City Market (Davenport, Iowa) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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City Market
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U.S. Historic district
Contributing property |
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 Location in Iowa
Location in the United States
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| Location | 120 W. 5th Street Davenport, Iowa |
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| Built | 1872 |
| Architect | Thomas W. McClelland |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival |
| Part of | Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District (ID100005546) |
| MPS | Davenport MRA |
| NRHP reference No. | 84001329 |
| Added to NRHP | April 5, 1984 |
The City Market is an old building in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It has a lot of history! This building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. This means it's a special place worth protecting. In 2020, it also became part of the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.
A Look Back: The Story of City Market
The City Market was built in 1872. The main idea was to bring all the city's shops and sellers together. This way, people could find everything they needed in one spot. Thomas W. McClelland was the architect who designed this public market.
Sadly, a fire damaged the building in 1873. You can still see some burn marks on the walls today! But the market idea didn't last very long. Not many shop owners wanted to move their businesses into the market stalls.
Because the market wasn't working, the building found new uses. In 1877, the west side of the building became the police station. Later, the east side was used by a military group called the Armory Co. B. After they left, this part became a women's jail.
By the 1920s, the east side of the building was no longer used. It might have even been torn down. From 1925, the police department and the city's ambulance service shared the building. They stayed there until the 1940s.
The building was empty for many years after that. But in 2008, a group called Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Mississippi Valley moved in. They raised a lot of money, about $650,000, to fix up the building. They also worked with local construction groups. These groups used the renovation as a learning project for their students.
What Does It Look Like?
The City Market is a one-story building made of brick. It sits on a strong stone foundation. The building is shaped like a rectangle. It has a pointed roof, called a gable roof, that faces Main Street.
The building shows a mix of two old styles of architecture. These are Romanesque Revival and Greek Revival. You can see the Romanesque style in the rounded arches. There is also fancy brickwork on the front of the building. It also has brick columns, called pilasters, and a stepped design near the roof. These features divide the front into three sections.
The sides of the building are simpler and less decorated. Both the north and south sides have windows and garage doors. They also have doors for people to walk through. The windows have rounded tops and stone sills. The garage doors have flat tops with glass panels above them. As mentioned before, the eastern part of the original building is gone. You can still see clues on the wall where it used to be.
