Preservation at its Best 2018, Rural Preservation: Walnut Facade Rehabilitation Project (Walnut) Walnut, Iowa is a town in western Iowa about an hour from Des Moines and about an hour from Omaha. A recent survey identified a potential historic district that may include 44 structures with 30 determined to be contributing—for a town with a population of 785, that’s remarkable. Walnut was awarded CDBG Downtown… Read more »
Preservation at its Best 2018, Small Commercial: Kendall Building (Jefferson) The Kendall Building at 111 E Lincoln Way was built in 1916 after the preceding framed building burned. The current structure is a two-story Prairie/Craftsman style with 1,122 sq ft. in the original build. Kendall’s Pool Room featured a front smoking room and seven billiard tables which… Read more »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Otto Rudolph Furniture Building, Cherokee (Cherokee County) This two-story wood frame building at 208 W. Main may have been built as early as 1864 and consequently could be the oldest surviving commercial building in Cherokee. It is also one of only two frame buildings in the nationally designated Cherokee Commercial… Read more »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Gasser Block 918 Court Ave, Chariton (Lucas County) The Gasser Block constructed in 1875 is the oldest building on the south side of Chariton’s square and one of the largest. It also has the distinction of being one of only two 19th century structures on that part of the square… Read more »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Beach Building, Ackley (Hardin County) Charles Beach, a local entrepreneur and Civil War veteran, constructed this property in 1892 to house a music store downstairs and his residence in the second-story. In 1902, the Beach Building was one of the few surviving structures of a downtown fire that devastated the… Read more »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Star Theater, Sioux Rapids (Buena Vista County) John A. Meadows and Sons built the Star Theater in 1913. The brick building, designed by Nichols & Brown, was meant to house both a moving picture theater and a new home for the Republican Press newspaper. The theater closed in 1946 when… Read more »
Preservation Iowa’s Most Endangered 2018: Dr. J.W. Smith Building, Charles City (Floyd County) The Dr. J.W. Smith Building at 201-203 N. Main was built in 1866 by Dr. Joel Washington Smith, one of the first physicians to move to what was then St. Charles and open a practice. For many years the building housed a… Read more »
