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Putnam-Parker Buildings

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1909–1910, Daniel H. Burnham and Company. 1920. 104 W. 2nd St.

The eight-story steel-frame Putnam Building (the westernmost section) was constructed first. It was designed as a modern multifloor department store by one of America's greatest turn-of-the-century architectural firms, the Chicago-based Daniel H. Burnham and Company. The exterior image was one often repeated at that time: the base consisted of the ground-floor show windows and entrances, above which was a mezzanine floor; above this was the simple brick shaft with its arrangement of paired windows. The capital of the building consisted of a projecting cornice, below which was a terracotta decorated band with oval and horizontal windows. In 1920 the seven-story Parker Building was constructed on the opposite corner, and the space between the two buildings was left as a large light court, with a single-story building as an infill. The newer Parker Building essentially followed the design pattern of the earlier one, with the exception of the shaft windows, which are wide Chicago windows.

Writing Credits

Author: 
David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim
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Data

What's Nearby

J. H. C. Petersen's Sons Company (now Petersen, Harned, and Von Maur)
First National Bank Building (now First Bank)
American Commercial and Savings Bank (now Davenport Bank and Trust)
Row of Retail Commercial Buildings
RKO Orpheum Theater and Mississippi Hotel (now Adler Theater)

Citation

David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, "Putnam-Parker Buildings", [Davenport, Iowa], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-ME110.

Print Source

Buildings of Iowa, David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 68-69.

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