Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Des Moines Building
- Architect
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Year
- 1962
- Style
- International Style
- City
- Des Moines, IA
Completed in 1962, this downtown building was designed by the Chicago architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for the Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Des Moines. It is one of the first steel-and-glass modernist buildings in the city's downtown and is considered one of the most well-known examples of mid-century modern architecture in Des Moines.
the building
Steel-frame, glass-infill design. The three-story building, rising to 40.25 feet, uses a steel frame with glass infill and a base of granite and travertine marble. An earlier scheme would have suspended the roof from two lengthwise trusses, similar to Mies's design for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, but that was abandoned for this simpler, more direct structure.
Later life as a bank and diocese office. The building was later known as American Federal Savings, which failed in 1990 during the nationwide savings and loan crisis, and it has also served as the Catholic Pastoral Center.
the style
The building belongs to the Modern Movement, expressed here in a minimalist steel-and-glass facade that made it one of the first buildings of its kind in downtown Des Moines.
More on International Stylethe architect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the prominent Chicago architect, designed the building; he had earlier developed a related suspended-roof concept for the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago before simplifying the approach used here.
More on Ludwig Mies van der Rohesignificance
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After American Federal Savings failed in 1990, concern that the building would be demolished led the Des Moines City Council to designate it a local landmark in 1992.
more by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
nearby
- St. Ambrose Cathedral
- Des Moines Building
- Equitable Building
- Register and Tribune Building
- American Republic Insurance Company Headquarters Building
- 801 Grand