Tour the Inn
The Irwin Home and Gardens property at 608 5th Street is a magnificent property by any measure. It boasts a grand home built in 1864 and updated in 1910. The luxurious Gardens are modeled after those exhumed from the remains of ancient Pompeii. The property is situated in the heart of downtown Columbus and boasts such illustrious neighbors as the I.M. Pei designed Columbus Library, the First Christian Church of Eliel Saarinen, Columbus Signature Academy and St. Peters Lutheran Church both of Gunnar Birkerts.
The home exemplifies the best in human craftsmanship while the Gardens provide a taste of the beauty of God’s creation. It is reminiscent of mid 19th and early 20th centuries, a place apart from the mundane, where guests can appreciate the designer’s attention to detail and intense devotion to botanical beauty.
Today, The Inn at Irwin Gardens welcomes guests in the gracious tradition of fine Hoosier hospitality. Guests have the rare opportunity to experience elite accommodations of the early 20th century while enjoying contemporary amenities. Visitors enter the mansion through a grand foyer with quarter-sawn English white oak paneling and ornate staircase that rises to the second and third floor guest rooms. The beautifully detailed coffered oak beam and floral plaster relief ceilings rival those in European estates.
The home’s design includes many details that have deliberate symbolism honoring the Creator, his creation, and great men that have gone before us. Seven library windows that overlook the Gardens have small stained glass designs in the transoms. Each figure represents a day of the week beginning with Sunday in the north window. A sun stands for Sunday. A moon represents Monday. Tuesday is depicted by the arm of the Greek god Zeus grasping bolts of lightning. The raven of Wotan stands for Wednesday. The arm of Thor holding thunderbolts represents Thursday. The black cats of Freia, the goddess of youth and beauty, stand for Friday. The last window facing south has a picture of the planet Saturn for Saturday. There are two heads carved in blocks of stone outside the library windows and two more on the tower to the left under the third floor window. These represent the seasons of the year. Linking the home to the Gardens on the east, a raised terrace was designed with a covered area at either end. The roof beam of each of these areas bears an inscription. On the north is a quotation from Robert Burns: “An’ when fatigued wi’ close employment a blink o’ rest a sweet enjoyment.” On the south, the inscription from Walt Whitman reads: “Keep your face always toward the sunshine and the shadows will fall behind you.”
On this upper Gardens level under the open pergolas are four sculptured heads depicting Greek philosophers: Socrates and Diogenes on the north side, Plato and Aristotle on the south side. These are reproduction of statues in the garden of the Emperor Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli near Rome.
Wisteria vines on the two pergolas on the terrace beside the house were planted about 1911, and the same vines continue to bloom profusely in the spring. If the weather turns cool, why not borrow a book from the library and curl up next to the fireplace? Or play chess or backgammon in the game room?
