The Hotel Iowa, now known as the Historic Hotel Iowa, is a historic building located in downtown

Keokuk, Iowa Keokuk is a city in and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States, along with Fort Madison. It is Iowa's southernmost city. The population was 9,900 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is named after the Sauk chief Keokuk, who is ...

, United States. It was built from 1912–1913 and it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1987.

History

A consortium of interests known as the Hotel Iowa Company, including the Mississippi River Power Company who had recently built the Keokuk Dam, planned for and built the hotel. The seven-story structure was designed by St. Louis architect Guy C. Mariner,The American Architect, vol. CII, no. 1926, p. 10 (1922). Jacobson also attests to Mariner being the architect in his NRHP nomination text, but then confusingly lists architect

Hugh L. Cooper Hugh Lincoln Cooper (April 28, 1865–June 24, 1937 Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The Hotel Iowa Company continued ownership until 1926 when it was sold to Ward B. Brown and his wife. For most of its history, the building has served as a hotel until it was converted into a commercial building. However, storefronts housing a variety of commercial interests have always existed on the first floor. The building is significant as the best example of the Chicago Commercial architectural style in the city. It was also the largest hotel in Keokuk and the only one built with "modern" construction methods utilizing "fireproof" and new structural building techniques. with

Architecture

The building follows a rectangular plan that measures . It rises to a height of . From the second to the seven floors the building is U-shaped. There is an eighth-floor level that houses the elevator machinery. The building is capped by a flat roof that has a raised

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

around its perimeter. The structure is supported by fifty-seven full height reinforced concrete columns. It also features concrete floors and roof with an exterior composed of brick and tile curtain walls.

Sullivanesque Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

ornamentation is featured on the main level, and a decorative

belt course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the f ...

is located between the six and the seventh floors. The marquees above the Main Street and Fourth Street entrances are believed to be original.

References

{{Lee County NRHP Hotel buildings completed in 1913 Buildings and structures in Keokuk, Iowa Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Lee County, Iowa Hotels established in 1913 1913 establishments in Iowa Chicago school architecture in Iowa