The Hotel Kirkwood, also known as the Kirkwood Civic Center Hotel, is a historic building located in downtown

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 building was designed by the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

architectural firm of H.L. Stevens & Company and built in 1930. With its completion it became the largest hotel along Fourth Street between Walnut Street and Court Avenue, along Des Moines' "Hotel Row." with It also marked the emergence of the skyscraper hotel in the downtown Des Moines. The new hotel replaced a ''previous Hotel Kirkwood, built on the same site in 1862''. It was located near Union Station and the Rock Island Depot. Developers and owners of the 1930 Hotel Kirkwood were E.F. Tagney and S.F. McGinn.

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

details are found in the building's massing, the sleek exterior geometrical detailing, and treatment of 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 ...

. The 12-story brick structure rises to a height of . It 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 2003. The building has subsequently been converted into an apartment building called "The Kirkwood."

Gallery

File:Postcard of the Old Kirkwood Hotel.jpg, Postcard of the 1862 Hotel Kirkwood, c. 1925. File:Hotel Kirkwood Lobby.JPG, The lobby of the former Kirkwood Hotel. Now a venue for classical music and events. File:Walnut Street along the Kirkwood hotel.JPG, Restaurants that line Walnut Street in Downtown Des Moines. File:Hotel Kirkwood Valet Stand.JPG, The valet stand to the Kirkwood Hotel. Now the garage entrance for residents of the luxury apartments that occupy the former hotel.

References

Hotel buildings completed in 1930 Art Deco architecture in Iowa Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Apartment buildings in Des Moines, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Des Moines, Iowa {{DesMoinesIA-stub