Earle & LeBosquet Block

The Randolph Hotel or Hotel Randolph is a nine-story hotel located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. This hotel was designed and built by the H.L. Stevens & Company in 1911. It rents rooms for a weekly rate. Most guests are considered long term, meaning they stay for more than thirty consecutive days. The Randolph Hotel is located on the corner of Fourth Street and Court Avenue downtown, along the historic Court Avenue strip. It is an eight-story hotel "constructed in 1912 as the first tall and only 'absolutely fireproof hotel' in the city" of Des Moines, Iowa. Ironically there was a fire on 2-19-2010. It is located at 200-204 4th Street in the downtown commercial district of Des Moines.The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on June 11, 2009, and the listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of June 19, 2009.In 2008, rehabilitation of the building into low- and moderate-income rental housing, to be funded in part by federal and state historic preservation tax credits, was planned.

The Hawkeye Insurance Company Building is a historic building located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1869, the building housed the first successful casualty insurance company in the city, which grew to be the largest center for insurance companies outside of the east coast. Prominent local architect William Foster designed the building, and it may be the oldest surviving example of his work. It is also the oldest commercial building in the downtown area that maintains its original integrity.The three-story brick commercial block was designed to be the first part of a larger complex. The Italianate style building features a bracketed cornice and tall thin hooded windows. A two-story annex was completed two years later to the north. Two more three-story sections were completed before 1883. Another prominent Des Moines architectural firm, Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson, converted the building into a hotel in 1913. The original cornice was significantly altered and the raised basement was eliminated at that time. The building was later converted into an apartment building in the 1960s. In the 1980s the cornice was restored. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The Fifth is a skyscraper under construction in Des Moines, Iowa. Developed by Mandelbaum Properties, upon completion in 2022, it will be the second tallest building in Iowa. The building will consist of a movie theater, hotel, parking garage, retail, and residential space. Construction started in late 2018 and is expected to finish at the end of 2022.

The Polk County Courthouse located in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, was built in 1906. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a part of the County Courthouses in Iowa Thematic Resource. The courthouse is the third building the county has used for court functions and county administration.

Youngerman Block is a three-story commercial building in downtown building in Des Moines, Iowa, incorporating Italianate architecture, with later alterations that introduced Art Deco detailing. Built in 1876, the Youngerman Block was designed by architect William Foster (1842-1909) for Conrad Youngerman.

The Plaza Building, also known as The Plaza Condominiums, is a high-rise condominium building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. The building rises 25 floors and 340 feet (104 m) in height. It is currently the 5th-tallest building in the city, but will soon be the 6th after the completion of the skyscraper, The Fifth which will only be a couple blocks away. Designed by the architectural firm of Stageberg Beyer Sachs, Inc., the building was completed in 1985. It is essentially a modernist building, but it exhibits elements of the Postmodern style. These are found in the light and dark colored banding at the base and the blue hipped and gabled roof.

The Des Moines Saddlery Company Building is an historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. It was built in 1881 by J. Rubelman of Muscatine, Iowa. He choose to move his operation to Des Moines because of its location on two rivers and the 13 railroads that served the city. It was one of four saddlery firms in a two block area. Rubelman's company made saddles, harnesses and leather works for 20 years. In the years since it has housed a shoe maker, rubber company, stove manufacturer, glove company, the Krispy Kone Company and the Kaplan Hat Company. The later was also the name of the restaurant that was located on the first floor. The building, which was built in four phases between c. 1878 to 1920, is the most intact example of commercial Italianate architecture extant in Des Moines. It was built to house both retail and manufacturing purposes. The building was flooded with 19 feet (6 m) of water during the Des Moines River flood of 1993. It remained empty until the Court Avenue Restaurant & Brewing Company moved in with its equipment. The Des Moines Saddlery Company Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.In 2016, the Republic of Kosovo selected the Saddlery Company Building to host a consulate office.

The Des Moines Rock Island Depot is a combination passenger and freight pair of buildings in the Beaux-Arts style in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Construction of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) passenger building was completed in 1901. The building is in the Civic Center Historic District, west of the Des Moines River. A covered freight platform and brick building added in 1910 on the east side of the pair of buildings.An unusual aspect is that it spanned from one building at 107 Fourth Street to another building at 108 Fourth Street, spanning over Fourth Street with a metal arch. The principal building, the passenger station, on the west side of Fourth Street, is a two story brick structure.

The Observatory Building, also known as the Van Ginkel Building, was a skyscraper located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Standing at 197 ft tall (60 m) and heralded as "the tallest office building between Chicago and San Francisco" when opened on April 1, 1896, it was also the first skyscraper in Iowa. Although it was the tallest office building, the Observatory Building was not the tallest building in Des Moines, the Iowa State Capitol, completed in 1884, was 275 ft tall (84 m).With a look considered modern for its time, the building consisted of nine stories of office space, a rooftop garden including a 600-seat venue for outdoor performances, and a four-story observation tower, the distinctive feature which also gave the building its name. Electricity and gas lighting was provided to all tenants. Access to the tower was provided to paying customers for what was at the time an almost unique view of the city. The installation of a beacon that would shine over the city nightly added further to the buildings uniqueness.From its incorporation in 1896 until 1905 the head office of the Central Life Assurance Society of the United States was located in the Observatory Building. This company is still based in Des Moines today and now known as The Aviva Life and Annuity CompanyThe building was eventually demolished during the latter half of 1937, and this location is now occupied by Capital Square Mall.

The Seth Richards Commercial Block, also known as the Lederer-Strauss Building, is an historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Its construction represents the transition of Court Avenue from a retail center to the city's wholesale district. Seth Richards had acquired the property that had been the location of several business houses. One of the lots had been owned by the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The four-story, brick, Romanesque Revival building was constructed in two parts. The commercial blocks at 300-302 and 304-306 were completed and occupied in 1890, and 308-310 was completed and occupied by 1897. Various wholesale clothing firms occupied the various blocks, but by 1920 Lederer, Strauss & Co., Inc., a millinery fabricator and wholesaler, occupied the entire building. The family-run business was sold in 1944 to the Hiersteiners, who incorporated the business as the Landsco Millinery Co. The business was scaled back, and they occupied less of the block, which was filled with other wholesalers by the mid-1950s. In 1957 the Landsco Millinery Co. was liquidated. The building has been converted for other retail uses in the Court Avenue Entertainment District after this area ceased being a wholesale center. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

Kaleidoscope at the Hub was an indoor mall in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. It was patronized by many of the more than 70,000 workers in the business district who visited the food courts during lunch hour. The Hub is accessible from the skywalk or from the ground level. It is in close proximity to many Des Moines attractions including the East Village and Wells Fargo Arena. Free WIFI is also available within the Hub to all visitors.

The Iowa-Des Moines National Bank Building, also known as the Valley National Bank Building and U.S. Bank, is a historic building located in downtown Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Designed by the prominent Des Moines architectural firm of Proudfoot, Rawson, Souers & Thomas, it was designed to be a 21- or 22-story building. It is one of the few downtown commercial buildings built in the Art Deco style. It is also thought to be one of the first bank buildings to put the banking room on the second floor while placing retail space on the first floor. Given its location in an area dominated by retail this made sense. This location had a bank on it since 1882 when the Des Moines National Bank built here. The present building was the result when Des Moines National Bank merged with Iowa National Bank and Des Moines Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1929. The original design for the building was a five-story base and a set-back rental office tower on top of it. The base was begun in 1931 and completed a year later. The building is composed of black polished granite on the first floor and the upper floors are Bedford stone. There is a recessed entrance in the center bay of the main facade. The fifth floor was meant to be the base of the office tower that was never built. Iowa-Des Moines National Bank remained here until 1974 when they moved to the Financial Center. The building was bought by Valley National Bank in 1977 and restoration and renovation of the building was completed in 1979. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was later acquired by U.S. Bancorp.