The Benson Block is a historic building located in downtown

Ottumwa, Iowa Ottumwa ( ) is a List of cities in Iowa, city in and the county seat of Wapello County, Iowa, United States. The population was 25,529 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. Located in the state's southeastern section, th ...

, United States. It is two-fifths of a building that was originally constructed in 1883 and was damaged in a fire in 1923. with This part of the building was re-constructed as a theatre, but because it lacked a sufficient number of exits, was never used for that purpose. It is noteworthy for the decorative Neoclassical white

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

cladding on the

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

, which enabled its owners to transform its original appearance. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985. In 2016, 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 dist ...

in the Greater Second Street Historic District.

References

Theatres completed in 1924 Neoclassical architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Ottumwa, Iowa Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Wapello County, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa {{Iowa-struct-stub