The Rath Packing Company Administration Building, also known as Adams Store Inc., is a historic

Late Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

building in

Waterloo, Iowa Waterloo is a city in and the county seat of Black Hawk County, Iowa, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census the population was 67,314, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. The city is part of the Waterloo – Cedar Fall ...

. It is a surviving remnant of what was the largest meat-packing plant in the United States in 1941. The plant started in 1891 with hogs, and was "massive". The company was the 5th biggest at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, in 1945. In 1966 it was the ninth largest, and it was also the 249th biggest industrial company of any kind in the United States. It closed in 1985. with Preservation of the larger complex as a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from ce ...

was sought, but was not obtained, as the specialized industrial buildings rapidly deteriorated. The administration building, completed in 1925, is unlike all other buildings in the plant, in that it was designed by a local architect, who was John S. Hartley (1891/92–1985). It was built by the John G. Miller Construction Company, which had submitted the low bid, $78,496, for the project. An extension was later added by contractor Tom McDonald. 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 artist ...

in 2008.

References

External links

* National Register of Historic Places in Black Hawk County, Iowa Gothic Revival architecture in Iowa Historic American Engineering Record in Iowa Buildings and structures completed in 1925 Buildings and structures in Waterloo, Iowa Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa 1925 establishments in Iowa {{BlackHawkCountyIA-NRHP-stub

See also

References

External links