Hotel Fort Des Moines
About this property
The Hotel Fort Des Moines is a historic building in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The three original promoters of the hotel were Des Moines businessmen Richard R. Rollins, Frederick C. Hubbell, Clyde Herring, and Norman M. Wilchinski. The prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson designed the building, which opened in 1919. Twelve United States presidents, including Woodrow Wilson, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and George H. W. Bush were guests in the hotel. Other notable guests have included actress Mae West, aviator Charles Lindbergh and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. Singer Tiny Tim lived at the hotel for several years in the early 1990s. The hotel closed to guests on November 13, 2015 for ongoing renovations, following the sale of the property from Jeff Hunter to Hawkeye Hotels, and reopened as a Curio Collection Hilton Worldwide hotel. The hotel is an eleven-story building that rises 140 feet (43 m) above the ground. There are two floors below ground and the building contains three elevators. The hotel rooms are in a nine-story H-shaped tower that allows for increased light and air circulation for more rooms. It sits on a two-story base that houses the public rooms and commercial space. The exterior of the building can be divided into three sections visually using the principle of the classical column: a solid base, a basically unadorned shaft, and a decorative capital. The ornamentation is concentrated on the lower floors and near the top just below the cornice line. Media related to Hotel Fort Des Moines at Wikimedia Commons
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Everything a full report reveals about Hotel Fort Des Moines
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Questions about this property
When was Hotel Fort Des Moines listed on the National Register?
Hotel Fort Des Moines was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 15, 1982.
What type of historic resource is Hotel Fort Des Moines?
Hotel Fort Des Moines is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Hotel Fort Des Moines?
The period of significance for Hotel Fort Des Moines is recorded as the early_republic era.
Can I research the history near Hotel Fort Des Moines?
Yes. Aubrey Research reports search National Register listings, battlefield records, land patents, and other primary historical sources within any radius of a US address. A report for an address near Hotel Fort Des Moines will include this listing and all other historical records in the area.
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