The Sentinel Block is a historic building located in Iowa Falls, Iowa, United States. Previous commercial blocks in Iowa Falls tended to follow the more ornate Italianate style. This building, completed in 1905, marks a departure from those older structures. with Rectilinear brick panels above the windows replaced the decorative hoodmolds, and the brick patterned

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 ...

with a plain stone cap replaced the heavy metal cornice. The building also features an

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found pro ...

with a crenelated parapet. The building housed the ''Iowa Falls Sentinel'' for over 20 years. It began as the ''Eldora Sentinel'' in 1857, relocated to Iowa Falls in 1865, and was bought out by its competitor, the ''Hardin County Citizen'', in 1927. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993. 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 Washington Avenue Commercial Historic District in 2012.

References

Commercial buildings completed in 1905 Iowa Falls, Iowa Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Buildings and structures in Hardin County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Hardin County, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa 1905 establishments in Iowa {{HardinCountyIA-NRHP-stub