The Paramount Theatre is a 1,693-seat theater in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.
May's Island is a small island on the Cedar River, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Functioning as a civic center much like the Île de la Cité, it is the site of the Memorial Building, the Linn County Courthouse, and the county jail. The island plus an adjacent block was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church is a former parish church of the Archdiocese of Dubuque located in Stone City, Iowa, United States. Catholics in Stone City were initially served by priests from Cedar Rapids and Anamosa. Mass was celebrated in parishioner's homes until 1881 when permission was granted to use a large hall in Stone City. The parish was established in 1901 and the cornerstone for the church building was laid in 1913. It was completed later the same year. The church was designed by Dubuque, Iowa architect Guido Beck. The stained glass windows of the church were imported from Germany. The limestone used for the building was donated by city quarries. Otto Braun served as the contractor, and the labor to construct the church was also donated by local quarry businesses. The lower level of the building houses the parish hall. The rear of the church can be seen anchoring the left side of Grant Wood's painting Stone City (1930). The parish started to lose parishioners in the 1920s when the stone quarries started to decline. Its size increased again in the 1950s before economic factors once again caused it to decline. The archdiocese closed the parish in 1992, and church building became an oratory.
St. Paul's United Methodist Church is located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. The Louis Sullivan-designed building has been individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1985. In 2000 it was included as a contributing property in the Second and Third Avenue Historic District.
The Bohemian Commercial Historic District, also known as New Bohemia, is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 75 resources, which included 48 contributing buildings, and 27 non-contributing buildings. Bohemian immigrants began settling in Cedar Rapids in the 1850s, and increasingly after the American Civil War in the 1860s and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. They grew to be the largest ethnic group in the city, and the only one to settle in a distinct part of Cedar Rapids. They settled along the Cedar River between the downtown area and the T.M. Sinclair and Company meat packing plant. The buildings in the district were constructed between the 1880s and the 1930s. They are largely narrow-front commercial buildings and corner blocks. The buildings housed a variety of commercial establishments: a movie theater, two banks, and several filling stations. It also includes a railroad corridor factory building, a fire station, and fraternal halls. The buildings are representative of various commercial architectural styles and vernacular building forms popular at the times they were built. The Lesinger Block (1883) and the C.S.P.S. Hall (1891) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hotel Roosevelt is a historic structure located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District. The building is now known as the Roosevelt Lofts.
The Iowa Building is a historic structure located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.
The Security Building is a historic structure located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. The building is eight stories tall and rises 117 feet (36 m) above the ground. It was designed by the Cedar Rapids architectural firm of Josselyn & Taylor, and it was completed in 1908. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.
Josselyn & Taylor was an architectural firm based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1882 as the partnership of architects Henry S. Josselyn and Eugene H. Taylor. They were the first academically trained architects to practice in Iowa.
The Cedar Rapids Post Office and Public Building, also known as the Witwer Building, is a historic building located in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.
The Lewis Hotel is a historic building located in Cherokee, Iowa, United States. Robert A. Lewis was a New York City native who settled in the Cherokee area in 1872. He had a background in carpentry, but he established a nursery in Cherokee. After moving into town he started planning for his hotel around 1897. He served as the contractor for its construction, and it was completed two years later. The hotel remained in the care of his family until 1966.
The Herring Hotel, also known as the Herring Cottage, The Herring, Hotel Herring, The Graham House Hotel, is a historic building located in Belle Plaine, Iowa, United States. Built in 1900, the American Craftsman style frame building replaced an earlier hotel with the same name that had been destroyed in a massive fire that destroyed most of the central business district in 1894. Will Herring built his namesake hotel and he had owned the previous hotel, which had been built by his father-in-law William Blossom as the Tremont House. The building was designed by Cedar Rapids architect Charles A. Dieman, and constructed by local contractor James Park.
The Belle Plaine Main Street Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Belle Plaine, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. At the time of its nomination it contained 63 resources, which included 46 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, and 16 non-contributing buildings. The historic district covers most of the city's central business district. Belle Plaine was laid out in 1862 as a railroad town. The Chicago & North Western Railroad was extended from Cedar Rapids the following year. The commercial district is adjacent to the tracks. A major fire destroyed much of the business district in 1894. Thirty-five buildings in the district were built in the months after the fire.
The Waterloo West Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Waterloo, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014. At the time of its nomination the district consisted of 25 resources, including 22 contributing buildings, and three non-contributing buildings. The buildings are from one to three stories in height, and for the most part are clad in brick. The earliest building dates to 1882 and the latest, as of 2014, to 2000. For the must part they utilize the Victorian, Romanesque Revival, and Italianate commercial styles. Ornamentation is minimal. The buildings are all commercial structures with the exception of the former Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway Depot, designed by the Cedar Rapids architectural firm of Josselyn & Taylor. Several of the buildings housed automobile-related businesses that clustered along West Fifth Street beginning in the 1920s and 1930s.
The Hamilton Brothers Building, also known as Warfield-Pratt & Howell Co. Wholesale Grocers, and the Hach Brothers Company, is a historic building located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. This is the only extant building associated with local businessman and politician John Taylor Hamilton. He was a representative of Cyrus McCormick at the time his company was opening new markets for his mechanical reaper and other implements. Hamilton expanded his business to other implement manufactures and included product lines for urban dwellers as well. His business grew beyond the local area to include the entire state. Built as a warehouse in 1899, it is the only building of this type left near the central business district. It is also the largest building of this type in the city. The four-story, brick, Romanesque Revival structure features large round arch openings on the main floor and smaller windows on the upper floors. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.
The Marion Carnegie Public Library is a historic building located in Marion, Iowa, United States. The Marion Federation of Women's Clubs was established in 1901 with the purpose of organizing a public library. Adeliza Daniels was the primary force behind the organization, and she contacted Andrew Carnegie to donate funds for the building. After he agreed to a grant of $11,500, the Cedar Rapids architectural firm of Dieman and Fiske designed the brick Neoclassical building. Cedar Rapids contractor A.H. Conner was responsible for construction. It is a single-story structure built over a raised basement and a proment pedimented main entrance. The new library was dedicated on March 16, 1905, and served the community in that form until 1957. In that year the auditorium in the basement was remodeled into a children's reading room. A three-story addition, which doubled the size of the building, was completed in 1961. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. The Marion Public Library has subsequently moved to a new facility, and the Carnegie building is now part of the First United Methodist Church complex. In 2009 it was included as a contributing property in the Marion Commercial Historic District.
Sokol Gymnasium is a historic building located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. Sokol is a Czech social and gymnastics organization. It had this three-story, brick, Neoclassical structure built in 1908. It was designed by local architect Charles A. Dieman. The organization used the facility as a social hall and gymnasium until it was inundated by 4 feet (1.2 m) of water in a 2008 flood. It was cleared out and Sokol moved to another building in southwest Cedar Rapids. This building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. In 2015 it was included as a contributing property in the Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District.
The Best Oil and Refining Company Service Station is a historic building located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. This was the third service station built by business partners George D. Shaler and George J. Albright. Albright had previously been a building contractor and had owned a lumberyard, while Shaler was one of the founders of the Best Oil Company. The two were also in a partnership that acquired a limestone quarry in Stone City, Iowa, and that stone may have been used for the exterior of this building. This service station was located near a southeast side residential neighborhood, commercial and industrial areas from which it could attract customers. Built in 1930, the station sold gasoline and provided a wide range of automobile related maintenance needs until 1960 when it and other local service station operators gave way to the larger chain stores. While the station originally sold its own Best Oil brand gasoline, it eventually sold national brands such as Conoco. The building features a large canopy where the pumps were located, a metal cornice, and a service bay. After its use as a service station came to an end, the building has housed several non-automobile related businesses. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
The Cedar Rapids 2nd Avenue SE. Automobile Row Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 24 resources, which included 17 contributing buildings, two contributing sites, four non-contributing buildings, and one non-contributing structure. This is a collection of commercial buildings that were built along the old Lincoln Highway between 1912 and 1953 to house automobile dealerships. They feature broad fronts with large display windows and open interiors. Auto repair shops were generally located at the rear of a dealership, but some were located in their own utilitarian buildings. Some of the corner lots were taken up by small gas stations. In later years, sales lots were placed adjacent to dealerships in order to display a larger number of cars. Other lots were occupied by used car lots. Prior to being converted into an automobile-centric commercial area, the district was a Victorian-era residential neighborhood. The multi-family dwelling at 309 8th St. SE remains as a reminder of that era, and it is one of the contributing properties.
The Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 60 resources, which included 46 contributing buildings, one contributing structure, 12 non-contributing buildings, and one non-contributing structure. Cedar Rapids was platted on the east bank of the Cedar River as Rapids City in 1841, and it was incorporated under the same name in 1849. Kingston was established on the west bank of the river in 1852. The two smaller communities consolidated in 1870 as Cedar Rapids. The streets were laid out parallel and perpendicular to the river, which flowed from the northwest to the southeast. The Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska Railroad was the first to arrive in the community in 1859 and the tracks were laid on Fourth Street on the eastern edge of the central business district. The first bridge across the river was built at Third Avenue in 1871.
