2020 Preservation at Its Best: Adaptive Reuse As one of Iowa’s premier performing arts organizations, Des Moines Metro Opera (DMMO) embarked on a $3.5 million dollar campaign to restore and expand the National Register of Historic Places Carnegie Library they call home. The opera had maintained the building’s historic integrity. Working with OPN Architects created… Read more »
2020 Preservation at Its Best: Small Commercial Transforming 1800 square feet of an 1868 grain elevator into a coffee shop poses unique challenges. The owners designed the interior to keep with the integrity and character of the stone building and wood hoppers, which are original to the building. They used scrap lumber, tin, and recycled… Read more »
2019 Preservation at its Best: Large Commercial The 1909 Wilkins Department Store building was the first reinforced concrete building in Des Moines. In 1924 it was annexed to the newly constructed Younkers Building. Following Younkers’ closure in the early 2000s, the building sat vacant for 10 years before a developer began rehabilitation. In 2014, a… Read more »
2019 Preservation at its Best: Small/Medium Commercial The Daniels Brothers Super Service Station opened in 1929 as the third outlet for the Des Moines-based auto supply and service chain founded in 1919. This brick-and-stone-accented service station with Tudor Revival touches is an auto-row property described as “a department store for vehicles.” Owner/developer RE3, architect Goche… Read more »
2019 Preservation at its Best: Multifamily Residential The L. Harbach and Sons factory complex, consisting of two functionally related 5-story brick buildings separated by a paved courtyard, is a rare surviving warehouse-factory complex from early 20th century Des Moines. Kent Mauck Encore Properties, the current owner of the 1906 complex, rehabilitated the two buildings as… Read more »
2019 Preservation at its Best: Adaptive Reuse Four Oaks and ASK Studio/AKAY Consulting transformed vacated Monroe Elementary School in Cedar Rapids into 19 multi-family apartments called Monroe Place. With its original footprint and many of architectural features still in place, the 1961 building’s historic use is immediately apparent even now that it serves as modern… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Multifamily Residential: Francis Apartments (Dubuque) The Francis Apartments is one of 4 former St. Mary’s parish buildings. These buildings include the church, rectory, convent and the school. The parish closed in May of 2010, leaving 3 of the buildings vacant. The convent, which was acquired in the early 2000s, was a transitional home for… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Large Commercial: Hotel Grinnell (Grinnell) Hotel Grinnell is a 45-room boutique hotel that includes a 300 seat ballroom, a 450 seat auditorium, a lobby bar and outdoor patio. The project is an adaptive reuse of the city’s 1921 Junior High School in the center of downtown Grinnell. The school was abandoned by the school district and gifted to the… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Small/Medium Commercial: Pitt Carriage Building (Des Moines) Built in 1909, the Pitt Carriage Co. Building, 212 E. Third Street, Des Moines, is located in the heart of the East Side Industrial, Warehousing, and Railroad Historic District. The Pitt Carriage Co. Building made a locally significant contribution to Des Moines history as a… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Adaptive Reuse: Mack-International Motor Truck Corp. Building (Des Moines) The Mack-International Motor Truck Corp. Building was constructed in 1924 by master builder and general contractor J.E. Lovejoy as a Mack branch sales and service center, with second-floor offices for use by Lovejoy and other tenants. Annexes where built in about 1931 and 1940. The building… Read more »
