Hawkeye Insurance Company Building
- Architects
- Proudfoot & Bird William Foster
- Year
- 1869
- Style
- Italianate
- City
- Des Moines, IA
- Collection
- proudfoot’s des moines
Completed in 1869, the Hawkeye Insurance Company Building housed the first successful casualty insurance company in Des Moines, a business that grew into the largest center for insurance companies outside the east coast. Designed by prominent local architect William Foster, it may be the oldest surviving example of his work and the oldest commercial building downtown to retain its original integrity.
the building
Original three-story block. The three-story brick commercial building was designed as the first part of a larger complex; a two-story annex followed two years later to the north, and two more three-story sections were completed before 1883.
Later conversions. Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson converted the building into a hotel in 1913, significantly altering the original cornice and eliminating the raised basement. It became an apartment building in the 1960s, and the cornice was restored in the 1980s.
the style
The Italianate building features a bracketed cornice and tall, thin hooded windows.
More on Italianatethe architect
William Foster was a prominent local architect; this may be the oldest surviving example of his work. The 1913 hotel conversion was carried out by another leading Des Moines firm, Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson.
significance
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; considered the oldest commercial building in downtown Des Moines that retains its original integrity.
nearby
- Polk County Courthouse
- Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building
- Homestead Building
- United States Post Office
- Hippee Building
- Fleming Building