United States Post Office and Court House (Davenport, Iowa)
Encyclopedia
The United States Courthouse, Davenport, Iowa is a historic post office
and courthouse
building located in Davenport
in Scott County, Iowa
. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
.
. The 1891 building also became home to an office of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
in 1904. A wing added in 1909 did little to alleviate the crowding in the building. The city experienced an economic boom during the 1920s that lasted into the early 1930s. The construction of high-rise buildings downtown, including hotels and department stores, spurred the need for a new building to house the post office and federal courts. By 1932, the Great Depression
had put many people out of work. Federal projects, including construction of a lock and dam, improvements to the seawall, and road construction provided employment for Davenport residents.
In 1930, Congress appropriated $655,000 for the construction of a new federal building on the site of the 1891 building, plus the purchase of two adjacent parcels. Demolition of the early post office and courthouse took place in April 1932.
Local architect Seth J. Temple designed the building, which was commissioned by the Office of the Supervising Architect
of the Treasury. Temple studied at the American Academy in Rome and the École des Beaux-Arts
in Paris, and taught at the University of Illinois School of Architecture
in Urbana. Other Davenport buildings that Temple designed include Davenport Hall, the Union Bank and Office building, and the Black Hawk and Burlington hotels.
The building was completed for approximately $500,000, which was significantly less than the original appropriation, and city residents and officials gathered for a dedication ceremony on October 15, 1933. Constructed as a post office and courthouse, the building retained both of those functions until about 1965. The post office moved out of the building at that time and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) acquired the building. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
in 2005.
style. The three-story building is essentially rectangular, though a portion of the building near the rear has only one story. The building has a steel frame and integral concrete beam floors, with cladding that includes a coursed granite base and Minnesota Kasota travertine limestone on the north, east, and west elevations. The cladding of the south elevation is buff colored brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern. The building has a flat composite roof with a parapet
.
The main entry is in the north elevation, which is the most elaborate. The entablature above the third story windows projects slightly from the vertical surface of the building, set off by a limestone stringcourse. A decorative parapet at the top of the building features a carved limestone frieze with a stylized Ionic order
capital and shield design. The elevation is nine bays wide. The second and eighth bays feature ground floor entrance doors, each with dark gray granite surrounds. Immediately above the doors are circular limestone panels featuring stylized carved eagles. Pairs of bronze light stanchions with granite bases flank each door, each with an embossed chevron and geometric designs. The door surrounds feature stylized carvings that imitate Beaux-Arts style classical pilasters. Embossed bronze spandrels separate the second and third story windows.
The most significant interior space is the two-story courtroom that occupies the central portion of the second floor, and its adjacent judges' chambers, library, and restroom. Flat geometric patterns and chevron designs reflect the architectural details of the building's exterior, as do the fluted classical pilasters. The interior of the east doors, which provide the main entry to the courtroom, are covered with leather and trimmed with metal studs. A base of rouge marble rings the room. The laurel paneling is laid in a herringbone pattern
. The wood grain of the wainscoting is vertically oriented. The cornice frieze, carved to depict chevrons and stylized leaves, is black walnut. Black walnut insets depicting leaves and berries are located above the doors on the west side of the room. Some of the furnishings are original. Additional original interior details that remain include the flooring, some of which are terrazzo floors and others are marble. The wainscoting, cladding in bathrooms and vestibules, door surrounds in the vestibules and the first floor elevator lobby, stairway treads, and hallway baseboards are original marble. Some lighting fixtures in the stairwells and hallways are also original.
After the first renovation in the 1960s, which converted the former postal facilities into offices, there were additional renovations during the 1970s and 1990s. Between 2003 and 2005, the building was renovated under GSA's Design Excellence program, which provides design assistance to high-quality public buildings by stressing creativity and providing design feedback from peers. The project, which converted the building to a dedicated courthouse facility, included the construction of two new courtrooms, restoration of the historic courtroom, and renovation of the first-floor lobby.
In 2006, The Spirit of Law and Iowa Reports, paintings created by artist Xiaoze Xie
under the auspices of GSA's Art in Architecture program, were installed in the Davenport Courthouse. The artist hoped that the paintings, installed in the jury assembly room, would "prompt visitors to consider the connections between history and the present and between ideas and realities."
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
and courthouse
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
building located in Davenport
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
in Scott County, Iowa
Scott County, Iowa
-2010 census:The 2010 census recorded a population of 165,224 in the county, with a population density of . There were 71,835 housing units, of which 66,765 were occupied.-2000 census:...
. It is a courthouse for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has jurisdiction over forty-seven of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (in case citations, S.D. Iowa) has...
.
Predecessor building
Part of the site occupied by the courthouse was previously the site of an 1891 post office, completed in 1896 under the supervision of architect Willoughby J. EdbrookeWilloughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
. The 1891 building also became home to an office of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa has jurisdiction over forty-seven of Iowa's ninety-nine counties. It is subject to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals The United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (in case citations, S.D. Iowa) has...
in 1904. A wing added in 1909 did little to alleviate the crowding in the building. The city experienced an economic boom during the 1920s that lasted into the early 1930s. The construction of high-rise buildings downtown, including hotels and department stores, spurred the need for a new building to house the post office and federal courts. By 1932, the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
had put many people out of work. Federal projects, including construction of a lock and dam, improvements to the seawall, and road construction provided employment for Davenport residents.
In 1930, Congress appropriated $655,000 for the construction of a new federal building on the site of the 1891 building, plus the purchase of two adjacent parcels. Demolition of the early post office and courthouse took place in April 1932.
Construction
Construction of the new building took just over 500 days.Local architect Seth J. Temple designed the building, which was commissioned by the Office of the Supervising Architect
Office of the Supervising Architect
The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....
of the Treasury. Temple studied at the American Academy in Rome and the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
in Paris, and taught at the University of Illinois School of Architecture
University of Illinois School of Architecture
The University of Illinois School of Architecture is an academic unit with in the College of Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign....
in Urbana. Other Davenport buildings that Temple designed include Davenport Hall, the Union Bank and Office building, and the Black Hawk and Burlington hotels.
The building was completed for approximately $500,000, which was significantly less than the original appropriation, and city residents and officials gathered for a dedication ceremony on October 15, 1933. Constructed as a post office and courthouse, the building retained both of those functions until about 1965. The post office moved out of the building at that time and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) acquired the building. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 2005.
Architecture
The U.S. Courthouse is a skillfully executed example of Depression-era architecture that invokes the Art DecoArt Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style. The three-story building is essentially rectangular, though a portion of the building near the rear has only one story. The building has a steel frame and integral concrete beam floors, with cladding that includes a coursed granite base and Minnesota Kasota travertine limestone on the north, east, and west elevations. The cladding of the south elevation is buff colored brick laid in a Flemish bond pattern. The building has a flat composite roof with a parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
.
The main entry is in the north elevation, which is the most elaborate. The entablature above the third story windows projects slightly from the vertical surface of the building, set off by a limestone stringcourse. A decorative parapet at the top of the building features a carved limestone frieze with a stylized Ionic order
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
capital and shield design. The elevation is nine bays wide. The second and eighth bays feature ground floor entrance doors, each with dark gray granite surrounds. Immediately above the doors are circular limestone panels featuring stylized carved eagles. Pairs of bronze light stanchions with granite bases flank each door, each with an embossed chevron and geometric designs. The door surrounds feature stylized carvings that imitate Beaux-Arts style classical pilasters. Embossed bronze spandrels separate the second and third story windows.
The most significant interior space is the two-story courtroom that occupies the central portion of the second floor, and its adjacent judges' chambers, library, and restroom. Flat geometric patterns and chevron designs reflect the architectural details of the building's exterior, as do the fluted classical pilasters. The interior of the east doors, which provide the main entry to the courtroom, are covered with leather and trimmed with metal studs. A base of rouge marble rings the room. The laurel paneling is laid in a herringbone pattern
Herringbone pattern
The herringbone pattern is an arrangement of rectangles used for floor tilings and road pavement.The blocks can be rectangles or parallelograms...
. The wood grain of the wainscoting is vertically oriented. The cornice frieze, carved to depict chevrons and stylized leaves, is black walnut. Black walnut insets depicting leaves and berries are located above the doors on the west side of the room. Some of the furnishings are original. Additional original interior details that remain include the flooring, some of which are terrazzo floors and others are marble. The wainscoting, cladding in bathrooms and vestibules, door surrounds in the vestibules and the first floor elevator lobby, stairway treads, and hallway baseboards are original marble. Some lighting fixtures in the stairwells and hallways are also original.
After the first renovation in the 1960s, which converted the former postal facilities into offices, there were additional renovations during the 1970s and 1990s. Between 2003 and 2005, the building was renovated under GSA's Design Excellence program, which provides design assistance to high-quality public buildings by stressing creativity and providing design feedback from peers. The project, which converted the building to a dedicated courthouse facility, included the construction of two new courtrooms, restoration of the historic courtroom, and renovation of the first-floor lobby.
In 2006, The Spirit of Law and Iowa Reports, paintings created by artist Xiaoze Xie
Xiaoze Xie
Xiaoze Xie is a visual artist and professor who lives in Palo Alto, California and is a professor at Stanford University.Xie was born in 1966 in Guangdong, China and received his Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University in 1988, followed by a Masters of Fine Arts from Central Academy of...
under the auspices of GSA's Art in Architecture program, were installed in the Davenport Courthouse. The artist hoped that the paintings, installed in the jury assembly room, would "prompt visitors to consider the connections between history and the present and between ideas and realities."
History
- 1891: Construction of original post office at this location
- 1932-1933: Construction of current building on site
- 1965: GSA acquires building after Post Office vacates building; first floor renovated
- 1972, 1977, 1997: Additional alterations to building
- 2005: Listed in National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
- 2005: Completion of building modernization under GSA's Design Excellence program
- 2006: The Spirit of Law and Iowa Reports installed in jury assembly room
Building facts
- Location: 131 East Fourth Street
- Architect: Seth J. Temple
- Construction Dates: 1932-1933
- Architectural Style: Art Deco
- Landmark Status: Listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
- Primary Materials: Steel, concrete, limestone, and granite
- Prominent Features: Limestone and granite cladding; Wood-paneled courtroom; Stylized motifs carved on building facade
External links
- Federal Judicial Center Historic Federal Courthouses page on the United States Post Office and Court House in Davenport, Iowa,