Polk County Courthouse
- Architect
- Proudfoot & Bird
- Year
- 1906
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Des Moines, IA
- Collection
- proudfoot’s des moines
The Polk County Courthouse, built in 1906 for $750,000 in the Beaux-Arts style, is the third building Polk County has used for court functions and administration. It measures 242 by 132 feet and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource.
the building
Third courthouse on the square. Polk County's first courthouse, built in 1847 for $2,015, was a 52-by-26-foot brick building later sold to a church and then used as a rail depot. The second, an Italianate structure with a dome rising 87 feet, was built in 1858 for $94,000 and enlarged in 1866. The present courthouse replaced it on the same square in 1906.
the style
The Polk County Courthouse was built in the Beaux-Arts style, a monumental civic idiom fitting its role as the county's third and largest courthouse.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
Proudfoot & Bird, a prolific regional architectural firm, designed the Polk County Courthouse.
significance
The courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource.
nearby
- Hippee Building
- Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building
- Fleming Building
- Hawkeye Insurance Company Building
- Equitable Building
- Younker Brothers Department Store