The Wilson Building, also known as the Wilson Buildings, is a historic structure located in downtown

Clinton, Iowa Clinton is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The population was 24,469 as of 2020. Clinton, along with DeWitt (also located in Clinton County), was named in honor of the sixth governor of New York, DeWitt Cl ...

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 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 2014.

History

The Clinton architectural firm of John Morrell & Son designed the building in the Chicago School style. Daniel Haring was the contractor who built it from 1912 to 1914. Three other phases expanded the building's size over the years. At one time the building housed a

J. C. Penney Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Girl ...

store and a

Walgreens Walgreen Company, d/b/a Walgreens, is an American company that operates the second-largest pharmacy store chain in the United States behind CVS Health. It specializes in filling prescriptions, health and wellness products, health information, an ...

. They both pulled out of the building and downtown Clinton in the late 1990s. The upper floors of the building housed professional offices. The building was already deteriorating when the Jacobsen Group bought it in 1998, and they stabilized the structure.

Rock Island, Illinois Rock Island is a city in and the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The original Rock Island, from which the city name is derived, is now called Rock Island Arsenal, Arsenal Island. The popul ...

-based Rock Island Economic Growth Corp started converting the building into 33 apartments in 2021. The $13.88 million project is expected to be completed in Mid-2022. Concurrently with the building renovation it continues to house commercial businesses.

Architecture

At six stories and , the Wilson Building is the tallest building in Clinton. The exterior is covered with white

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

. The building has a lively

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

that is richly textured and ornamented. At the same time its lines retain their definition and appropriateness.

References

{{NRHP in Clinton County, Iowa Commercial buildings completed in 1914 Chicago school architecture in Iowa Commercial architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Clinton, Iowa Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Clinton County, Iowa