801 Grand

Address: 801 Grand Avenue
Height: 192.0 m | Floors: 45 | Built 1991
Architectural Style: Post Modern
Architects: Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum

This is the tallest building in the state of Iowa.

The bottom three floors of this tower are a retail mall connected to the downtown skywalk system. A great restaurant, 801 Steak & Chop is located here.

A private restaurant, the Embassy Club resides on the top two floors of this building.

The top half of the tower features a series of terraces and setbacks to visually decrease the building’s impact on the city skyline.

801 Grand Avenue is topped by eight-sided pyramid, which being clad with copper provides a unique sign of the tower.

It was named one of the 50 Most Significant Iowa Buildings of the 20th Century by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Ruan Center

Address: 666 Grand Avenue
Height: 139.3 m | Floors: 36 | Built 1974
Architectural Style: International
Architects: Kendall Griffith Russell Artiaga

This building was the tallest in the state of Iowa from 1974 to 1990.

The south side of this site was formerly occupied by The Chamberlain Hotel.

The exterior skin is composed of 1,600 US tons of cor-ten steel and 4,700 US tons of structural steel were used in the building’s frame.

It was named one of the 50 Most Significant Iowa Buildings of the 20th Century by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Des Moines Marriott

Address: 700 Grand Avenue
Height: 111.2 m | Floors: 33 | Built 1981
Architectural Style: Modern

This is the tallest hotel in the state of Iowa, has 415 rooms.

This site was previously occupied by the Royal Union Life Building.

Financial Center

Address: 666 Walnut Street
Height: 105.2 m | Floors: 25 | Built 1973
Architectural Style: International

The northern part of this site was formerly occupied by the Harris-Emery Department Store.

The Plaza

Address: 300 Walnut Street
Height 103.6 m | Floors: 25 | Built 1985
Architecture Style: Modern/Post Modern

The Plaza Building is essentially a modernist building, but is highlighted with features in the Postmodern style. These features include a light and dark banded base and a blue-colored, hipped and gabled roof. The brilliant roof makes a pronounced statement on the skyline and is visible for miles around.

Hub Tower

Address: 555 Walnut Street
Height: 99.1 m | Floors: 25 | Built: 1986
Architecture Style: Post Modern
Architects: Herbert Lewis Kruse Architects

The HUB Tower is a typical Postmodern attempt to replicate the “vertical style” of 1920′s skycrapers. Despite the sylistic devices, however, the overall effect is one of bulk rather than grace.

The late-1920′s art deco theme is also employed in the entrance and lobby spaces.

The facade consists of glass, metal, and brick. The crown consists of a gabled front with a hipped roof tower behind.

The tower is actually 18 floors as it sits on top of a 200,000 square foot retail mall.

This 18-story tower sits atop a 7-story base, which is a retail mall.

EMC Insurance Building

Address: 700 Walnut Street
Height: 99.1 m | Floors: 19 | Built 1997
Architectural Style: Post Modern
Architects: Brooks Borg Skiles Architecture Engineering

The EMC Insurance Building was named one of the 50 Most Significant Iowa Buildings of the 20th Century by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

This tower rises from a three-story base that relates to the scale of the street. The tower then deals with the surrounding context of other tall buildings. The building is clad in a highly efficient and sophisticated rain screen system.

Equitable Building

Address: 604 Locust Street
Height: 96.9 m | Floors: 19 | Built 1924
Architecture Style: Neo-Gothic with Medieval Detailing
Architects: Proudfoot, Bird, and Rawson

For many years the Equitable Building was the tallest building in Iowa.

The facade is of red brick trimmed with Vermont granite and terra-cotta.

From a distance, the building’s outstanding feature is the rooftop lantern, with elongated round-arched windows, terra-cotta paneling, and a spirelike roof.

Although the details are unmistakably Gothic Revival, the overall organization is classical, reflecting the ability of the architects to effectively blend different architectural styles.

The Equitable Building was named one of the 50 Most Significant Iowa Buildings of the 20th Century by the Iowa chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

This building began conversion from office to residential condominiums in 2006.

Bank of America Building

Address: 317 6th Avenue
Height: 85.3 m | Floors: 16 | Built 1966
Architectural Style: International

Iowa State Capitol Building

Address: Grand Avenue & East 9th Street
Height: 83.8 m | Floors: 4 | Built 1886
Architectural Style: Beaux Arts/ Italianate
Architects: John C. Cochrane/A.H. Piquenard

This is Iowa’s second capitol building constructed. The first was completed in Iowa City in 1842. Built between 1871 and 1886, this magnificent building represents, both inside and out, one of the nation’s finest examples of 19th century architecture.

Inside, the building features an array of majesty including many different types and colors of marble, works of art, fixtures and carvings in both wood and stone. One of the most commanding features of the building is the towering dome.

The dome, constructed of steel and brick, is externally gilded with 23-karat gold leaf. A belvedere on top of the large dome features a golden lantern at the top. In addition, four smaller golden lanterns are each attached to copper-covered domes at every corner of the building. These four domes are decorated with vertical lines of intermittent gold, giving each a braided look.