The Schmidt Block , also known as the F.T. Schmidt Building, is a historic building located in downtown

Davenport, Iowa Davenport ( ) is a city in Scott County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state. Davenport had a population of 101,724 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cen ...

, United States. 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 1983. In 2020 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

Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District The Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in the central business district of Davenport, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020. At ...

History

The building was built by Fritz T. Schmidt in 1896 to house his

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

and

liquor Liquor ( , sometimes hard liquor), spirits, distilled spirits, or spiritous liquor are alcoholic drinks produced by the distillation of grains, fruits, vegetables, or sugar that have already gone through ethanol fermentation, alcoholic ferm ...

business, which was known as Fritz T. Schmidt and Sons. They produced their own wine at a west end location known as "Blackhawk Vineyards." It was located along Blackhawk Creek. with Some of the buildings, including the Schmidt's house, are extant. During

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

the family moved into real estate and insurance. In the late 1970s and 1980s the building housed an upscale restaurant called J.K. Frizbee's. Duck City, another upscale restaurant, occupies the building now.

Architecture

The Schmidt Block is a three-plus story building constructed of red stone that was built on a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

foundation. The main

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 ...

was designed in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style made popular by

Henry Hobson Richardson Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...

. It features large round-arched windows with tuned-stone surrounds on the third floor, roughly dressed stone, and stunted columns on the attic level arcade that are topped by a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

. The Schmidt Block is the only commercial building in Davenport to adopt the

Richardsonian Romanesque Richardsonian Romanesque is a architectural style, style of Romanesque Revival architecture named after the American architect Henry Hobson Richardson (1838–1886). The revivalism (architecture), revival style incorporates 11th- and 12th-century ...

style in stone. The

swag Swag, SWAG, or Swagg may refer to: Terms and slang * Swag (motif) or festoon, a wreath or garland or a carving depicting foliage and ribbons ** Swag, fabric dressing for a window valance * Swag, stolen goods, in 1800s thieves cant * Swag (pr ...

embellishments on the

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

are also unique in that they are Adamesque rather than Romanesque. While the storefront has been modernized, the building retains its recessed entrance into the first-floor commercial space and transom signage. The building immediately to the east has since been torn down and a sheltered outdoor seating area for the restaurant has been added that looks over the urban style park that sits between the Schmidt Block and the RiverCenter, the city's convention center.

References

{{Historic Davenport structures Commercial buildings completed in 1896 Romanesque Revival architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Davenport, Iowa Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Davenport, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa