H.L. Stevens & Company was a Chicago-, New York-, and San Francisco-based architectural firm that designed hotels around the United States. [1] [2] [3] At least 15 of its works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their architecture. [4]
The firm specialized in small (less than 500 rooms) hotels and apartment houses in a Georgian Revival or Colonial Revival style in either a rectangular or H-shape, which in at least one case was viewed as a refreshing change from the small, squarish hotels that a city had previously experienced. Their buildings, primarily in the Northeast, are in many cases still extant. [1]
In 1912, there was some dispute surrounding the State of Illinois's approval of the firm as an architectural firm, because, as a corporation, it appeared incorrect to allow the designation of the corporation as a licensed architect. [5]
The firm developed hospitals during World War I. During that time, it created an integrated approach to design and construction that would be termed "fast-tracking" today; it applied this approach to its development of hotels starting with the Penn Alto Hotel. [3]
Works include (with attribution that varies in punctuation):
William LaBarthe Steele was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois. He is considered a principal member of the Prairie School Architectural Movement during the early 20th century.
The Randolph Hotel or Hotel Randolph is a nine-story hotel located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This hotel was designed and built by the H.L. Stevens & Company in 1911. It rents rooms for a weekly rate. Most guests are considered long term, meaning they stay for more than thirty consecutive days. The Randolph Hotel is located on the corner of Fourth Street and Court Avenue downtown, along the historic Court Avenue strip.
The Penn Alto Building is an historic landmark building that is located in downtown Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States. It is nine stories high and has a partial tenth floor penthouse.
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."
Mendelssohn, Fisher and Lawrie was a significant architecture firm in early Omaha, Nebraska. Fisher & Lawrie continued. A number of their works are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Weeks and Day was an American architectural firm founded in 1916 by architect Charles Peter Weeks (1870–1928) and engineer William Peyton Day (1886–1966).
Proudfoot & Bird was an American architectural firm that designed many buildings throughout the Midwest region of the United States. Originally established in 1882, it remains active through its several successors, and since 2017 has been known as BBS Architects | Engineers.
Link & Haire was a prolific architectural firm in Montana, formally established on January 1, 1906. It designed a number of buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen was an architectural firm in the U.S. state of Iowa. They designed Kromer Flats built in 1905. It designed courthouses, commercial buildings, and residences. Several are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
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.
Frank E. Wetherell was an American architect in the U.S. state of Iowa who was active from 1892 to 1931. He founded the second oldest architectural firm in the state in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1905. He worked with Roland Harrison in partnership Wetherell & Harrison. The firm designed numerous Masonic buildings.
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.
Aaron T. Simmons, most commonly known as A.T. Simmons, was an American architect. He designed 71 Carnegie libraries, numerous courthouses, schools, churches and other public buildings, and most of the houses in the Cedar Crest area of Normal, Illinois.
William Foster was an architect in Iowa.
Meginnis and Schaumberg was an architectural firm in Lincoln, Nebraska. The firm lasted from 1925 until 1943 when partner Harry Meginnis died. The firm designed several buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and three buildings on University of Nebraska's East Campus as well as the Mueller Tower on its City Campus.
John P. Eisentraut (1870-1958) was an American architect most closely associated with South Dakota. Eisentraut designed a number of buildings, including Carnegie libraries and courthouses, several of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He was one of South Dakota's leading architects during the first quarter of the twentieth century.
Paul V. Hyland (1876-1966) was an architect in Chicago, with a Lincoln, Nebraska office. He designed several works which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Nisbet & Paradice was an architectural firm in Idaho. It was a partnership of architects Benjamin Morgan Nisbet and Frank H. Paradice, Jr. formed in 1909. The partnership lasted five years. They dissolved it in 1915, and Nisbet moved to Twin Falls, Idaho to establish an individual practice, and Paradice did likewise in Pocatello, Idaho. A number of their works are recognized by listings on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Iowa City Downtown 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 2021. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 102 resources, which included 73 contributing buildings, one contributing site, one contributing object, 21 non-contributing buildings, and seven non-contributing objects. Eight buildings that were previously listed on the National Register are also included in the district. Iowa City's central business district developed adjacent to the Iowa Old Capitol Building and the main campus of the University of Iowa. This juxtaposition gives the area its energy with the overlap of university staff and students and the local community. The district was significantly altered in the 1970s by the city's urban renewal effort that brought about the Ped Mall, which transformed two blocks of College Street from Clinton Street to Linn Street and Dubuque Street from Burlington Street to Washington Street. It is the contributing site and the large planters/retaining walls that are original to the project are counted together as the contributing object. There are also several freestanding, limestone planters, five contemporary sculptures, and a playground area are the non-contributing objects.