Sioux City History and Culture by Bicycle, Sioux City's Terra Cotta recap.

I have posted about most of the terra cotta buildings in the book Breaking the Mold, Sioux City's Terra Cotta. I have yet to post about the terra cotta buildings on Historic 4th St. That will happen when post about the Historic 4th St. Walking Tour.

There are also 5 buildings in the back of the book that are labeled as

other notable buildings

. The only info. for these buildings is the name, year built, architect & architectural style. I am going to post about these 5 buildings after I post about Historic 4th, the Pearl St. Research Center, Trinity Heights, the Pierce Mansion, the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center & the Adams Nature Preserve.

After I post about what I mentioned above I am going to use a list from the National Register of Historic Places for Woodbury County. It is a 13 page list that has the buildings in the county that are on the list. Some of them have already been posted about. For those I will create a simple blog post with a list of links to the blog postings for those buildings. The others will have a more indepth posting about them.

Sioux City History and Culture Recap & Update.

So far I have posted about the historical & cultural sites & events in Sioux City. There are several as you have noticed. I hope you have enjoyed what I have posted so far & I hope it helps you make a decision of what to do when you visit Sioux City.

I have yet to post about the Historic 4th St Walking Tour. I have not posted about it yet because I am going to combine that series of blog posts with the terra cotta posts for Historic 4th St.

The series of posts I am working on right now is about the terra cotta on the buldings in Sioux City, not including Historic 4th St. I have 2 more buildings near the downtown area I have to photograph & I will start creating the posts. There are also some buildings away from downtown I need to photograph & post about as well. The terra cotta posts are going to be by street. The number of buildings with the terra cotta I am posting about range from only 1 to 4 or 5. Some of these buildings are also part of the downtown walking tours I previously posted about.

After the terra cotta posts & the Historic 4th St posts I will then post about the Pearl St. Research Center, the Public Museum/Pierce Mansion, Trinity Heights, the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center & the Adams Nature Preserve. The posts will be pretty much in that order.

The camera I am using to take all of these photo's is a simple Olympus Stylus 500 5.0 Mega Pixel with a 2.5" LCD screen. Nothing fancy or terribly expensive at all.

Stay tuned & exepct about one post per day for the next Several days.

Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 32: Breaking the Mold, Sioux City's Terra Cotta

Several buildings in Sioux City, most of them in or near the downtown area, were built with beautiful terra cotta as part of the design. Sioux CIty used to be known as the terra cotta capital of Iowa. Several of the buildings are no longer here. The buildings that still are standing are but a shadow of the former glory days of terra cotta in Sioux City.

Recently there was a book published about this important part of Sioux City's history. I personally walked to each building & took the photo's you see in the posts. Some of the buildings need some work done to repair & restore the terra cotta.

Here is a link about terra cotta: Terra Cotta

Here is a list of the styles of architecture & terra cotta used on these buildings. The name of the style will also be a hyperlink so it can be clicked on to take you to more information about that particular style.

1. Richardson Roamnesque
2. Beux Arts
3. Sullivanesque
4. Chicago School Elements
5. Prarie School
6. Greek Revival
7. Art Deco
8. Moorish Facade
9. One building has it's own unique style of terra cotta. It is called the Sioux City Optical Building.

These buildings were designs by various architects. Here is a list:

1. George W. Burkhead, Architect
2. Henry Fisher, Architect
3. William L. Steele, Architect
4. E.F. Henriques. Architect
5. H.C. Stevens Co., Architect
6. O.C. Gross, Architect
7. Beuttler and Arnold, Architects
8. Steele and Elmslie, Architects
9. Rapp and Rapp. Architects
10. Steele & Hilgers, Architects
11. Alonzo Gentry, Architect
12. Knute Enoch Westerlind, Architects

I am starting with numbered streets then will post the named streets. Numbered streets are 4th to 6th Streets. Named streets include Pearl St, Douglas St., Pierce St. & Nebraska St.

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.

Sioux City History & Culture by Bicycle Part 30: Roth Fountain

Regina & Eldon Roth donated money to have this beautiful fountain built. It is on 4th Street, in front of the Promenade Cinema Theater between Virginia & Jennings Streets. Across from the Sioux City Convention Center parking lot, near the entrance to Historic 4th St. The Roth family has done a lot of great things for this community. They own & operate one of the areas most profitable & good sized businesses, BPI. They care about & want to see this community thrive & grow.

Here are the links about & photo's of the fountain:

Roth Fountain designers take top masonry award
Roth Fountain in downtown Sioux City dedicated
Roths donate fountain recalling stockyards heritage