History
Built in 1864 by Joseph I. Irwin, Columbus banker and businessman, this Italianate design was remodeled in 1880. However, to accommodate four generations of the Irwin family, the home has been enlarged and redesigned over the years. The current mansion was the magnificent achievement of Henry A. Phillips, a Massachusetts architect, who was hired by William G. Irwin in 1910. The intricate detail of the extensive fine woodwork and moldings throughout the house are reminiscent of a European estate. The old brick exterior was covered by tapestry brick with stone trim, and several new chimneys, which are now a prominent feature of the house, were added. The roof was recovered in slate and the pitch was altered, providing for a more spacious third floor. On the east, a raised terrace was added to link the home to the adjoining Garden.
The highlight of this two-acre property is the garden, a beautiful maze based on the Casa degli Innamorati in Pompeii. Several fountains and a long pool are the focal point of a lowered sunken garden. There is a statue under the center arch of the garden house designed from a lakeside structure at the Villa of Hadrian at Tivoli, Italy. Pompeian murals accent the garden house. A tall brick wall is rounded in imitation of 16th-century gardens in Mantua, Italy. Wisteria vines on the terrace’s pergolas were planted in 1911, and continue to bloom in the spring. Only the English sundial and a Japanese bronze elephant sculpture that is a replica of one at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair pavilion do not follow the Italian motif.
This magnificent property is in the heart of downtown Columbus, Indiana, the city that boasts world-renowned modern architecture. The Inn at Irwin Gardens’ illustrious neighbors that you can see on Columbus Visitors Center’s architecture tour are the I.M. Pei library, the First Christian Church of Eliel Saarinen, and Columbus Signature Academy and St. Peters Lutheran Church, both of Gunnar Birkerts.
What is most significant about this property is not just that it shares proximity with these assets to the community, but that its inhabitants have been the progenitors of them. Clessie Cummins served as chauffeur to the Irwin family. It was on this property that Clessie first began ‘tinkering’ in the garage, where he developed the ideas and technology for a high-speed diesel engine. With the backing of William Glanton Irwin, his ideas became the cornerstone product of Cummins, Inc., now a $13 billion Fortune 500 company. (The original garage has since been removed, and greenhouses now stand in its place.) W.G. Irwin’s great-nephew J. Irwin Miller, who was born and raised in this house, and his wife Xenia had the vision that ultimately led to the development of the trove of modern architecture in Columbus, Indiana.
