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Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District

Buildings and structures completed in 1941GrottoesHistoric districts in Cedar Rapids, IowaHistoric districts on the National Register of Historic Places in IowaLinn County, Iowa Registered Historic Place stubs
Mount Mercy UniversityNRHP infobox with nocatNational Register of Historic Places in Cedar Rapids, IowaProperties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa
The Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District
The Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District

Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located on the Mount Mercy University campus in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. It consists of a lagoon and five structures dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They include two arched entryways, a bridge, a ten-column structure representing the Ten Commandments, and a canopy enclosing a marble statue of the Virgin Mary. It was built by William H. Lightner, a self-trained architect, between 1929 and 1941. He utilized 12 tons of stone and 300 varieties of Italian mosaic glass that he acquired in his travels of more than 40,000 miles (64,000 km).Popular in southern Europe, grottoes are natural or artificial caves that are places of spiritual reflection. In the United States, they are found primarily in the Midwest, and are created mostly by self-trained artists and builders.When Lightner died in 1968, the Grotto fell into disrepair. Grants from the Smithsonian Institution’s American Heritage Preservation Project-Save Outdoor Sculpture (2001), the Iowa Arts Council (2011), and The National Endowment for the Arts (2014) were used to restore the structures. The Grotto is used for a variety of personal and communal events.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District
CeMar Trail, Cedar Rapids

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.002777777778 ° E -91.653333333333 °
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Mount Mercy University

CeMar Trail
52402 Cedar Rapids
Iowa, United States
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The Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District
The Our Mother of Sorrows Grotto Historic District
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Nearby Places

Second and Third Avenue Historic District

The Second and Third Avenue Historic District is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 186 resources, which included 176 contributing buildings, and 10 non-contributing buildings. This area was developed as a streetcar suburb at the turn of the 20th century. It includes single-family dwellings, apartment buildings, and two churches. The upper part of the district is called the Sampson Heights Addition. It was developed by Ellen Bever Blake and realtor/developer Malcolm Bolton. Blake's brothers James and George Bever developed the lower part of the district that they called the Bever Park Addition. The family members were in litigation for four years over the development as the two Bever sisters maintained that the three brothers received a disproportionate share of the property in their father's estate, and that they never paid for their stock in the Bever Land Company. In the end, their father's will was set aside and the five children agreed to divide the estate equally.The buildings are representative of various architectural styles and vernacular building forms popular from the 1890s through the 1930s. Several prominent architects and architectural firms have buildings here, including Charles W. Bolton of Philadelphia, Louis Sullivan of Chicago, Clausen & Kruse of Davenport, and Charles Dieman and Josselyn & Taylor of Cedar Rapids. St. Paul United Methodist Church (1914) and the William and Sue Damour House (1917) are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Redmond Park-Grande Avenue Historic District
Redmond Park-Grande Avenue Historic District

The Redmond Park-Grande Avenue Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 196 resources, which included 193 contributing buildings, one contributing site, and two non-contributing buildings. This area was developed as a streetcar suburb at the turn of the 20th century. It includes single-family dwellings, two churches, and an apartment building. The southern part of the district, known as the Bever Park additions, was developed by brothers James and George Bever. The northern part of the district, known as Grande Avenue Place Addition, was developed by several developers, including the Bevers. The people who lived here were middle and upper income households. Local business leaders and professional people lived alongside salesmen and railroad workers. The buildings are representative of various architectural styles and vernacular building forms popular from the 1890s through the 1930s. No known architect designed houses have been located here, but it is possible that local architect Charles Dieman had commissions here. Several of the American Foursquare and the Craftsman houses are similar to those found in the Davenport-based Gordon–Van Tine Company catalogs from the 1910s and the 1920s. They manufactured pre-cut mail-order homes, and people may have bought their products and had them assembled here.