Self-guided Sightseeing Tour #3 in Des Moines, United States

The Hotel Kirkwood, also known as the Kirkwood Civic Center Hotel, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of H.L. Stevens & Company and built in 1930. With its completion it became the largest hotel along Fourth Street between Walnut Street and Court Avenue, along Des Moines' "Hotel Row." It also marked the emergence of the skyscraper hotel in the downtown area. The new hotel replaced a previous Hotel Kirkwood that had been built on the same location in 1862. It was located near Union Station and the Rock Island Depot. Developers and owners of the 1930 Hotel Kirkwood were E.F. Tagney and S.F. McGinn. Art Deco details are found in the building's massing, the sleek exterior geometrical detailing, and treatment of the cornice. The 12-story brick structure rises to a height of 133 feet (41 m). It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The building has subsequently been converted into an apartment building called "The Kirkwood."

Wikipedia: Hotel Kirkwood (EN), Heritage Website

The Register and Tribune Building is a historic commercial building at 715 Locust Street in Des Moines, Iowa. Built in 1918, it served as home to The Des Moines Register, one of Iowa's leading newspapers, until about 2000, when the presses were moved to another building, and 2013, when the Register's owner, the Gannett Corporation, moved out in 2013. It was designed by one of Iowa's leading architectural firms, Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, with later additions by equally prominent firms.

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The Younker Brothers Department Store was a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

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The Grocers Wholesale Company Building, also known as the Sears and Roebuck Farm Store, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1916, this was the first of four warehouses built and owned by Iowa's only and most successful statewide cooperative grocery warehouse. It is possible that it was the first statewide organization of this kind in the country. The cooperative allowed independent grocers to compete against chain stores and survive wholesale grocers' surcharges. They leased their first warehouse after they organized in 1912. Each successive time the cooperative built a new warehouse it was larger and technologically more advanced than the previous one. This particular cooperative grew to include parts of four states: Iowa, southern Minnesota, northern Missouri and eastern Nebraska. They built their second warehouse in 1930 and moved out of this facility. They continued to own this building until 1968, and they leased it out to other firms. The Sears Farm Equipment Store began to occupy the building in 1937 and continued here until 1959. The cooperative became the Associated Grocers of Iowa in the late 1950s, and it continued in existence until 1985. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Wikipedia: Grocers Wholesale Company Building (EN), Heritage Website

The Hawkeye Transfer Company Warehouse, also known as the Rocket Transfer Building, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was built by Frederick Hubbell who founded F.M. Hubbell and Son, which became Hubbell Realty Co. The company has retained ownership of the building since it was built. Plans were approved in 2009 to convert the building, as well as the Schmitt and Henry Manufacturing Company complex, into loft apartments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Wikipedia: Hawkeye Transfer Company Warehouse (EN), Heritage Website

The Schmitt and Henry Manufacturing Company is a complex of three historic buildings located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The complex was built in three stages from 1901 to 1914 by Schmitt-Henry, who manufactured furniture. It was designed by Des Moines architect Harry D. Rawson of the firm Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson. Sealy Mattress Company took over the building in 1973 after Schmitt-Henry moved to West Des Moines. Hubbell Reality purchased the complex in 1994 for $75.000. Plans were approved in 2009 to convert the complex, as well as the Hawkeye Transfer Company Warehouse, into loft apartments. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Wikipedia: Schmitt and Henry Manufacturing Company (EN), Heritage Website

The Hubbell Warehouse is an historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

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The L. Harbach and Sons Furniture Warehouse and Factory Complex, also known as the Way-Helms Co. & Red Cross Mattress, L. Ginsberg & Sons wholesale furniture warehouse, and the A.A. Schneiderhahn electronic appliances warehouse, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This is actually two adjacent buildings completed in 1906. Their significance is their successive ownership by three prominent furniture retailers/wholesalers. L. Harbach & Sons Co. was one of Iowa's largest furniture wholesalers, and they manufactured furniture in Des Moines for more than seventy years. The company was established in 1856 by Louis Harbach, Sr. Louis had immigrated from Germany in 1850 at the age of 12. A catalog of their furniture is available at the National Museum of America. L. Harbach & Sons occupied this complex from 1906 to 1928. One of the buildings was their factory and the other was their warehouse. The Harbach family sold the business around 1920 to the Davidson family, who continued to use the Harbach name until through 1928, and continued to own the building until 1952. They leased the buildings to Way-Helms Co. & Red Cross Mattress for a short time, and then beginning in 1930, to the Ginsberg family. Both the Davidsons and the Ginsbergs owned local furniture stores. The Ginsbergs acquired the buildings from the Davisons and they owned them until 1985. They altered the building as trucks replaced trains as the main mode of transportation for furniture warehousing and distribution. The buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Wikipedia: L. Harbach and Sons Furniture Warehouse and Factory Complex (EN), Heritage Website

The Science Center of Iowa is a science museum located in Des Moines, Iowa.

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The Rumely–Des Moines Drug Company Building at 110 SW. Fourth St. in Des Moines, Iowa is a large brick warehouse block building. It is a work of architects Hallett & Rawson. It has also been known as the Rumely Bldg, as the Federal Machine Corp Bldg, and as the Security File Warehouse Building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Wikipedia: Rumely–Des Moines Drug Company Building (EN), Heritage Website

The Polk County Courthouse located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, was built in 1906. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

Wikipedia: Polk County Courthouse (Iowa) (EN), Heritage Website

The Hippee Building, also known as the Southern Surety Building, the Savings and Loan Building, and the Midland Building, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was completed in 1913 by George B. Hippee whose father, George M. Hippee, was one of the first merchants in Des Moines. George B. developed the first interurban railway in the city and it connected Des Moines to other communities in central Iowa. The 172-foot (52 m), 12-story structure was designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Sawyer and Watrous in the Early Commercial style. At the time of it completion, the building was Iowa's tallest skyscraper. It was used as an office building until the Aparium Hotel Group of Chicago acquired it in 2017 and began converting the building into a 138-room hotel. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

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The Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building, also known as the Valley National Bank Building and U.S. Bank, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Rawson, Souers & Thomas, it was designed to be a 21- or 22-story building. It is one of the few downtown commercial buildings built in the Art Deco style. It is also thought to be one of the first bank buildings to put the banking room on the second floor while placing retail space on the first floor. Given its location in an area dominated by retail this made sense. This location had a bank on it since 1882 when the Des Moines National Bank built here. The present building was the result when Des Moines National Bank merged with Iowa National Bank and Des Moines Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1929. The original design for the building was a five-story base and a set-back rental office tower on top of it. The base was begun in 1931 and completed a year later. The building is composed of black polished granite on the first floor and the upper floors are Bedford stone. There is a recessed entrance in the center bay of the main facade. The fifth floor was meant to be the base of the office tower that was never built.

Wikipedia: Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building (EN), Heritage Website

Youngerman Block is a three-story commercial building in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, incorporating Italianate architecture, with later alterations that introduced Art Deco detailing. Built in 1876, the Youngerman Block was designed by architect William Foster (1842-1909) for Conrad Youngerman.

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The Randolph Hotel or Hotel Randolph is a nine-story hotel located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This hotel was designed and built by the H.L. Stevens & Company in 1911. It rents rooms for a weekly rate. Most guests are considered long term, meaning they stay for more than thirty consecutive days. The Randolph Hotel is located on the corner of Fourth Street and Court Avenue downtown, along the historic Court Avenue strip.

Wikipedia: Randolph Hotel (Des Moines, Iowa) (EN), Heritage Website

The Seth Richards Commercial Block, also known as the Lederer-Strauss Building, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Its construction represents the transition of Court Avenue from a retail center to the city's wholesale district.

Wikipedia: Seth Richards Commercial Block (EN), Heritage Website

The Taft–West Warehouse, also known as the C.C. Taft Company Building, Plumb Supply Company, Ben's Furniture Warehouse, and Nacho Mamma's, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1923, this three-story brick structure was built during a transitional period between the dominance of railroads the emergence of trucks servicing warehouses. It was designed by local architectural firm of Vorse, Kraetsch, & Kraetsch. It features cleans lines of the Commercial style as opposed to the fussiness of late Victorian styling that was dominant in a great deal of the city's commercial architecture. The building was also located in the Court Avenue wholesale district, and now it is only one of only five or six that remain extant. The building was constructed for the C.C. Taft Company. This firm and the O.B. West Company that succeeded it in this building, dealt in wholesale fruits, vegetables, candy and tobacco. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

Wikipedia: Taft–West Warehouse (EN), Heritage Website

The Boyt Company Building, also known as the Gilchrist Building, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The significance of this two-story brick structure is its association with the Boyt Company. Boyt manufactured leather goods in this building from 1904, when it was built, until 1908. They moved to a now nonextant building to the west at that time. From 1943 to 1945 Boyt was a contractor with the United States Armed Forces, and they leased this building as a depot for shipping supplies. They supplied leather and canvas goods to the Marine Corps, the Navy Department, Signal Corps, Rock Island Arsenal and Ordnance Department, the Army Air Force, and the Treasury Department, among others.

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The Warfield, Pratt and Howell Company Warehouse is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was built by wholesale grocer Warfield, Pratt and Howell Company. Wilson R. Warfield and John W. Howell moved their business to Des Moines in 1860 and moved to this location in 1884. William J. Pratt joined the partnership in 1897. The structure is a six-story commercial and office building that rises 93 feet (28 m) above the ground. The building was designed by Architect, Frank Crocker, and it is considered a good example of warehouse construction from the turn of the 20th century. It was completed in 1901 with an addition completed in 1909. It features load bearing brick piers, bearing walls, and wood column and girder technology on the interior. Other wholesale firms were housed in the building after 1935. It was part of a redeveloped district in the 1980s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Wikipedia: Warfield, Pratt and Howell Company Warehouse (EN), Heritage Website

The United States Post Office is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It became a contributing property of the Civic Center Historic District when it was established in 1988. It now houses administrative offices for Polk County.

Wikipedia: United States Post Office (Des Moines, Iowa) (EN), Heritage Website

The Old Downtown Des Moines Library is a historic building in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States that was built in 1903. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and became a contributing property in the Civic Center Historic District in 1988. The building ceased to be a library in 2006 and now houses the Norman E. Borlaug | World Food Prize Hall of Laureates for the World Food Prize.

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The Des Moines Civic Center is a 2,744-seat performing arts center belonging to Des Moines Performing Arts located in Des Moines, Iowa. It has been Iowa's largest theater since it opened on June 10, 1979, and is used for concerts, Broadway shows, ballets, and other special events.

Wikipedia: Civic Center of Greater Des Moines (EN), Website

The Homestead Building, also known as the Martin Hotel, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Designed by the Des Moines architectural firm of Smith & Gage, it was built in two stages. The eastern one-third was completed in 1893 and the western two-thirds was completed in 1905. It is one of a few late nineteenth-century commercial/industrial buildings that remain in the downtown area. The building was built for James M. Pierce for his publishing operation, which included the Iowa Homestead, a pioneer publication of modern agricultural journalism. Prior to Pierce, the Iowa Homestead publisher was Henry Wallace, the father of Agriculture Secretary Henry C. Wallace, and grandfather of U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace. "Through the efforts of Pierce and Wallace the Iowa Homestead became known for its promotion of the rotation of crops, the use of better seed, the value of more and better livestock, the importance of an attractive home and a good home life, the value of farmers banding together to protect common interests, and the care of the soil and conservation of its resources."

Wikipedia: Homestead Building (EN), Heritage Website

The Northwestern Hotel is a historic building located in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. In 2017 it was included as a contributing property in the East Des Moines Industrial Historic District.

Wikipedia: Northwestern Hotel (Des Moines, Iowa) (EN), Heritage Website

The Syndicate Block, also known as the McCoy Building, is a historic building located in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. In 2019 the building was included as a contributing property in the East Des Moines Commercial Historic District.

Wikipedia: Syndicate Block (Des Moines, Iowa) (EN), Heritage Website

The Teachout Building is a historic building located in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In 2019 the building was included as a contributing property in the East Des Moines Commercial Historic District.

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The Hohberger Building is a historic building located in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building was built in 1895 and is one of the few remaining examples of a cast-iron column structure in the city. A dry goods store named Dockstader & Co. was the first retail establishment to occupy the building (1899–1915). The building stood empty for several years until it was renovated in 1999. The ground level of the building remains retail space and the upper floors are occupied by offices. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.In 2019 it was included as a contributing property in the East Des Moines Commercial Historic District.

Wikipedia: Hohberger Building (EN), Heritage Website

The Baker-Devotie-Hollingsworth Block is a historic building located in the East Village of Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The eastern two-thirds of the block was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as the Studio Building. The western one-third was added to the National Register in 2008, and its name was changed at that time. In 2019 the entire building was included as a contributing property in the East Des Moines Commercial Historic District.

Wikipedia: Baker-Devotie-Hollingsworth Block (EN), Heritage Website

The Iowa State Capitol, commonly called the Iowa Statehouse, is in Iowa's capital city, Des Moines. As the seat of the Iowa General Assembly, the building houses the Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor, and the Offices of the Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State. The building also includes a chamber for the Iowa Supreme Court, although court activities usually take place in the neighboring Iowa Supreme Court building. The building was constructed between 1871 and 1886, and is the only five-domed capitol in the country.

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The Ola Babcock Miller Building, also known as the State Library of Iowa, is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as the Iowa State Historical Building.

Wikipedia: Ola Babcock Miller Building (EN), Heritage Website