MOBILE MAP STOPS 83-86
83 – Fire Station 3
The exterior features bright graphics and large towers resembling the nearby Fodrea Elementary School. The two-story building has a hose-drying tower in the rear and a glass enclosed tower in the front with a visible fire pole.
The architect added a playful touch with a visible fire pole so the neighborhood children could run and watch the fireman sliding down the pole when they heard the fire alarm sounding. The fire pole is the main focal point of the design, accented by the red brick and the super-graphic numeral 3.
A cylindrical form is repeated in the towers and horizontally at the main entrance and the engine bay doors. The curves at the entrances and engine bays are accented by the red glazed brick contrasting with the grey fluted masonry block walls.
84 – McDowell Education Ctr.
The site was named a National Historic Landmark (one of the seven in Columbus) in 2000 for its development of modernism in architecture and landscape architecture.
McDowell was the first school built under the “park school” concept, with adjacent land and the building utilized year-round as a neighborhood playground.
Originally designed to serve elementary students, the school’s flexibility was demonstrated by the 1983 conversion to an adult education facility.
The school is named in honor of Miss Mabel McDowell (1880-1961), an elementary school teacher in Columbus for 25 years.
85 – Cummins Inc. Tech Center
The research and engine testing facility utilizes modular, pre-cast concrete panels to create the exterior curtain wall, a method used in several other Cummins buildings. In contrast, the concrete of the six-story office building was poured floor by floor. Oblong pre-cast concrete forms provide sun screening for the glass windows in each floor. The office interior features formed pre-cast concrete which incorporated the mechanical and electrical systems.
The area around the Technical Center has been landscaped by Dan Kiley with trees, grass, pools, and plantings. Kiley also designed the rows of London Planetree lining Central Avenue (Haw Creek Boulevard) and the plantings around the Cummins Columbus Engine Plant and the former Cummins Health Center, seen across the boulevard.
86 – Fire Station One
Bowers (1894-1944) practiced in Fort Wayne until he moved to Indianapolis in 1933, where he served as an architect for the state of Indiana. His Fort Wayne designs include the NIPSCO Office Building and the Gaston F. Bailhe House.
The addition and renovation was completed by Columbus architects James K. Paris and Nolan Bingham in 1990. Michael Van Valkenburgh contributed the landscaping design.
The 1990 addition was by Columbus architect Jim Paris, who maintained the horizontal lines and two colors of brick.
The station also houses and maintains the first diesel engine fire truck in the country – you can often see it parked in one of the Washington Street bays and is a popular feature at special community events.
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