Homestead Building

303 Locust

Completed: 1893 & 1905

Smith and Gutterson (Smith and Gage)

NRHP 1982.

Original building designed in 1893 by Smith and Gutterson and 1905 by Smith and Gage.

Restored in 1985 by Bussard/ Dikis.

Style: Richardsonian Romanesque style with heavy stone exterior and rounded arches.

The original entrance to the building is the central east entry; there was only a small single door entry on the south.  The 2 bays on the west were added in 1905.

The original eastern 1/3 was built with masonry walls and wood framing and the western 2/3 with a cast-iron skeleton and wood framing.

Building was constructed for the Iowa Homestead, a regional farming magazine which had a paid circulation of more than 110,000 subscribers in 1918.

By the 1920’s the building had become the Martin Hotel. In 1985 the building was transformed: it was a major challenge to make the building responsive to the downtown to the south: so, by creating a new south main entry where there was very little originally.

The atrium was an expanded version of a small light court that was originally in the building.

The floor of the atrium was set midway between the main floor and basement to create a sense of gracious transition and keep the basement as rentable space (not just storage).