Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District | |
![]() | |
Location | 1330 Elmhurst Dr., NE Cedar Rapids, Iowa |
---|---|
Coordinates | 42°00′10″N91°39′12″W / 42.00278°N 91.65333°W Coordinates: 42°00′10″N91°39′12″W / 42.00278°N 91.65333°W |
Built | 1929-1941 |
Architect | William H. Lightner |
NRHP reference No. | 14000213 [1] |
Added to NRHP | January 21, 2015 |
Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located on the Mount Mercy University campus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. [1] The grotto consists of a lagoon and five structures that are dedicated to the Virgin Mary. [2] They include two arched entryways, a bridge, a 10-column structure representing the Ten Commandments, and a canopy that encloses a marble statue of the Virgin Mary. The grotto was built by William H. Lightner, a self-trained architect, between 1929 and 1941. He utilized 12 tons of stone and 300 varieties of Italian mosaic glass that he acquired in his travels of more than 40,000 miles (64,000 km). [3] Popular in southern Europe, grottoes are natural or artificial caves that are places of spiritual reflection. In the United States, they are found primarily in the Midwest, and are mainly created by self-trained artists and builders. [3]
Lightner died in 1968, and the grotto fell into disrepair. Grants from the Smithsonian Institution’s American Heritage Preservation Project-Save Outdoor Sculpture (2001), the Iowa Arts Council (2011), and The National Endowment for the Arts (2014) were used to restore the structures. The grotto is used for a variety of personal and communal uses.
A shrine to the Virgin Mary is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destination of pilgrimages.
Cedar Rapids is the second-largest city in Iowa and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, 20 miles (32 km) north of Iowa City and 100 miles (160 km) northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. It is a part of the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids Region of Eastern Iowa which includes Linn, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties.
The Shrine of the Grotto of the Redemption is a religious shrine located in West Bend, Iowa, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City. A conglomeration of nine grottos depicting scenes in the life of Jesus, the Grotto contains a large collection of minerals and petrifications and is believed to be the largest grotto in the world.
Mount Mercy University is a Catholic liberal arts university in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The school was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1928.
The Mother Mosque of America, once known as The Rose of Fraternity Lodge, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States, is the oldest standing purpose-built mosque in the United States, having been completed in 1934. The Al-Sadiq Mosque in Chicago and the Powers Street Mosque are older by a decade but were converted from existing buildings to be used as a Muslim house of worship.
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.
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church is a church located at 13770 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It is commonly known as the Assumption Grotto Church. The church was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1990 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Preservation Iowa, formerly called the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance (IHPA), was founded in 1989 by members of the public concerned about the destruction of significant historic sites and buildings in the state of Iowa.
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. The congregation was established in either 1870 or 1871, which makes this the oldest historically African American church in the city. It had 23 pastors from its inception to 1928, which followed the African Methodist Episcopal Church's practice of itinerant pastors. The congregation grew slowly over this same period. Many African Americans came to Cedar Rapids after the coal industry in Southern Iowa began to collapse. The Rev. Benjamin Horace Lucas, who became pastor here in 1928, was also a catalyst for growth in the congregation. Completed in 1931, this brick Colonial Revival structure replaced a wood frame structure from 1876. Since its completion, it has served the social and religious needs of the community. It is one of the few surviving links to Cedar Rapid's early African American community as this neighborhood has been nearly obliterated by the development of Mercy Medical Center. The church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
The historical buildings and structures of Zion National Park represent a variety of buildings, interpretive structures, signs and infrastructure associated with the National Park Service's operations in Zion National Park, Utah. Structures vary in size and scale from the Zion Lodge to road culverts and curbs, nearly all of which were designed using native materials and regional construction techniques in an adapted version of the National Park Service Rustic style. A number of the larger structures were designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, while many of the smaller structures were designed or coordinated with the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. The bulk of the historic structures date to the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the structures of the 1930s were built using Civilian Conservation Corps labor.
The Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railway (BCR&N) was a railroad that operated in the United States from 1876 to 1903. It was formed to take over the operations of the bankrupt Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Minnesota Railway, which was, in turn, the result of merging several predecessor lines, the construction of which began in 1869. The corporate headquarters were in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and it had operations in Iowa and in Minnesota. It was succeeded by the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway.
The C.S.P.S. Hall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA was built during 1890-91 and expanded twice in the next two decades. It was a social and cultural center of the local Czech-Slovak Protective Society (C.S.P.S.). The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 2002 it was included as a contributing property in the Bohemian Commercial Historic District.
The Linn County Courthouse is located on May's Island in the middle of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It, along with the Veterans Memorial Building and two other buildings, is a contributing property to the May's Island Historic District that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.
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 an 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.
Grant Vocational High School, also known as the Board of Education and the Cedar Rapids School District Central Office, is a historic building located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1915, this is a rare example of a vocational high school in Iowa as only a handful were ever built. While it offered various student activities in athletics and the arts, its curriculum was based on the manual arts instead of humanities or college preparatory courses. A Progressive Era idea, vocational education began in Cedar Rapids in 1904. Within a year there was a call for a dedicated vocational high school. There was much debate as the local school district's regular high school was beyond capacity and there was a need for new elementary schools. Efforts to build the school began with the passage of a bond referendum in 1911. Cedar Rapids architect William J. Brown designed the three-story, brick Prairie School structure and it was built by the F.P. Gould Company of Omaha.
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 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.
The West Side Third Avenue SW 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 2014. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 10 resources, which included seven contributing buildings and three non-contributing buildings. Cedar Rapids was platted on the east bank of the Cedar River as Rapids City in 1841, and it was incorporated in 1849. Kingston was established on the west bank of the river in 1852, and it was annexed by Cedar Rapids in 1870. The streets were laid out parallel and perpendicular to the river, which flowed from the northwest to the southeast. The Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska Railway, later the Chicago & North Western Railway, was the prominent railroad on the west side of town. The first bridge across the river at Third Avenue was built in 1871. The current bridge was completed in 1912. Prior to a bridge, Rapid City and Kingston were connected by a ferry operated by David W. King, the founder of Kingston.
Oak Hill Cemetery is a rural cemetery located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 17 resources, which included 13 contributing buildings, one contributing site, two contributing structures, and one contributing object.
This article about a property in Linn County, Iowa on the National Register of Historic Places is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |