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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Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 29: 4th Street Walking Tour (Virginia Street to Pierce Street

The 4th in the series of downtown street walking Tours os the 4th Street Walking Tour (Virginia Street to Pierce Street. Of the 15 buildings listed in the walking tour only 4 are still standing today. In the tour guide it says another is still standing, but that one has been torn down since the guide was created. This is the longest in distance of the walkng tours. There is one final one I will post about later.

Enjoy:

Here is the link to the walking tour guide:
Take a Step Back in Time Walking Tour of Fourth Street (Virginia STreet to Pierce Street

#1. On the Northwest corner of 4th & Virginia was Casady Hall. This was one of the first brick buildings constructed in SIoux City. Over the years the building served many purposes. From a hospital to an illegal gambling establishment. Now this corner is a parking lot for the SIoux City Convention Center. Photo:


#2. On the North side of 4th St, between Jennings & Jones was the Lexington Block. The former building had the Richardsonian Romanesque architectureal style. The building housed many businesses & tenants. The last was the Gospel Mission. It was razed in 1987 to make way for the Sioux City Convention Center. The land the convention center uses goes from Virginia to Jones. Current photo:


#3. Even though this walking tour is on 4th St, part of it does extend down to 3rd. On the Northwest corner of 3rd & Jennings is the Warfield, Pratt and Howell Warehouse. It is not a William Steele building, but the architectural firm who designed it did incorporate the Prarie School Style Architecture into it's design. It is currently being renovated into high end condo's for purchase. Photo:


#4. On the Northeast corner of 4th & Jones used to be the Chicago House Hotel. The old building was an example of Beaux Style architecture. It was built to compete with the influx of downtown hotels. On the corner now is the Sioux City Convention Center. Photo:


#5. On the Northwest corner of 4th & Jones was the Peavey Grand Opera House. The building was destroyed by a fire in 1931. On this corner now is the back corner of the Clarion Hotel. Photo:


#6. The Northeast corner of 4th & Jackson was the Metropolitan Block. Built in 1889, this was Sioux City's first "skyscraper". It had the towns first passenger elevator. The building was was torn down in 1970 & the Hilton Hotel was built in it's place. The Hilton is now the Clarion Hotel. Photo:


#7. & #8. On the Southwest corner was the Massachusetts Block. A fire in 1904 which destroyed the buildings along 2.5 blocks along 4th St between Pierce & Jones claimed this building. The Badgerow Building, which is still there today was built betwen 1929 & 1930. Photo:


#9. On the Southeast corner of 4th & Nebraska was the Bolton/Commercial Block. On that corner now is the one side of the Terra Center Building. I have posted about this in previous walking tour posts. Photo:


#10. This shows the North side of 4th St l;ooking west between Nebraska & Pierce Streets. The building Kartons is in is still there as is the Martin building. Photo:


#11 & #12. This shows the South side of 4th St between Nebraska & Pierce Streets. This was the Gilman Block & the H&H Building/Schulein Building/Purslow Block at one time. Now the entire side is used by Central Bank as their building & parking lot. Photo's:



#13. This shows the Southeast corner of 4th & Pierce Streets. I did post about this in the Pierce Street Walking Tour. This corner now has the parking lot of the Central Bank Building. It used to be the Katz Drug Store Building. Photo:


#14. & #15. The Northeast corner of 4th & Pierce used to have the Mondamin Hotel. It burned down in 1912. The Martin Hotel was quickly built in it's place & still stands today, but is not used as a hotel. It has the Martin Tower Apts. in it & the ground floor houses Thorpe & Company Jewlers. Photo:


That is it for the 4th Street Walking Tour from Virginia to Pierce. I hope you enjoy it.

The next 2 in the series of Sioux City Hostory & Culture by Bicycle is the Roth Fountain & the Art's Alive display.

There is one final walking tour. It will be of Historic 4th St. As soon as I have photo's of it I will post it in the blog.