Oran Pape State Office Building (International Harvester)
215 E 7th Street
(Oran Pape – Iowa Public Safety Building)
Built in 1927 for $169,000; the architect is un-attributed ($2.2 million in 2012 $’s)
The street level was a showroom for machinery and parts were manufactured in the upper levels through 1936
Wright Quality Coal Company occupied the building from 1942 to 1954
It had a number of uses before the State bought it for the Records and Property Building
In 2005 renovation started to convert the building into offices for the Department of Safety.
Design Alliance (Des Moines) and Bahl Vermeer and Haecher (Omaha) designed the renovation and addition using “green” principles.
It is eligible for nomination on the National Register of Historic Places.