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Des Moines’ famed buildings

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Frank Lloyd Wright, the celebrated – and sharp-tongued – architect, once said, “Without an architecture of our own, we have no soul of our own civilization.”     If that is true, then Des Moines’ modern soul is beginning to take shape in the form of more than a half-dozen major buildings either currently under construction or planned for the near future.

In downtown Des Moines, work has begun on the Science Center of Iowa, the John and Mary Pappajohn Center for Higher Education, the Iowa Events Center and the new Des Moines Public Library. Sometime soon, we hope, the construction equipment will move to the riverfront for the Principal Riverwalk.

In the suburbs, Jordan Creek Town Center promises a structure unlike anything in the Midwest. Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company of Iowa has announced plans for its new headquarters and we are anxious to see pictures of what Wells Fargo & Co. wants for its new building, which when done will be the largest office building in Central Iowa.

When these structures are complete, they will join the buildings that already form the rich tapestry of our city, from the Des Moines Art Center to the Victorian homes of Sherman Hill.

The seven-story exposed-concrete home of American Republic Insurance Co. was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. The famed New York architectural firm is responsible for such landmarks as Chicago’s John Hancock Center and Sears Tower and Time Warner’s new headquarters building in New York City. The architect of American Republic’s downtown headquarters, Gordon Bunshaft, won the American Institute of Architects award in 1967.

There are 132 places in Polk County listed on the National Register of Historic Places. If you haven’t visited these sites, we suggest you spend an afternoon driving to a few. They include the Drake University Municipal Observatory, the Butler Mansion, the American Federal Building, the Crane Building, the Fleming Building, the Hohberger Building, the Hotel Fort Des Moines, the Iowa Capitol and the buildings of the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

Drake University, too, is filled with prestigious buildings, the most famous of which arrived during the tenure of President Harry Harmon, who served from 1941 to 1964. In that time, 16 new buildings that had been designed by architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Harry Weese and Associates were constructed on campus.

Finally, we note the Des Moines Art Center, a gem whose three main wings were designed by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei and Richard Meier, who won the architecture industry’s top award, the Pritzker Prize, the year after his wing was added to the center.

Architecture, according to Kirk Blunck, president of the Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck firm, should “reinvigorate” the people who pass it by. Throughout Greater Des Moines, residents and visitors can find plenty of places for inspiration.