Sleek and Stylish

Dr. David Adler was progressive in his practice of medicine, so it’s no wonder he and his wife, Mary, chose to build an avant-garde home. Situated at the end of a cul-de-sac in Columbus’s Riverview Acres subdivision, the house is strikingly horizontal and low to the ground. Its wide eaves rest on a series of cantilevered beams extending from inside the house out through walls of brick and glass. The house is one of five Modernist standouts featured on the 2019 Back to the Future: A Mid-Century Modern Home Tour on Saturday, May 18.

Born in New York City in 1913, Adler moved to Indiana to attend college, graduating from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1938. After World War II, he moved to Columbus to work as the first dedicated pathologist at the Bartholomew County Hospital. Situated on a rise over the Flatrock River, the Adlers’ 1962 home features floor-to ceiling windows designed to capture expansive views of the natural surroundings. Today, owner John Pugh is captivated by the same scenes. “It’s a beautiful location, with large windows through which I can watch the changing seasons,” he says.

Floor-to-ceiling windows allow natural light to pour into the Adler-Pugh House in Columbus. (Photo: Garry Chilluffo)

Talivaldis “Ted” Meijers (1926-2012) shaped much of Columbus’s residential landscape during the mid-twentieth century. His local company, Custom Built Homes, is responsible for the Adler-Pugh House’s distinctive design. A Latvian native, Meijers immigrated to the United States with his wife Ruta in 1949, arriving in Columbus in 1951 — where he worked as a carpenter’s apprentice before establishing his construction firm.

Meijers constructed two other homes on this year’s tour, both in the Noblitt Falls subdivision, known as “The Lagoons” for its man-made lakes.

The house he designed in 1963 for Albert “Ab” Schumaker — president of the local Coca-Cola distributing company — and his wife Jacqueline is also situated on a wooded lot along the Flatrock River. Low-slung like the Adler-Pugh House, the Schumaker home features a broad main façade with a central entrance screened behind a masonry wall. The house’s rough-cut fieldstone was likely sourced from nearby Brown County. The home has remained in the family, owned today by Hutch Schumaker — current president of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company — and his sister, Nan Russell.

Elsewhere in the Lagoons, the house Meijers designed in 1959 for orthopedic surgeon Dr. Floyd Mohler and his family now belongs to local businesswoman Julie Aton. Passionate about Mid-Century Modern design, Aton shares her knowledge as a volunteer tour guide for the Columbus Area Visitors Center. “I knew I had to have this house on the very first day I toured it at the open house back in 2015,” Julie says. “I made an offer that same day, and have enjoyed furnishing it with period furniture and art.”

An architectural standout, the home’s post-and-beam construction supports a broad, central gabled roof with a window wall overlooking the lake behind the house. Coupled with the wide, screened-in back porch, the views give the home the feeling of a lakeside resort.