The decade of the teens saw a rash of construction of hotel buildings throughout the United States. A good number of these hotels, as in the case of the Hotel Fort Des Moines, followed a set formula in their layout and architectural imagery. The architects usually employed a U-shaped plan, with the open end of the “U” facing the street. Generally the lower two floors of the “U” were filled in with stores and public spaces. The facades of these hotel buildings were divided horizontally into three parts in the traditional fashion, with ornamentation generally confined to the lower levels and to the top of the building just below the projecting cornice. The Hotel Fort Des Moines exhibits all of these characteristics, and they are carried out with knowledge and sensitivity.