Engangered Properties
The Old Art School
The Art Building, completed in 1936, graces the bank of the Iowa River on the University of Iowa’s Art Campus. Designed by George Horner, the Art Building was the original home of the School of Art and Art History until the floods of 2008.
The Art Building, considered as architecturally significant as the Old Capitol, was funded by the New Deal’s Public Works and Civil Works Administrations and the Carnegie Foundation. The art building housed many distinguished faculty in the 72 years prior to the flood, including Grant Wood, Horst Janson, Stuart Edie, Phillip Guston, Byron Burford, and Mauricio Lasansky.
Roosevelt School
Built in 1931, Roosevelt School just celebrated its 80th Birthday as an elementary school and community center. The building is eligible to be nominated to the Nation Register of Historic Places. However, this is the last year that Roosevelt will be used as a school. The Iowa City Community School District is considering selling the property.
Henry Sabin School/Administration Building
Designed by George Lockhart and completed in 1918, Henry Sabin School was one of four schools designed by Lockhart in the years following World War I. The other schools built were Longfellow School, Horace Mann School, and the now nonextant Kellogg School. Sabin is a well-executed example of the Late Gothic Revival Style still qualifies for listing on the National Register (FEMA-1763-DR-IA). Sabin closed as an elementary school in 1979 and has been used as the Iowa City Community School District Administration Building since that time.
The University of Iowa purchased the building as part of a land transaction that allows the University to construct the new Voxman Clapp Recital Hall at the corner of Burlington and Clinton. If the Univerity sells the building in the next five year FEMA will begin the MOA review process.
Horace Mann School
Situated on the corner of Dodge and Church Streets, Horace Mann was also designed by George Lockhart following the end of World War I. The school is eligible to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
St. Thomas More Rectory
Located at 109 McLean, this building has served as both the St. Thomas More Rectory and the Signa Pi Fraternity House. A recent survey of the Manville Heights area recommended a separate historic district to recognize fraternity houses built in the 1920's and later. Recently, FHP worked with the city to ease the building requirements. The building has been sold and will become an appartment building.
602 East Washinton Street
602 Washington Street, currently the home of the Agudas Achim Congregation, faces College Green Park, a park the city acquired in 1839. The property is in the College Green Conservation District and zoned RMS12. While the building was built in the early 1950’s and is much younger than many of its neighbors in the surrounding historic and conservation districts, the neighbors generally feel that the allover size and use of the building is appropriate to the neighborhood.
Recently, a request has been put forward to change the Iowa City Comprehensive Plan to allow the property to be rezoned as RNS20, allowing a much higher density of residents to inhabit the property.
Johnson County Poor Farm
The Johnson County Poor Farm was established in 1855 on 160 acres purchased by Johnson County. The farm is a reminder of how the indigent and mentally ill were treated by society. The farm was meant to be a self-supporting and the labor of the residents was to be a form of repayment to the government for their care.
The Asylum wing built in 1859 has been restored and is listed National Register of Historic Places. The early twentieth century milking barn, late nineteenth century hay/horse barn, and five smaller buildings also still stand.
Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity House
The Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity House, located at 109 River Street, was built in 1929 during a second wave of construction in the Manville Heights Neighborhood. The beautiful fraternity house is an example of Italian Renaissance Revival Style. In 1943, the building became home to Phi Beta Pi, a medical student fraternity. Today the building houses the graduate painting studios for the University of Iowa.
The building will be demolished to make way for the new art school. In accordances with the FEMA MOA agrement FHP will salvage the building.
Friends of Friends Engangered Properties
Cedar Rapids
Last Spring, a public meeting to discuss the future of historic buildings in the path of the PCI Clinic development was packed with concerned citizens. Notably absent were representatives from PCI, or St Lukes, which owns First Christian Church (840 3rd Ave SE). They said the discussion was "premature." Since then, several significant buildings have gone to the landfill. The church could follow any day--but we have a chance to save it. St Lukes has agreed to sell, and there are interested developers. Instead of spending demolition money for unneeded parking (the City is not requiring the 40-45 spaces that would take the place of this landmark), St Lukes and PCI need to allow developers time to tour the building and look at options. This is no ordinary church. Two masters of American architecture and art were involved in its design: Louis Millet and Louis Sullivan. Its architectural significance also means it is eligible for rehabilitation incentives. Another unique feature? It was designed with adaptive reuse in mind. It could become housing, retail, meeting space, or offices.