Old Post Office (Iowa City, Iowa)

The Boerner-Fry Company/Davis Hotel is a historic building located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Emil Louis Boerner was born in Prussia and came to Iowa City with his family when he was 12. He was educated at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and he owned and operated a drugstore in Iowa City for 57 years. He was also one of the primary organizers of the Iowa Pharmaceutical Association, a member of the faculty at the newly established Iowa College of Pharmacy in Des Moines, and was involved in establishing the Department of Pharmacy at the University of Iowa where he served as its first dean. Boerner and his partner William A. Fry had this building constructed in 1899 as a factory that produced toilet articles and light pharmaceuticals. Local contractor Jacob J. Hotz was responsible for its construction. The factory relocated to another facility in 1915, and went out of business the following year. This building was used for a variety of businesses until 1922 when it was converted into the Washington Hotel. George W. Davis renamed the hotel after himself in 1952, and he continued to operate it until 1972. It was then converted into office and retail space. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In 2021, it was included as a contributing property in the Iowa City Downtown Historic District.

The Iowa City Downtown Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 102 resources, which included 73 contributing buildings, one contributing site, one contributing object, 21 non-contributing buildings, and seven non-contributing objects. Eight buildings that were previously listed on the National Register are also included in the district. Iowa City's central business district developed adjacent to the Iowa Old Capitol Building and the main campus of the University of Iowa. This juxtaposition gives the area its energy with the overlap of university staff and students and the local community. The district was significantly altered in the 1970s by the city's urban renewal effort that brought about the Ped Mall (City Plaza), which transformed two blocks of College Street from Clinton Street to Linn Street and Dubuque Street from Burlington Street to Washington Street. It is the contributing site and the large planters/retaining walls that are original to the project are counted together as the contributing object. There are also several freestanding, limestone planters, five contemporary sculptures, and a playground area are the non-contributing objects. The district mainly contains commercial buildings that were built in the Early Classical Revival, the revival styles of the Late Victorian era, the Chicago Commercial Style, Art Deco, and the Art Moderne styles. Modern architecture was introduced in the urban renewal years when new buildings were constructed and storefronts renovated. Architects of regional and local importance with buildings in the district include Chauncey Lovelace, Iowa City; Proudfoot & Bird and their successor firm of Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson, Des Moines; Dieman & Fiske, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Liebbe, Nourse & Rasmussen, Des Moines; Vorse, Kraetsch & Kraetsch, Des Moines; H.L. Stevens & Company, Chicago; Kruse and Klein of Davenport, Iowa; and J. Bradley Rust, Iowa City. The Franklin Printing House (1856), Trinity Episcopal Church (1871), College Block Building (1883), Boerner-Fry Company/Davis Hotel (1899), Old Post Office (1904, 1931), Paul–Helen Building (1910), Englert Theatre (1912), and Johnson County Savings Bank (1912) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Iowa City is the county seat and largest city of Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time of the 2020 census the population was 74,828, making it the state's fifth-most populous city. The metropolitan area, which encompasses Johnson and Washington counties, has a population of over 171,000. The Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is also a part of a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with the Cedar Rapids MSA. This CSA plus two additional counties are known as the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids region which collectively has a population of nearly 500,000. Iowa City was the second capital of the Iowa Territory and the first capital city of the State of Iowa. The Old Capitol building is a National Historic Landmark in the center of the University of Iowa campus. The University of Iowa Art Museum and Plum Grove, the home of the first governor of Iowa, are also tourist attractions. In 2008, Forbes magazine named Iowa City the second-best small metropolitan area for doing business in the United States.

First Unitarian Church is a historic building located in the downtown area of Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The local Universalist congregation traces its beginnings to 1841. Their building at Iowa Avenue and Dubuque Street was destroyed in a fire in 1868, and they built a larger building at Iowa Avenue and Clinton Street. In 1881 the Universalists merged with the local Unitarian Society. In their arrangement, the Unitarians paid for the minister while the Universalists owned the church building. The University of Iowa bought their building in 1907 and renamed it Unity Hall for use as a student union. The Unitarian-Universalist congregation dedicated this Tudor Revival building for their use on October 24, 1908. The dedication address was given by Rev. Eleanor E. Gordon, who was the secretary of the State Unitarian Conference of Iowa at the time. Because of their growth and costs to update the old building, the congregation voted in 2015 to build a new structure in near-by Coralville. They sold this building to developer Jesse Allen. It has subsequently been used as a winter shelter for the homeless while plans were made to include it in a new commercial-residential development. The former church building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018.

Englert Theatre in Iowa City, Iowa, is a renovated vaudeville-era playhouse now serving as a community arts center and 725-seat performance venue. It is owned and operated year around by Englert Civic Theatre, a non-profit art organization. The building was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. In 2021, it was included as a contributing property in the Iowa City Downtown Historic District. The theater hosts a variety of events including live music, comedy, dance, plays, lectures, film screenings, civic events, public and private ceremonies such as awards and anniversary celebrations, and more.

Trinity Episcopal Church is a parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Iowa. The church is located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 2021, the building was included as a contributing property in the Iowa City Downtown Historic District.

The Paul–Helen Building is a historic building in downtown Iowa City, Iowa. The Chicago school building was the first part of a renewal of downtown Iowa City starting in the 1910s.

The Iowa City Public Library (ICPL) was established in 1896 to serve the people of Iowa City, Iowa, USA. Currently located in a new facility at the intersection of College and Linn Streets on the downtown pedestrian mall, ICPL serves a population of 69,000 residents of Iowa City, and through contract, residents of unincorporated Johnson County, University Heights and Hills. ICPL has approximately 67,000 cardholders.

Plaza Towers East is the tallest building in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Construction on the 14-story Condominium/hotel building began in 2003 and it was completed two years later. It rises to a height of 158 feet (48 m). The 13-story west tower was completed at the same time. The Modern Movement structure was designed by Neumann Monson Architects of Iowa City. McComas-Lacina Construction L.C., also of Iowa City, was responsible for its construction. The first three floors of both towers house commercial space, an extended-stay hotel is located on floors four to six, and three floors of apartments. The top floors are condominiums with penthouse-type units.

The University of Iowa shooting was a mass shooting that occurred in Iowa City, Iowa, on November 1, 1991. Gang Lu, a 28-year-old former graduate student at the University of Iowa, killed three members of the Physics and Astronomy Department faculty, an Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and a fellow student, then seriously injured another student working at the university's campus, before committing suicide.

Prairie Lights is an independent bookstore in downtown Iowa City, Iowa, founded in 1978, by Jim Harris.

The Jefferson Street Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 39 resources, which included 36 contributing buildings and three non-contributing buildings. This section of the city started to develop to its present form in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this period the neighborhood was transformed from residential to include churches and buildings associated with the University of Iowa and its hospitals. Both professionals and business owners lived here, along with working-class people. Graduate students, especially those associated with the medical professions, resided in apartment buildings here. Four architecturally significant churches, along with their attendant buildings, are located in the district. The architectural styles of both residential and institutional forms found here are representative of those built in the city from the 1850s through the 1930s. The Gothic Revival, especially for the churches, and Greek Revival styles are particularly evident. Architects of regional and local importance with buildings in the district include Gurdon P. Randall, Proudfoot & Bird, and Orville H. Carpenter. The William Bostick House (1851), Park House Hotel (1852), St. Mary's Catholic Church (1869) and Rectory (1891), and the Congregational United Church of Christ (1869) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.