Built in 1843 at 109 E. Market, the Sanxay-Gilmore House is Iowa City’s oldest house within the original city limits. The University of Iowa purchased the home in 2018. A plan to relocate the house has fallen through and its future is uncertain. 

The Jefferson Building is located at 129 East Washington Street and was designed by architects H. L. Stevens Co. of Chicago. Built 1913, the Jefferson Hotel's “modern” amenities, such as an electric elevator, an artesian well, telephones, electric lights, and hot and cold running water, made it a premier hotel in Iowa at the time. The Jefferson Hotel opened as a six-story building in 1913. Two more stories were added in the 1920s, bringing it to its current 8-story height.

​

📷: Busy downtown scene near Racines Cigar Store and Hotel Jefferson Iowa City, Iowa between 1920 and 1925, Frederick W. Kent Collection, Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries

The CRI&P Depot stands at 115 Wright St. in Iowa City, IA. Having once served as a major transportation hub in the first half of the 20th century, the Depot's train services shuttled passengers in and out of Iowa City in their locomotive "Rockets."Ceasing passenger operations in the early 1970s, the Depot has functioned as an office space since the early 1980s.

​

The Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific (CRI&P) Railroad Depot in Iowa City was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 10, 1982, and is also designated and protected as a Historic Landmark in Iowa City. Today, plans are underway to restore the building as it was during its Rock Island Railroad heydays (1898-1970). Read the full history here.

​

The future of Iowa City's railroad depot mimics that of railway stations across the country: Historic US Railway Stations Are Getting a New Lease on Life.

Thomas Carson, a banker and merchant, had this house built in 1875 for $8,000. Carson is said to have arrived New Year's Eve 1855 on the first train to reach Iowa City (Weber, 1992). Carson was president of the Johnson County Savings bank from 1877-1905. This Second Empire style of architecture was popular after the civil war from 1860s-1880s and inspired by the architecture coming out of France during the reign of Napoleon III. The house was built with a fireplace in each of the 14 rooms and a bathroom in every bedroom. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Today the house serves as a home for the Alpha Phi sorority.

​

📷: Carson House, 906 E College St, Frederick W. Kent Collection, Special Collections, The University of Iowa Libraries