The Kirk was a historic building located in

Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro Go ...

, United States. Completed in 1903, this was the city's first luxury apartment building. with Horace P Kirk, who owned and managed the building, was a Mason City businessman, photographer, and civic leader. He built two other buildings here and to the north that were destroyed in a fire in 1902. This building was built on the site of Kirkland Flats, and parts of its stone foundation and north wall may be from the H.P. Kirk wholesale building that had been built in 1892. Originally The Kirk supplied heat, light, and water for the apartments with its own steam generating plant. It subsequently acquired city utilities. The building featured an eclectic design that was organized into horizontal and vertical elements. The horizontal was realized in wide brick bands on the floors. The vertical was realized in the copper-clad

oriel windows 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, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper f ...

that tied the second and third floors to the cornice. The building 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 1982, and 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

Mason City Downtown Historic District The Mason City Downtown Historic District is a nationally recognized Historic districts in the United States, historic district located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. At th ...

in 2005. with The building was destroyed in a fire on April 24, 2023.https://globegazette.com/news/local/update-kirk-apartments-destroyed-in-huge-downtown-fire/article_b0986673-79f8-5996-90e1-19de33a6f448.html

References

Residential buildings completed in 1903 Apartment buildings in Mason City, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Mason City, Iowa Apartment buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Victorian architecture in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa {{Iowa-struct-stub