The Republic Newspaper Office

The Republic Newspaper Office building is located at 333 Second Street in Columbus, Indiana, United States. It is the only building on an approximately city block bounded by Second Street (Indiana State Road 46 eastbound) to the north, Washington Street to the east, First Street to the south, and Jackson Street to the west. There are sidewalks on all four streets. The sidewalk on Second Street is flanked by evenly-spaced rows of honey locust trees on both sides, while the sidewalks on Jackson and Washington streets have rows of honey locust trees only on the side facing the curb. The building is set back from its primary frontage on Second Street, where there are two flagpoles. The rear or south end of the block contains a parking lot, 112, There are also crabapple trees at the building's west and east ends, as well as randomly arranged honey locusts at the south end. To the north, the building faces the Bartholomew County Courthouse across Second Street. It is also close to other structures such as the Irwin Bank Building and Columbus City Hall. The sidewalk on Second Street is part of a longer pathway leading to the Flatrock River, built in the late 20th century as part of an urban renewal project for Columbus. == Architecture ==

The Republic building was designed by Myron Goldsmith, an architect at the firm Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill (SOM), as the headquarters of local newspaper The Republic. The Republic building was also one of several modernist corporate buildings developed in Columbus during the late 20th century. These structures followed an earlier wave of modernist development in the mid-20th century, influenced by local businessman J. Irwin Miller, whose Cummins Foundation had paid the design fees for modernist government buildings in the city. It has one story and a basement. The building has a rectangular floor plan measuring . The floor plan is arranged in a 3×8 grid of square modules measuring across; the modules at the building's perimeter are further subdivided into three equal sections measuring wide. Facade The facade is made mostly of steel and glass. Aluminum mullions divide the facade both vertically into bays and horizontally into registers, which correspond to the interior modules. The northern and southern elevations are divided vertically into 24 bays, while the western and eastern elevations are divided vertically into 9 bays, corresponding to the sections at the building's perimeter. The facade has painted steel panels at the bottom—concealing the first story's concrete floor slab, which is raised slightly above ground—and at the top. The glass exterior originally allowed the newspaper's bright yellow printing press to be viewed from the nearby street. The Architectural Record wrote that "considerable thought" was given to the decision to use glass, since newspaper offices were frequently targeted by threats, but that The Republic owner Robert N. Brown ultimately decided to use glass because he trusted the local population. All of the bays on the northern elevation of the facade are identical, except for the fifth-westernmost bay, which contains a set of double doors. Interior When the building was completed, SOM cited the first floor as spanning approximately and the basement as covering . The first-floor spaces are divided by full-height glass walls. The walls are held in place by columns with "H"-shaped cross sections, placed every , which correspond to the modules at the perimeter of the building. These columns support a corrugated steel ceiling deck with fluorescent lights, pipes, and sprinklers. All four elevations of the building, except the central 16 bays on the northern elevation, have miniature metal blinds. The concrete floor slab was covered with a dark brown carpet. A gas boiler provided hot air, while a gas engine powered two compressors that provided cool air. Abutting the reception areas, in the center-west portions of the building, were a pair of work areas facing north and south, which respectively housed newsrooms for The Republic advertising and editorial sections. and rested on footings that were disconnected from the rest of the building's foundation. When The Republic occupied the building, it also maintained a small art collection there. The southern reception area had a lithograph depicting Columbus in 1886, and a sign from the newspaper's previous building was displayed in the employee lounge. == History ==

The Brown family founded the Columbus Republican in 1872; the newspaper remained in the family for more than 140 years. The Republican (later renamed The Republic) moved to Fifth and Franklin streets in 1925, after occupying two earlier structures. Goldsmith was hired to design a building for the Daily Journal, which was completed in 1963. Like the later Republic design, the Daily Journal building had a glass facade that exposed a printing press inside, but the Daily Journal design differed in that it had an exposed steel frame and windows recessed behind a colonnade. which sought to redevelop a portion of downtown Columbus east of the Flatrock River. In 1967, Goldsmith suggested to Brown that one of the urban renewal sites, just south of the Bartholomew County Courthouse, would be ideal as a site for the new Republic building. Because SOM was concurrently designing both the master plan and the Republic building, many of the design details in the Republic building were integrated into the overall master plan. which was placed on sale in December 1968. Brown's bid was selected by default, as no one else had submitted bids. The one-story glass structure would contain the executive offices, accounting department, and printing plant for four newspapers. After the design was approved by a committee for the Columbus redevelopment project, beating out nine other companies who submitted bids for the job. During the construction process, more than 100 changes were made to the original plans. Most of these changes were minor, and the building was completed under budget, with a final cost of $1,104,425. The newspaper offered its previous building at 44 Fifth Street to the city government, but the city council declined the offer; the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce eventually took space there. Meanwhile, at the new building, The Republic hosted open house events for advertisers, contractors, material suppliers, and newspaper publishers in late September 1971. Shortly afterward, The Republic published a special edition inviting the public to see its new building; about 2,400 people attended the public open house that October. remained relatively unchanged over the years. The building was designed with more space than The Republic initially needed; the printing press was equipped to print as many as 35,000 copies per day. and aluminum angles were added at the bottom of the facade to improve drainage. The roof was replaced with a gravel surface in the 1980s. The critic Blair Kamin wrote that the printing press's relocation, which might not have been newsworthy in a large city, provoked dozens of concerned inquiries from the public, who thought the newspaper was closing down entirely. At the time, the Second Street building had only enough space to store a two-day supply of newsprint, while the new plant could store a six-week supply of newsprint. A new reception area was added on the eastern side of the building in 2008. Later use In May 2016, the Republic building on Second Street was purchased by Southeastern Indiana Medical Holdings, a Columbus Regional Health affiliate, for $2.77 million for use as an administrative office. The newspaper's new building, covering about at 2980 National Road, had been selected because it had open plan offices and was close to U.S. 31. For the old building, Columbus Regional Health planned to modify the interior but leave the facade in place, and it planned to use the building's parking lot. The building was intended to house the university's new J. Irwin Miller Architecture Program and was Indiana University's second structure in Columbus, after the IU Center for Art and Design Columbus. In conjunction with its purchase, Indiana University received a $1 million grant from the city government and raised the same amount through donations. The funds were used to upgrade mechanical systems, make repairs, and conduct asbestos abatement. The Republic building did not require many changes to accommodate the university, other than the addition of a concrete partition. IU moved into the building in August 2018, initially accommodating 20 students there, and formally dedicated the building on January 31, 2019. The Indianapolis Business Journal described the Republic building as Columbus's "marquee contribution to the master's program" of IU. == Impact ==

Reception When the building was completed, Paul Goldberger of The New York Times that SOM had made "an attempt to turn a Miesian glass pavilion into a commercial space", just like the firm's earlier Manufacturers Trust Company Building in New York City. Goldberger wrote that the Republic office's freestanding nature contrasted with the Manufacturers Trust Company's constrained setting. while American Press magazine called the building "more than beautiful". Blair Kamin of the Chicago Tribune called the Republic building a "Miesian box" whose printing press drew comparison to a kinetic sculpture. After IU took over the building, McCawley wrote that "Motorists had only to turn their head at a certain time in the afternoon and they could see newsprint whirring by on the unique offset press." Kamin wrote that the design "spoke with resonant clarity and conviction, powerfully symbolizing the transparency of the free press", and that the lightness of the decorations differed from the "muscular structural expressionism" often seen in Chicago. The American Steel Institute gave the Republic building its 1972–1973 award for "excellence in design of low rise construction". On October 17, 2012, the Republic building was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture. The structure was featured in publications such as The American Press, and Lanus, and the design was highlighted in a radio program broadcast on CBS during 1972, where it was described as a "living sculpture". The building was featured throughout the 2017 film Columbus; one observer wrote that the building's role in the film was that of "the giddy child who, brimming over with excitement, just can't bear to keep the promise they swore only moments prior that they would". In addition, after retiring from SOM, Goldsmith wrote a book about his architectural works in 1987, devoting six pages to the Republic building. ==See also==