The Iowana Hotel, now known simply as The Iowana, is a historic building located in Creston, Iowa, United States. Because Creston was on the mainline of the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

, and it was a divisional headquarters, it received a steady flow of visitors. Hotels that featured fireproof construction and modern amenities, such as this one, started to enter Iowa's secondary markets in the 1910s and 1920s. A group of local businessmen formed the Hotel Investment Company, and built the hotel. They hired the Chicago architectural firm H.L. Stevens & Company, known for its hotels, to design and build the Iowana. The building was constructed from 1919 to 1920. It served as Creston's primary hotel until about 1958 when more convenient and economical motels were built along the highway. By this time rail travel was declining and highway travel was increasing. The Hotel Investment Company sold the building in 1971. It continued in operation under various owners into the 1980s. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009. It stood vacant for several years until it was transformed into an apartment building. The six-story brick building measures . A annex is located to the west. The upper floors are set back in the rear and form an L-shape. Over-all, the Early Commercial style structure is plain in appearance. The decorative details are found in the wide first floor windows of the commercial space that feature elliptical arches with cast stone spring blocks and keystones. Another decorative feature is found at the top of the building where a modified

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

incorporates the brick-framed windows and the

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

panels between them into the

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

. Above it is a simple brick wall that acts as a frieze and a cast stone

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

above it.

References

Hotel buildings completed in 1920 Creston, Iowa Buildings and structures in Union County, Iowa Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Apartment buildings in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Union County, Iowa 1920 establishments in Iowa Chicago school architecture in Iowa {{UnionCountyIA-NRHP-stub