What a delightfully named town. Also a bit curmudgeonly.

This is not auspicious.

GO AWAY. But it was startlingly modern at the time, I'm sure.

That’s more like it, I guess:

Color’s wrong and the lower floor windows look like they’re battened with old weathered wood, but could be worse.

Could be razed.

That’s more like it, I know.

Bad brick on the bottom, but the rest is top-notch. 1879!

1880: I’m guessing the same guy built both.

H. G. Geer? H. C. Ceer?

Geer:

The ornate Italianate-style H.G. Geer Block, nicknamed “The White Brick Front Store,” was made possible by the town’s railroad connections via the Burlington, Cedar Rapids and Northern Railroad (later known as the Cedar Rapids & Sioux Falls Branch of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad), which made building materials, such as pressed brick, cut stone, and cast-iron architectural elements featured on the building easy to procure.

The prosperity of the era also allowed merchants like general store proprietor H.G. Geer to build their own store buildings. The H.G. Geer Block also reflects the history of the Grundy Center business community, first as Grundy Center’s well-known “White Brick Front Store,” and later – beginning in 1890 – as the location of a series of grocery stores, culminating with the Cech Grocery, which operated in the building from 1932 to 1955. It was also the location of the local telephone company from 1913 until the 1960s.

We’re sensing a pattern, aren’t we.

Interesting windows. I like the arched-surprised-eyebrow look. Hometown history site:

“Built in 1884 as the Hawkeye Block and then remodeled in 1926 and 1950 by the Masons.”

Be still my heart.

So rare to see these nowadays. The store’s dead. The signage is its cenotaph.

Someone got a shave and a haircut:

Here’s the story: the town had a big fire in 1879. It came roaring back with new construction, mostly in the Italianate style. The tragedy and response gives the town a pleasant uniformity.

The need for these, the pride and power they represented, seems a bit odd to modern eyes.

I mean, it’s not necessary, but it does provide a flush tenant with one heck of a view of the bustle below and beyond.

Yes by all means what this style requires is a TUDOR UPGRADE

Have I ever mentioned how much I love Iowa?

Kerr:

Bio:

“The Kerr Building, built in 1900, is associated with the first phase of development in the potential Grundy Center Commercial Historic District, during which a number of architecturally significant buildings replaced older buildings that were lost in fires, in this case the fire of 1899.”

So they had another one.

Ugh. Poor devil.

It’s rather gothic-looking; you wouldn’t be surprised to find a thousand bats roosting upstairs.

Our GNB is an OUMB:

This style was also used for churches. It’s the sort of building they made when Charlton Heston was wearing leisure suits in movies, if that narrows it down.

You’d get a fair price from Mr. Petersen, because you knew he didn’t spend a lot of money on fancy decoration that didn’t do any work for anyone no how no wheres.

You’re damn right I hear the opening rat-a-tat-tat of the Miami Vice theme.

Cinema Treasures says it opened as the Grundy. "During the late-1960’s the theatre closed. It was reopened in the late-1980’s after a complete renovation and a second screen was added in 2003.”

I would expect the fine folk of Grundy Center to build a new library that respected the styles of yore.

As American as it gets, this place.

Nice job, Grundy Center.