The Hotel Roosevelt is a historic structure located in downtown

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It was individually 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 1991. In 2015 it was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the

Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District The Cedar Rapids Central Business District Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. At the time o ...

. The building is now known as the Roosevelt Lofts.

History

The architectural firm of Krenn & Dato designed the building, which opened in 1927. It was known as Cedar Rapids' premiere hotel at the time. The building is 12 stories tall and rises above the ground. The exterior of the structure is clad in brick and features Regency-styled ornamentation that includes medallions, garlanded panels, and a row of finials along the

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 ...

. The lobby and many of the public interior spaces were decorated in the Italian

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

style. The hotel was renovated in the 1990s to create rental units while retaining hotel rooms. It was in the midst of a $3 million to $4 million renovation when it was affected along with the rest of downtown Cedar Rapids by the Cedar River flood in the summer of 2008. A total of $14.4 million was then spent on the building to create 96 apartment units, which opened in 2010. Commercial space was created on the first floor.

References

{{NRHP in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Hotel buildings completed in 1927 Colonial Revival architecture in Iowa Apartment buildings in Cedar Rapids, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Cedar Rapids, Iowa Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa