American Enterprise Group (American Republic Insurance)

601 6th Avenue

Design was begun about 1962-63 and construction began in late 1963.

Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill by the New York office; chief designer, Gordon Bunshaft. Watson Powell, Jr. (whose father founded American Republic in 1929) sought out an architectural firm in the early 60’s to design the building.

Keo Way (Keosauqua Way) was renamed in 2000 to honor Watson Powell, Jr., the CEO, and local business and civic leader, who died in 2000.

Voted 1 of the top 50 buildings of the 20th century in Iowa

Winner of a national AIA Honor Award in 1967.

Designed as a “clerical factory” with workers housed in 6 file drawers made of concrete. Design rendered the building free of any internal columns.

NOTE: (as viewed from north or south) the outer walls get thinner as the building goes up, due to the reducing load factor. The lobby is faced with granite with a marble floor.

The building was designed with art in mind at the dawn of the corporate art movement.  In addition, we consider the architectural marvel of the building itself to be the most important piece of “art” in our collection.

The sculpture in the entry courtyard is by Arnaldo Pomodoro and is titled “Sphere with a Sphere”. It is of polished bronze and approximately eleven feet in diameter.

The company’s Art Park established in 1993, a sculpture garden set in a grassy area surrounded by trees and shrubs, adds to the beauty of downtown Des Moines.

AEG was renovated in 2015 by BNIM Architects. The rehabilitation project improved the building’s mechanical systems and added life safety systems, but integrated them into the design to be as invisible as possible.