical massing and is divided into four sections: an east wing, a west wing, a connecting bridge between the wings, and a freestanding tower or campanile. The sanctuary and chapel, in the eastern wing, are sometimes considered as distinct masses. The Sunday school occupies the west wing. The various parts of the church could be accessed from the street on all four sides; the bridge is accessible from a terrace to the south. One writer said that Eliel had deliberately used an asymmetrical layout to create "active tension and coherent balance" throughout the structure. The asymmetrical massing had been Eliel's idea; Eero's daughter Susan later reflected that her father had liked symmetrical, geometrical designs, while her grandfather preferred designs with features that balanced each other out.
The two wings flank a sunken courtyard, which is cited as being located or beneath street level. The sunken courtyard is accessed by steps on the north and south; the northern stair is situated between the east wing and the tower. The earth and the pavement in the courtyard are arranged in a similar way to the facade's brick frame and glass windows. The courtyard is surrounded by a brick retaining wall, with a bosque extending above Fifth Street and benches near the corner of Fifth and Franklin streets.
The courtyard originally had a pool measuring across, with a maximum depth of . The pool occupied much of the courtyard's northern or front end, and its former perimeter is delineated by walkways. A reflective material was applied to the bottom of the pool, while a brick parapet surrounded it. The pool was removed in 1957 or 1960 because it was difficult to maintain. The rest of the area forms a terrace, which is surrounded on three sides by the west and east wings and a footbridge between the two wings. The entire terrace is paved in a mosaic pattern and surrounded by plants and flowerbeds. The terrace could be configured to host events such as classes, morning services, and chorus practice.
Facade In general, the church's facade is made of Indiana limestone and brick, inlaid in a grid-like pattern. The facade has concrete details, steel-sash or wooden doors, and steel-sash windows. Unlike similar churches, the First Christian Church has flat roofs. It also uses leaded glass panels in lieu of stained glass; a director of the Columbus Visitors Bureau's director said that Eliel Saarinen saw sunlight as "a gift from God", to remain unsullied by stained glass. The use of brick was intended to give the facade texture, and the brickwork's horizontal and vertical joints were designed in a similar manner to a woven tapestry. Some of the windows are recessed behind grilles, creating the impression of perforated openings. The building does not incorporate elements of established architectural styles. Architectural Forum wrote that the church's stylistic deviation was because "any honest, fundamental approach has to be contemporary", while The Indianapolis Star wrote that the design referenced how the Disciples of Christ denomination tended to "discard human opinions and traditions".
East wing The northern elevation of the east wing's facade is the only part of the east wing that has significant decoration and is divided into a grid of rectangles measuring 12 units across and 10 units tall. It contains the sanctuary's entrance, which is accessed by a limestone stoop that spans the wing's width. The stoop ascends to a terrace of similar width, which measures deep, with benches at its western and eastern ends. The entrance itself consists of three wood-framed double doors, flanked by narrow sidelights. The doors themselves have vertical and horizontal oak strips, along with stainless-steel handles. Above the doors is a concrete canopy, which cantilevers outward from the facade and has a geometric motif carved into its soffit.
The nave's left-hand aisle protrudes asymmetrically from the east (left) side of the entrance, with a lower roof than the rest of the wing. Above and around the entrance, limestone panels protrude about from a grid-like frame made of brick, creating a textured grid that functions as the facade's main decorative feature. A Christian cross, made of limestone and painted yellow, is mounted asymmetrically on the facade above the entrance. The cross terminates just above the entrance canopy, which, according to Rudzinski, drew attention to the entrance. There is also space for a sculpture on the left side of the entrance, though the sculpture was never cast, having been interrupted due to bronze shortages during World War II.
In the northern part of the east wing's western elevation, there are several windows illuminating the auditorium in the basement, which are placed within a limestone frame. Above the basement, tall translucent leadlights on the western elevation, separated by masonry piers, illuminate the sanctuary. The tall windows evoked the design of the neighboring tower; behind the bridge, a chapel with a chimney created a similar design effect. There are doorways leading to the courtyard from the Sunday school classroom and the sanctuary's reception room. The building's cornerstone, a Bedford limestone slab, contains inscriptions with important dates in the congregation's history and a copper box with various artifacts.
West wing and connecting bridge The east and west wings are connected by a two-story enclosed bridge, which overlooks the campanile and former reflecting pool. It is supported by two parallel rows of six limestone columns; the northern row's square columns were intended to complement the pool, while the southern row has octagonal and circular columns to encourage people to move around. The easternmost two columns in each row have reliefs and are grouped in pairs. The northern and southern elevations of the bridge have similar facade designs, which differ only in the patterns used on the facade. On either elevation, there are horizontally-arranged, steel-framed sash windows in the center and relief panels with rectangular windows at either end. Inside, there is a corridor on the southern side of either level, along with classrooms and other spaces occupying the rest of the bridge.
The rooms in the west wing also have large glass windows, including in the basement, where the windows open onto the terrace. The west wing has two stories on its western elevation, facing Franklin Street, where there are stairs leading to an entrance. The wing rises to three stories on its eastern elevation, facing the terrace. Like the bridge, the west wing has steel-framed sash windows, which are arranged horizontally.
Tower