The Hotel Iowa was built from 1912–1913 and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The structure, which was designed by architect Guy C. Mariner in the Chicago Commercial style, was built to house the workers who built Lock and Dam No. 19 on the Mississippi River. The eight-story structure became a commercial building known as the Pierce Building.
Do you want to guess what it is today?
You are correct. Senior Housing. This is so Midwestern, in so many ways.
Not everything's fixed up, though.
The tell-tale glue-daubs that held the porcelain or metal tiles.
Did the building on the right ever have a front door? It might explain the lack of customers.
Stan Laurel with his Robot Pal:
Stare at it and you'll see what I mean. That's one enthusiastic home-made sign, too.
If you don't know what this is, you really need to sit down and wonder how much else goes right over your head, never connecting, never lighting up the neurons responsible for understanding your environment.
It's the Roman Embassy, of course. Idiots.
It's the little doors on the sidewalk that make me wonder.
Actually, the whole thing makes me wonder. The faded add. The wrong color brick. The somber panels. It's not a welcoming sight, is it.
Go home, man, you're drunk.
At least he has a friend to lean on.
Buckaroo revival on the second floor; makes the building look hungover, and yelling at something.
The building on the right as an old, old awning - I'd put that at late 30s, up to the early 50s.
I believe this is the only example I've ever seen where the name engraved long ago on the portico is the same name the bank bears today.
The columns certainly have a way of reminding man of his insignificance.
Excuse me, but I'm new in town; where might I go for some Heritage?
I'll bet the building on the right looked like the one on the left, or hailed from the same architectural era. The peculiar thing about the Heritage Center isn't just the blinded second floor, it's the amount of space between the second and ground floor. Unless there was another floor in between - but the windows would have to be as big as the ones above, or it would look amateurish.
The guys who designed these things back then rarely made mistakes like that.
No, they made mistakes like this.
It's a big much, but maybve the client had certain demands. The new windows don't help; it would be lighter if the first floor hadn't added those damned panels.
GOD they loved to add those panels.
This one has some modern touches - rather broad strokes, actually - but the way the arch brushes up against the windows ought to have made everyone rethink the front.
You can never have too much decoration and ornamentation! Actually, yes, you can.
Finally: a ghost.
Someone in town knows what it means, and it's possible he or she hasn't thought about it for decades. It's back there in some neuron, locked, unsummoned - but ready if anyone asks.
You're wondering: where's the movie theater? There has to be a movie theater, even if it's gone. There is. Go find it. I've only shown you part of the town - there's much, much more.
Part Two. To repeat what the officials recently said about downtown: "Investor confidence in downtown remains strong.”
