Brown Street Historic District | |
Location | Roughly Brown St. from west of Linn St. to Governor St., the 500-800 blocks of E. Ronalds St., and adjacent parts of intersecting streets, Iowa City, Iowa |
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Coordinates | 41°40′11″N91°31′43″W / 41.66972°N 91.52861°W |
Area | 15 acres (6.1 ha) |
Architectural style | Queen Anne Italianate Greek Revival |
MPS | Iowa City MPS |
NRHP reference No. | 94001112 (original) 04001096 [1] (increase) |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 23, 1994 |
Boundary increase | September 29, 2004 |
The Brown Street Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and its boundaries were increased in 2004. [1] At the time of the boundary increase it consisted of 246 resources, which included 201 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, and 44 non-contributing buildings. [2] Brown and East Ronalds Streets are both part of the city's original plat when it was laid out as the capitol of the Iowa Territory. They are located on the north edge of the plat. Its significance is derived from the settlement patterns here, the development of a major transportation corridor, the neighborhood's affiliation with the University of Iowa and its growth around the turn of the 20th century, and the architectural styles and forms that are found here from the 1850s to the 1920s. [3] Many of the city's Bohemian-immigrant population lived here. Businessmen and blue-collar workers lived side by side to each other, as did professors from the University of Iowa. [3] The old Military Road was routed on Brown Street, and after it was paved with bricks in 1907, it became the preferred route for funeral processions to Oakland Cemetery.
Most of the popular architectural styles from late 19th and into the 20th century are found here. The most popular house form is the American Four-Square. [3] Other popular styles include Queen Anne, Italianate, and the Greek Revival. The houses are both one and two stories in height, and wood-frame construction is prominent with rubble stone foundations. Some exteriors are clad in brick. Four houses have been individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Charles Berryhill House (c. 1850–1865), Vogt House (1890), Bohumil Shimek House (c. 1890), and the Arthur Hillyer Ford House (1909).
Brown Street Historic District is also home to Happy Hollow park, a 3.3 acre park that was acquired by the City in 1945. [4] The hollow is the result of inhabitants removing clay from the area to make bricks that were used in nearby homes. In 2018, the park received a new park shelter and restroom, with an estimated cost of $182,250. [5] Happy Hollow Park has been the subject of ongoing coverage over the decision to replace the baseball infield with turf and reclassifying the park. [6] [7]
Beginning in 2022, the Brown Street Historic District was the site of a project to increase affordable housing in Iowa City. The city sold a vacant lot at 724 Ronalds Street to a nonprofit who has worked with the Iowa City Community School District to build affordable rental housing and provide students with on-the-job vocational training. [8]
The Dundee–Happy Hollow Historic District is located west of Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It covers the area between Harney Street on the south, Hamilton Street on the north, Happy Hollow Boulevard on the west, and 46th Street on the east. The "heart" of Dundee is located at 50th and Underwood Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It was founded in 1880 and annexed into the city in 1915. Dundee is home to Warren Buffett and nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist Jeff Koterba and was the hometown of filmmaker Alexander Payne. Actor Henry Fonda additionally lived in the Dundee neighborhood.
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The Charles Berryhill House is a historic house located at 414 Brown Street in Iowa City, Iowa.
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The Arthur Hillyer Ford House is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Ford was a Chicago native who worked as an electrical engineer before becoming a college professor. He eventually became professor of electrical engineering at the University of Iowa, and is credited with inventing glare-less automobile headlights. He hired local architect Orville H. Carpenter to design his Mission Revival house. It features a symmetrical composition, wall dormers with scalloped parapets, a quatrefoil window, stuccoed walls, red clay tile roof with wide overhanging eaves, and a full-length front porch with square piers and flattened arches. The American Craftsman influence is found on the interior, especially in the fireplace inglenook. The house was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. In 1994 it was included as a contributing property in the Brown Street Historic District.
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The Vogt House, also known as the Vogt-Unash House and the Kurt Vonnegut House, is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The two-story, brick structure is a fine example of vernacular Queen Anne architecture. It follows an asymmetrical plan and features a high-pitched hipped roof, a gabled and a round dormer on the south elevation, a two-story gabled-roof pavilion on the east, a two-story polygonal bay with a hipped roof on the west, and a single-story addition on the back. Of particular merit is the wrap-around, latticework porch that has a round pavilion with a conical roof and finial on its southwest corner. There are also two outbuildings: a two-story frame carriage house to the west of the house, and a woodshed to the north of the main house.
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The Melrose Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 134 resources, which included 112 contributing buildings, one contributing site, 20 non-contributing buildings, and one non-contributing structure. This neighborhood first developed as a sparsely populated rural area, and between World War I and World War II developed into an automobile suburb. It grew along with the University of Iowa when it expanded to the west side of the Iowa River, and it borders the large University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics complex. Among the prominent people who lived here was Howard Jones who coached the Iowa football team from 1916 to 1923. Other prominent residents included professors and local professionals and politicians.
The Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company–Shrader Drug Company Building is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1906, this utilitarian three-story brick structure is located in the city's original railroad and industrial corridor south of the central business district. This was an industrial area from the 1870s to the 1940s. It replaced a recently built building on the same site by the Hawthorne Glove and Novelty Company that had been destroyed in a fire. The back of the building opened upon the rail sidings of a branch line of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway, later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific. By the start of World War I the Shrader Drug Company occupied the building. It was one of three drug related factories that were located along the South Gilbert Street corridor at that time. The company name changed to the Hewell-Shrader Drug Company in 1930 and then the Hewell-Shrader Company in 1945 after farm fertilizer was added to its product line. The company closed in 1956, and the building was sold to the Thompson Transfer and Storage Company who used it for a warehouse. Whipple House Furniture Store took over the building three years later, and remained until 1975. In the intervening years a variety of businesses occupied the building until the 1980s when it was vacant for a period of time. In the mid-1980s The Vine Tavern occupied the basement level and the upper floors were used for artist studios. In 2012 the upper floors were converted into apartments. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The Greenwood Park Plats Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. At the time of its nomination the district consisted of 393 resources, including 277 contributing buildings, one contributing site, 109 non-contributing buildings, and six non-contributing structures. Most of this district was originally known as Brown's Park, a private park that was the location of the Iowa State Fair from 1879 to 1885. Founded privately in 1854, the fair was held in several locations in the state making it more of a regional event. It was also not profitable. That changed when the fair moved to this location, and its profitability eventually led to funding from the Iowa General Assembly and a permanent location on the east side of the city. Brown's Park continued for a while longer and the streetcar line from Des Moines opened in 1889.