Polk County Courthouse

500 Mulberry Street

The first building was a simple brick structure in 1848 on the block south of the present site.

The second was a French Second Empire building designed by Dyer Young.

The third was designed by Proudfoot & Bird (now BBS-AE) in 1902 and completed in 1906.

NRHP 1979

Voted 1 of the top 50 building of the twentieth century and best building of the decade. One of Iowa’s few Beaux Arts style courthouses. Beaux Arts is a French term for “fine arts”, a school of architecture in Paris, concerned with the formal planning of spatial relationships between buildings.

Grotesque ornaments (28 total) above second floor windows. One of which is said to have likeness of architect, George W. Bird.

Clock tower a was landmark for visitors traveling by train (116 ft. tall).

Similar buildings by same architect:

• Dallas County Courthouse (1901)
• Beardshear Hall, Iowa State University, (1902-1906)
• Jasper County Courthouse (1910)
• Greene County Courthouse (1915)

Restoration in 1985 by Bussard/Dikis Associates for the rotunda murals, decorative finishes, lighting and stained glass skylights.

Current restoration:  in 2013 Polk County voters approved an $81 M bond referendum to renovate the existing courthouse and expand the courts services to the former county jail and former Wellmark (JC Penney) building. OPN Architects was awarded this project.