Nancy Kriplen’s article “An Indiana Town Where Big Names Built” (New York Times, 10 May 2013) chronicles the impact J. Irwin Miller had on the architecture of Columbus, Indiana. When New York Times’ Home News Editor Cynthia Kellogg wrote to Irwin Miller in 1957 asking for permission to publish the Miller House “in a dignified manner,” Mr. Miller replied that he and Mrs. Miller had not yet made up their minds. The house was published in Architectural Forum (September 1958) and House and Garden (February 1959), but not in the New York Times. 

Cynthia Kellogg to J. Irwin Miller, 31 July 1957; draft of letter from J. Irwin Miller to Cynthia Kellogg; draft of letter from J. Irwin Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 1/8, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.  (MHG_Ia_B001_f008_067-068)

Girard’s purchase order specifies the upholstered version (LAR-1) of the chair in the photograph. On the reverse of the photograph is written in pencil “CE-228-E.” We’re curious to know if anyone is familiar with this photo or its marking. Perhaps Charles Eames took it himself?

Black and white photograph of Eames LAR chair (8 x 10 inches) and purchase order from Alexander Girard to Herman Miller Furniture Company, 1 September 1955, 33/382, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ic_B033_f382_004-005)

Architectural photographer Balthazar Korab passed away yesterday, January 15, 2013, at the age of 86. (Obituary in the Detroit Free Press can be found here) Korab had a history photographing the Miller House & Garden that spanned 40 years and totaled 1,808 images.  He began his relationship with Miller House as a designer in the office of Eero Saarinen & Associates and at one point attempted to design a sculptural fireplace for the house. These plans were never realized. Korab maintained a personal relationship with Millers, photographing the house on eighteen confirmed dates between 1961 and 1992. His work captured Miller House & Garden during different seasons and documented changes in and around the home throughout the years. These contact sheets and sample copy photo are from different visits Korab took to Columbus, Indiana. Based on examining the objects in the house in the photographs, the black and white contact sheet and sample copy photo were taken after 1962 and the color contact sheet after 1979. More examples of Korab’s work done at Miller House & Garden can be found in John Comazzi’s recent book Balthazar Korab:  Architect of Photography published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2012. Korab’s photos also appear in Bradley C. Brooks’ Miller House and Garden published by Assouline in 2011.

Comazzi, John. (2012) Balthazar Korab: Architect of Photography. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. 

Photographs by Balthazar Korab, 38/4-6, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_II_B038_f006_023-024, MHG_II_B038_f005_011-012, MHG_II_B038_f004_002-003)

When House and Garden published its article on the Miller House, it also omitted information about the Millers and the house’s location. House and Garden included thirty of Ezra Stoller’s photographs, many of them in color.

Will Mehlhorn to J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller, 5 December 1958 2/10 (MHG_Ia_B002_f010_013); Maurice Allen, Jr. to Will Mehlhorn, 5 September 1958, 2/10 ((MHG_Ia_B002_f010_079), Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana.

Responding to a letter from Girard, Architectural Forum associate editor Richard A. Miller assures Girard that the magazine will maintain the Millers’ privacy and will allow the Millers, Eero Saarinen, and Girard to check the article’s accuracy prior to publication.

Richard A. Miller to Alexander H. Girard, 29 April 1958, 2/10, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f010_143)

When Ezra Stoller photographed the Miller Garden the first week of April, 1958, the trees were not yet in bloom. He was not able to return to Columbus to photograph them for the article in Architectural Forum.

Ezra Stoller to George Newlin, 19 April 1958, 2/11, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f011_004)

This trio of letters demonstrates not only the Millers’ restriction on publishing their name, the house’s location, and the construction cost but also the architects and Millers’ insistence on editorial control. 

Alexander H. Girard to Henry Miller, 11 April 1958, 2/11 (MHG_Ia_B002_f011_014); J. Irwin Miller to Eero Saarinen, 15 April 1958, 2/11 (MHG_Ia_B002_f011_012); Alexander H. Girard to Ezra Stoller, 5 May 1958, 2/10 (MHG_Ia_B002_f010_145); Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

Alexander Girard, his wife Susan, and his assistant Michael Hamilton staged the Miller House for photographer Ezra Stoller. Among their tasks were obtaining flowers and plants, hanging pictures, and arranging furniture.

Alexander H. Girard to Wanda Henderson, 21 February 1958, 2/11, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f011_070-071)

More than a year before Ezra Stoller photographed the Miller House and Garden, Girard comments that Architectural Forum’s “color reproduction is improving.” Of the twelve photographs published in Architectural Forum, two were color reproductions.

Alexander H. Girard to J. Irwin Miller, 13 February 1957, 2/9, Miller House and Garden Collection, IMA Archives, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana. (MHG_Ia_B002_f009_087)