The Syndicate Block, also known as the McCoy Building, is an historic building located in the East Village of

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moine ...

, United States. It was individually listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

in 2001. In 2019 the building 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 distric ...

in the East Des Moines Commercial Historic District.

History

The property on which the building stands was originally owned by one of the first settlers in Polk County, Conrad Dietz. with Dietz was a German farmer who settled in the area in 1847. He sold one of the lots in 1876 to the proprietors of a hardware store, Entwistle & O’Dea. The rest of the land was leased to shopkeepers and craftsmen. By 1883 there was a row of small wood-frame buildings on the property near the intersection of Fifth and Locust Streets that had the appearance of a small town Main Street. This three-story brick structure was built by a group of East Side businessmen in 1883 three blocks from the

Iowa State Capitol The Iowa State Capitol, commonly called the Iowa Statehouse, is in Iowa's capital city, Des Moines. As the seat of the Iowa General Assembly, the building houses the Iowa Senate, Iowa House of Representatives, the Office of the Governor, and ...

, and it reflects its

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style. It also stands out in an area of

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italia ...

commercial buildings. The first floor has housed a variety of retail businesses over the years and the upper floors have housed various professionals and business firms. The building currently houses several commercial enterprises.

References

{{Historic Des Moines structures Commercial buildings completed in 1883 Renaissance Revival architecture in Iowa Buildings and structures in Des Moines, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Des Moines, Iowa Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa