West Des Moines, IA
Home Menu201 Fourth Street
Evaluation:
This is a contributing building within the historic district. While later in date, off of Fifth Street and differing in its historical function (filling station), it represents how the downtown met a full range of commercial services.
District Characteristic |
Yes |
No |
Findings/Recommendations |
Two-story brick with narrow mass |
|
X |
|
Larger, broader massing |
|
X |
|
Other key façade features |
X |
|
|
Architectural style |
|
X |
|
Prominent location |
X |
|
|
Original façade materials |
X |
|
|
Upper fenestration pattern |
|
X |
|
Sympathetic Storefront Infill |
|
X |
|
Brick corbelled parapet |
|
X |
|
Cornice/coping (not metal) |
|
X |
|
Physical Description:
This utilitarian filling station consists of a brick office/canopy with a hip roof (14 feet by 22 feet) that fronts west onto 4th Street, and tile grease house (15 feet by 25 feet) that has parapet walls on three sides, an overhead door on the south end and metal industrial windows on the east wall. A poor photo from 1954 shows the brickwork painted white.
Documented Alterations:
The original building gained a 15 feet by 27 feet concrete block addition prior to 1937. The service area has been enclosed but not so as to obscure the original design.
Commercial History:
Business |
Owner |
Start |
Stop |
Notes of Interest |
Valley Supply Company |
Fred A. Hale |
1970 |
1983 |
|
Traffic Controllers Inc. |
Bonnie Jean Ruggles |
|
|
|
Flasher Barricades |
|
1970 |
1983 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vacant |
|
1968 |
|
|
|
Bob's Standard Service |
1960 |
1965 |
|
Standard Oil Company |
J. Floyd Spear |
1927 |
1954 |
Express, April 20, 1954, February 19, 1955 |
Construction: |
E. L. Royer Construction Company |
1925 |
|
matching a station on 5th Street. |
Assessor’s photo, August 4, 2014
Assessor’s photo, March 21, 2005
Assessor’s photo, May 15, 1999
Vogel Survey, April 1998
Spearpoor, Express, April 20, 1954