Mad Swatches

I have blogged about Alexander Girard a number of times in the past, as I was hoping to write the first definitive history of his career as architect, and exhibition, textile and restaurant designer. That may still happen, but unfortunately I have to get in line behind Todd Oldham, who is putting together a visual monograph on Girard to be published by AMMO next year.

One of the aspects of Girard’s career that is most newsy, and that I am hoping I can convince someone to send me to Columbus, IN to cover, is the restoration and reopening of the J. Irwin and Xenia Miller House. I researched this house for the Eero Saarinen catalog, since he (mostly Kevin Roche) designed the house, while Girard did the interiors, and lectured about it this past June.

One of the most strikingly original aspects of the Miller House, completed in 1957, is that it is one of few iconic modern houses built for a family (I would count the Noyes house as the other). And Girard had a lot to do with making what could have been a mausoleum into a fun, color-coded home. Here’s a video from the Indianapolis Museum of Art, showing a recent discovery of a box of Girard’s swatches and notes. Don’t you wish you were there?

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By Alexandra Lange

Alexandra Lange is an architecture critic and author, and the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for Criticism, awarded for her work as a contributing writer for Bloomberg CityLab. She is currently the architecture critic for Curbed and has written extensively for Design Observer, Architect, New York Magazine, and The New York Times. Lange holds a PhD in 20th-century architecture history from New York University. Her writing often explores the intersection of architecture, urban planning, and design, with a focus on how the built environment shapes everyday life. She is also a recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary from AIGA, an honor she shares with Design Observer’s Editor-in-Chief, Ellen McGirt.