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: Large Commercial An historic building in downtown Jefferson was chosen as the site for the new tenant. Working with architects, engineers, and the State Historical Preservation Society, the developer made plans to rehabilitate this 100+ year old building, which was formerly known as the Odd Fellows Building and features a… Read more »
2020 Preservation at its Best: Sustainability Architectural Record christened 711 High Street the Building of the Decade the year it was built. By 1939-standards, the beautiful art deco building incorporated many unique and innovative systems. Principal understood the building’s significance as well as the impact it would have on current and future employees. The 473,000… Read more »
2020 Preservation at its Best: Multi-Family Residential Hotel Maytag is a magnificent, five-story brick and terra cotta mixed-use building on the northeast quadrant of Newton’s town square. Originally designed by Chicago architect Henry Raeder and constructed by Frederick Louis Maytag in 1926- 27, Hotel Maytag was both innovative and luxurious for its time. The building… 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: 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 »
2019 Preservation at its Best: Sustainability in Preservation Fort Des Moines is a symbol of Iowa’s civil right leadership. As the home of the first African American officer training program, in 1917, and the nation’s first Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, during World War II, the fort’s buildings are visible reminders of Iowa’s progressive past. Blackbird… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Sustainability: Catholic Pastoral Center (Des Moines) After a nationwide search, Home Federal Savings & Loan leaders selected the modernist master architect, Mies van der Rohe to design the their bank. Mies’ 1962 design for the Home Federal building sets it back from the busy street corner to create a granite-paved open plaza. The tinted glass curtain wall suspends on black steel columns over a… 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 »
