Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 33: Sioux City Terra Cotta, 4th St.

There are 4 buildings on 4th St. from the Breaking the Mold, Sioux City Terra Cotta book. They are a commercial building, The Martin Hotel, The Martin Block & The Badgerow Building.

This simple commercial building was built in 1906. It is a seven bay 125 x 45 foot building. The Architect is unknown, but it has some elements of Sullivanesque The building has housed a variety of businesses, from bars to barbers & auto garages.
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The Martin Hotel Building was built in 1912 by brothers J.P. & L.B. Martin. It was built with Sullivanesque design. It was designed by H.C. Stevens Co, Architect. The building changed ownership in 1944 to E.C. Epply, then in 1956 Sheraton bought the building. The hotel closed in 1963. In 1983 it was converted into apartments. The bottom floor of the Northwest part of the building houses Thorpe and Company Jewlers. The Martin Hotel Building is part of the 4th Street Walking Tour, (Virgina to Pierce St)
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Down the street from the Martin Hotel is a building called the Martin Block. It was built in 1885 by Thomas S. Martin. Martin hired William L. Steele to design the building. The building was designed with Sullivanesque style. The entire facade of the building is covered with terra cotta. Steele incorporated the Sullivanesque principles. The building was originally the Martin Dept. Store until 1918. Since then it has housed other types of dept. stores. Today the building has apts on the upper floors and an art gallery type store on the ground floor.
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About a block east on 4th is the Badgerow Building. This beautiful building was built in 1933. It was built by the Jackson Street Building Company and named for Gordon Badgerow a prominent Sioux City attorney. It was designed by Knute Enoch Westerlind, Architect & was designed with an excellent mix of both Chicago School Elements and Art Deco. At the time it was Sioux City's tallest structure. In 1982 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It has been occupied by hundreds of diverse tenants over the decades. It is currently undergoing a reconstruction of the inside & a restoration of part of the outside surface. The Badgerow Building is part of the 4th Street Walking Tour, (Virgina to Pierce St)
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