****UPDATED INFO AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST! SCROLL DOWN!!!****
*******FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE! SCROLL DOWN!!!********
If you’ve driven, walked, bussed, or biked around in the East Village, perhaps on your way from the main area of shops to Ban Thai or something, you’ve probably noticed a defunct service station at E. 2nd & Grand. The building was built in the Mission architectural style, once popular in the 1930s, and housed one of the first full service gas stations in the metro area. The East Village is about to lose this important landmark to a pay-per-month parking lot and time is running out to save this cool building!
Here’s a picture of the building from the Polk County Assessor’s website taken in 1996:
The owner of the property is seeking to demolish the building and turn the corner into a parking lot this spring. For more details see the DSM Register’s article from Feb. 3.
A fundraising effort is now underway to collect the $14,000 needed to move the building to a temporary location while a more permanent site is found.
In the meantime, I snuck in and shot a few photographs of the place.
Here’s the old sign from when it was a Dewey Fast Lube shop.
The exterior buttresses are all made of glazed terra cotta. The original white glaze can be seen where the gray paint is flaking off.
This door has details that look like Prairie style, while the ornate door hardware looks more Victorian.
The roof looks like terra cotta tiles like are used in Spanish style architecture on buildings in California, but this roof is actually made of pressed sheets of metal shaped to look like tiles.
A detail of a corner of the roof:
One of the most historically significant things about the shop, and part of what motivated the State Historical Society to seek funding to preserve the building, is the Globe brand car lift. Globe was a car lift manufacturer that patented this design in the 1930s. These lifts were made in Des Moines before the company went national. This is one of the earliest models of the Globe lift and was still in use shortly before the service station closed down.
Inside the building, other architectural features from the original design still remain.
The crown molding around the ceiling of the office:
The transom windows with opening/closing mechanism still in tact:
The bathroom, with what were once green subway tiles on the wall:
Green tiles on the bathroom floor:
I’m hoping for the best that this building can be saved, but at least if it disappears, we’ll have photos to remember it.
**UPDATED INFO REGARDING RESCUE EFFORT**
From: The Sherman Hill Association
Subject: Help save 1931 Service Station from the Wrecking ball
The former Don’s East Grand Service at 203 E. Grand Ave. is in danger
of being torn down next
month if the structure is not moved from it’s current location. We are
hoping to raise enough money
to cover the cost of the move. We know times are tough, but preserving
our history is also important.
There is not a permanent location for the Station yet, though there is
continued work on securing one.
The important thing right now is to preserve the building. A developer
in the East Village has agreed to
allow the station to be temporarily located on his land at East 4th
and Locust until a final destination is
chosen. The estimated move will be the last week of February 2009 or
first week of March 2009.
History
The Service Station is a wonderful example of the Mission Revival
architectural style, featuring a
terra cotta exterior. Built in 1931 by Continental Oil, it was
originally used as a training station for
gasoline dealers.
Expense
Estimate by Ron Holland Moving: $70,000 total
Immediate need: $35,000 + $4,200 ($700/mo. X 6 months – Holland steel
beam rental on temporary site) =$39,200
Revenue
Emergency Historic Site Preservation Grant: $15,000 (max)
Jim Cownie donation (JSC Properties): $10,000 – ($7,500 of this would
be used to match the HSPG grant)
Private donations so far: $1,500
Total amount raised so far: $29,000
Total fund raising goal: $40,000
Need to raise $13,500
Action
Please send your pledge to Jack Porter (information below) by February
the 20th. Pledges will
be due ONLY if the Station is moved. You may contact either Jack
Porter, Sarah Oltrogge or
Robert McCammon with any questions you may have. These donations will
not be tax deductible.
Contributions can be sent to:
Historic East Village
c/o Jack Porter
815 18th Street, Des Moines, IA 50314
Contacts
Jack Porter
Ph: 243-7064
sherman815@msn.com
Sarah Oltrogge
Ph: 281-4011
Sarah.Oltrogge@iowa.gov
Robert McCammon
Ph: 491-5715
r.mccammon@mchsi.com
UPDATE: We have received $2,500 from ConocoPhillips to help with
expenses. This was a major coup coming directly from the Executive VP
- Robert E. Lowe – who just so happens to be a native of Oskaloosa and
has a sister here in Des Moines. YAY!
that circular “globe hoist” logo with the bolts around it is cool as hell. i wonder how far that brand name spread in its heyday. i wonder if it’s some intentional christian symbolism. i wonder if i read into things too much.
No offense Jack, as much as I am a history buff and a photographer, I will definitely get there to take shots before its gone, it is a peice of crap that will cost more than we could get value from. $33,000 could feed a lot of families or clothe a lot of children or help a family pay for a childs cleft lip surgery. I think cash like that could be used better elsewhere. Now if you can get some corporate funds that can work with the Historical Society to Landmark it, I guess that would be cool.
It is a shame to see these old buildings go under like that, but it’s kinda like that is the way the economy crumbles.
$9 I don’t see the symbolism. Because it has “hist” which is letters in Christ and it is in a cross pattern? Yeah, God was into the Oil Companies in the 30′s. LOL.
I don’t see the Christian symolism $9, b