The D.S. Chamberlain Building, also known as the L. W. Taylor Motor Company and Payne Motor Company Building, 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 United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The two-story brick structure was designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of
Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson. Completed in 1917, it features elongated Chicago-style windows on the upper floors and simple geometric details on the
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 ...
level that reflect the
Collegiate Gothic
Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
style. The building was built as a speculative venture by Davis S. Chamberlain, who was one of the founders of his family's drug manufacturing company. It is located in the city's "Motor Row" or "Auto Row" on the west side of downtown. In 1916 there were 111 motor related firms in Des Moines that was valued at $12 million in annual trade.
[ with ] Both the Taylor Motor Company and the Payne Motor Company were housed in the double storefront building for many years. Other car dealerships followed. The building was 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 2007.
[
]
References
Commercial buildings completed in 1917
National Register of Historic Places in Des Moines, Iowa
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa
Buildings and structures in Des Moines, Iowa
{{DesMoinesIA-stub