The Iowa City Downtown Historic District is a nationally recognized

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 102 resources, which included 73

contributing buildings 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 distric ...

, one contributing site, one contributing object, 21 non-contributing buildings, and seven non-contributing objects. Eight buildings that were previously listed on the National Register are also included in the district. Iowa City's

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

developed adjacent to the Iowa Old Capitol Building and the main campus of the University of Iowa. This juxtaposition gives the area its energy with the overlap of university staff and students and the local community. The district was significantly altered in the 1970s by the city's

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

effort that brought about the Ped Mall (City Plaza), which transformed two blocks of College Street from Clinton Street to Linn Street and Dubuque Street from Burlington Street to Washington Street. It is the contributing site and the large planters/retaining walls that are original to the project are counted together as the contributing object. There are also several freestanding, limestone planters, five contemporary sculptures, and a playground area are the non-contributing objects. The district mainly contains commercial buildings that were built in the Early Classical Revival, the revival styles of the Late Victorian era, the Chicago Commercial Style, Art Deco, and the Art Moderne styles. Modern architecture was introduced in the urban renewal years when new buildings were constructed and storefronts renovated. Architects of regional and local importance with buildings in the district include Chauncey Lovelace, Iowa City;

Proudfoot & Bird Proudfoot & Bird was an American architectural firm that designed many buildings throughout the Midwest region of the United States. Originally established in 1882, it remains active through its several successors, and since 2017 has been known as ...

and their successor firm of Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson,

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

; Dieman & Fiske,

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 ...

; Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen, Des Moines; Vorse, Kraetsch & Kraetsch, Des Moines; H.L. Stevens & Company, Chicago; Kruse and Klein of

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

; and J. Bradley Rust, Iowa City. The Franklin Printing House (1856), Trinity Episcopal Church (1871), College Block Building (1883), Boerner-Fry Company/Davis Hotel (1899), Old Post Office (1904, 1931), Paul–Helen Building (1910), Englert Theatre (1912), and

Johnson County Savings Bank Johnson County Savings Bank, also known as Iowa State Bank, is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1912, it is a six-story, brick structure that rises to a height of . The design of the structure shows the i ...

(1912) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

External links

Historic districts in Iowa City, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Iowa City, Iowa Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa {{Iowa-struct-stub