The Lexington, also known as Lexington Apartments, is a historic building located in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, United States. The five-story brick structure on a raised basement was completed in 1908 as the city's first high-rise apartment building. with It was designed and built by local architect-builder Fred Weitz. The exterior features a

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the arch ...

style entrance with a recessed door, arched

fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...

, and engaged

Doric style The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of the ...

columns that support the

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

Wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

balconies are located on the two floors above the entrance. On the interior there are two apartments on every floor, and they originally featured servant's quarters. They have subsequently been converted into other purposes. The upper floors are served by a large, open-cage brass

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

. The building purportedly had paranormal activity involving its elevator. It was renovated between 2012 and 2014. It was individually 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 1976. The building 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

Sherman Hill Historic District The Sherman Hill Historic District is located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in Des Moines. Single-family houses were constructed beginning around 1880 and multi-family dwellings were buil ...

in 1979. It is currently owned by the Allen Family Trust.

References

Residential buildings completed in 1908 National Register of Historic Places in Des Moines, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa Apartment buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Apartment buildings in Des Moines, Iowa {{DesMoinesIA-stub