Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in Iowa, United States. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857. It is located on, and named after, the Des Moines River, which likely was adapted from the early French name, Rivière des Moines, meaning "River of the Monks". The city's population was 214,133 as of the 2020 census. The six-county metropolitan area is ranked 83rd in terms of population in the United States, with 699,292 residents according to the 2019 estimate by the United States Census Bureau, and is the largest metropolitan area fully located within the state.
The Hotel Kirkwood, also known as the Kirkwood Civic Center Hotel, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of H.L. Stevens & Company and built in 1930. With its completion it became the largest hotel along Fourth Street between Walnut Street and Court Avenue, along Des Moines' "Hotel Row." It also marked the emergence of the skyscraper hotel in the downtown area. The new hotel replaced a previous Hotel Kirkwood that had been built on the same location in 1862. It was located near Union Station and the Rock Island Depot. Developers and owners of the 1930 Hotel Kirkwood were E.F. Tagney and S.F. McGinn. Art Deco details are found in the building's massing, the sleek exterior geometrical detailing, and treatment of the cornice. The 12-story brick structure rises to a height of 133 feet (41 m). It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The building has subsequently been converted into an apartment building called "The Kirkwood."
The Younker Brothers Department Store is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.
The Savery Hotel, now known as the Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This is the third hotel in the city with that name and the second at this location. The prominent Chicago hotel design firm H.L. Stevens & Company designed the 233-room hotel in the Colonial Revival style, which was a rare choice for commercial architecture in Des Moines. The hotel is an eleven-story brick building that rises 140 feet (43 m) above the ground. Opened in 1919, it has additions completed in 1952 and 1953. Across the alley to the west is an annex that was completed c. 1899 for the previous hotel building. During World War II, Des Moines was the location for the first Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) training center. The Savery augmented the facilities at Fort Des Moines and served as the induction center, barracks, mess hall, and classrooms from 1942 to 1945.
The Ayrshire Apartments is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was built in 1920 as a fireproof apartment hotel. The three-story building was designed in the Tudor Revival style, represented by the half-timbering on the third floor. All 36 units include a kitchenette, a Murphy bed in the living room, and a built-in clothes closet. The end units on each floor are larger than the interior units and they include a solarium. The building is located on Sixth Avenue, which by the turn of the 20th century had become a major route utilized by vehicular traffic and streetcar lines. Its proximity to this transportation corridor illustrates the emergence of higher and denser residential use in these areas of Des Moines. The apartment building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 as a part of the Towards a Greater Des Moines MPS.
The Clemens Automobile Company Building is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was completed in 1916 as an "automotive department store" operated by the Clemens Automobile Company. They sold cars here that were produced by Willys-Overland Motors from 1916 to 1923. There was a claim that this was the largest building in the city that was devoted to automobiles. The first floor was used for the main sales room and offices, the second floor was used for used car sales and the service department, the fourth floor was used for a paint department, and the remaining three floors and the basement were used for storage. The Clemens family was involved in a variety of business enterprises and another one of their companies, the Standard Glass and Paint Company, was housed here from 1924 to 1979. The building was part of the Hotel Fort Des Moines until 2016, the two buildings were linked across the alley in 1985. The first and second floors housed Raccoon River Brewing Co. from May 1997 to March 2015. The building underwent a renovation in 2015 when it was converted to 44 apartments. At that time, the connection to the Hotel Fort Des Moines was sealed off. The first floor has been home to southern restaurant Bubba https://bubbadsm.com/ since July 2016.
Murillo Flats is a three story, formerly seven unit brick apartment building in Des Moines, Iowa. Built in 1903, it was originally located at 531-533 14th at the intersection with High Street in the downtown area of the city. On March 1, 2008, in the largest relocation project scheduled for that year and an event covered by both local & national media, the 705-ton building was moved to a new location so that it could be preserved. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
The First National Bank Building, now known as the Central Place Apartments, is a historic building located in Fort Dodge, Iowa, United States. The First National Bank was established in 1866 and grew to become the city's principal financial institution. Its officers and directors throughout its existence were among the city's most prominent businessmen. The present building was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen in the Early Commercial style. The six-story structure rises to a height of 90 feet (27 m) The building has subsequently been renovated into apartments. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, and as a contributing property in the Fort Dodge Downtown Historic District in 2010.
Hallett & Rawson was an architectural partnership in Iowa. George E. Hallett and Harry Rawson were partners. BBS Architects | Engineers is the continuing, successor firm; its archives hold plans of the original Hallett & Rawson firm. Works by the individual architects and the firm include a number that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hallett Flats–Rawson & Co. Apartment Building at 1301–1307 Locust St. in Des Moines, Iowa is a pair of abutting buildings. The Hallett Flats building, at 1305–1307 Locust St., is a three-story building designed by architect George E. Hallett and was built in 1904. It has also been known as Hallett Apartments. The Rawson & Co. Apartment Building, a four-story building designed by Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, was built in 1915 in such a way that the two would function as one building. It has also been known as Arlington Apartments. The combination was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. The listing included two contributing buildings and one other contributing structure.
H.L. Stevens & Company was a Chicago-, New York-, and San Francisco-based architectural firm that designed hotels around the United States. At least 15 of its works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their architecture.
The National Biscuit Company Building, located at 15 North Chenevert in Houston, Texas, was built for Nabisco in 1910, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 1998. The structure was converted to apartments and is now known as City View Lofts.
Parker's Opera House, also known as Opera House Store, Woolworth's and Parker Place, is a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. It was designed by the prominent Des Moines architect William Foster. Cousins H. G. and A. T. Parker built this structure as an opera house, which was the first one in the community. While it initially filled a need in Mason City, it was replaced by more modern theatres around the turn of the 20th century. The third floor was created in the building in 1909 when it was placed across the middle of the auditorium. The first floor initially housed a clothing store, and F. W. Woolworth Company occupied it beginning in the mid-1920s, and the upper floors housed the local offices of the Standard Oil Company at the same time. The two-story addition in the rear was built in the 1960s. The first floor was redesigned in 1997 for Central Park Dentistry. The upper floors were converted into apartments in 2013.
Franklin Apartments, also known as the Rood House, Antes House, and the Coffin Apartments, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was constructed as a single-family dwelling for the Rood family in 1896. It was converted into a seven unit apartment building in 1914, and then substantially remodeled four years later by Frank B. Coffin into a three unit apartment building. The building is located on Sixth Avenue, which by the turn of the 20th century had become a major route utilized by vehicular traffic and streetcar lines. Its proximity to this transportation corridor illustrates the emergence of higher and denser residential use in this area of Des Moines. The apartment building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
The Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building, also known as the Valley National Bank Building and U.S. Bank, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Rawson, Souers & Thomas, it was designed to be a 21- or 22-story building. It is one of the few downtown commercial buildings built in the Art Deco style. It is also thought to be one of the first bank buildings to put the banking room on the second floor while placing retail space on the first floor. Given its location in an area dominated by retail this made sense. This location had a bank on it since 1882 when the Des Moines National Bank built here. The present building was the result when Des Moines National Bank merged with Iowa National Bank and Des Moines Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1929. The original design for the building was a five-story base and a set-back rental office tower on top of it. The base was begun in 1931 and completed a year later. The building is composed of black polished granite on the first floor and the upper floors are Bedford stone. There is a recessed entrance in the center bay of the main facade. The fifth floor was meant to be the base of the office tower that was never built.
Plymouth Place is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Construction of the building was initiated by Plymouth Congregational Church, which faces Plymouth Place on the opposite side of Ingersoll Avenue. Ground-breaking occurred on June 12, 1966. Completed in 1968, the 12-story structure rises to a height of 161.01 feet (49.08 m). This circular residential building was designed by local architect Raymond Hueholt. It has an unusual interior plan where a common central living room area is surrounded by peripheral living units. The building is also significant for providing quality affordable senior housing for low-income people regardless of religion or creed. At the time the Greenwood Park Plats Historic District was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 it was considered a non-contributing property in the district, but it was considered significant on its own. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.
The Hippee Building, also known as the Southern Surety Building, the Savings and Loan Building, and the Midland Building, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was completed in 1913 by George B. Hippee whose father, George M. Hippee, was one of the first merchants in Des Moines. George B. developed the first interurban railway in the city and it connected Des Moines to other communities in central Iowa. The 172-foot (52 m), 12-story structure was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Sawyer and Watrous in the Early Commercial style. At the time of it completion, the building was Iowa's tallest skyscraper. It was used as an office building until the Aparium Hotel Group of Chicago acquired it in 2017 and began converting the building into a 138-room hotel. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.
The Argonne Building is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was built in 1919 and it was used as a showroom for the Ford automobile plant that was located across the street and for employee housing. In later years it served as a long-term hotel and as an apartment building for low-income renters. There are plans to convert most of the building into market-rate apartments and to maintain the commercial space on the main level. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
The Elmwood-The Oaks-The Birches, also known as the Grand Trees Apartments, are three historic buildings located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The local architectural firm of Vorse, Kraetsch & Kraetsch designed three-story brick structures that were built in 1923. The buildings, which together contain 93 units, are connected by courtyards and stone archways. Above the main entrances are imprints of the trees' leaves - elm, oak, and birch - in the stonework. Parking lots for the apartments are located behind the buildings. A $16.9 million historic renovation was begun in 2021 and will include adding elevators, which the buildings did not have. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Bryn Mawr Apartments is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Built in 1918, it is significant as an example of the "kitchenette" type apartment building from the early years of the city's apartment boom. Designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, "it is representative of the effort to increase profit on residential construction by eliminating the number of rooms in each unit."
