Hotel Fort Des Moines

1000 Walnut Street

Original building designed by Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson in 1919

Restoration  and renovation was 1978-1981

NRHP 1982

Unique features include: a main marble staircase with brass carved railing and walnut paneled columns in the lobby

Configuration of building allows windows in every room (similar to Congress Hotel in Chicago)

235 guest rooms today (400 when built)

Note a limestone base and terra cotta cornice (no stains on the terra cotta)

When first opened, it was advertised as the only hotel in Des Moines to have bathrooms in every room and a chilled water system piped to every room.  It was said to be purified by the Ultra Violet Ray Sterilizer made by James Clow & Sons of Chicago.

Swimming pool located in adjacent building, a revitalized auto warehouse building

Very modern for the time with three elevators

15 presidents have stayed here, including Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush

Numerous other famous people have stayed there, including Gypsy Rose Lee, Henry Fonda, and Nikita Khrushchev

Other Hotels by Proudfoot Bird & Rawson during same era:Hotel Pattee in Perry, Iowa, 1918 | Hotel Sheldon Munn in Ames, Iowa, 1912