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Cedar Rapids nonprofit seeks local landmark designation for former Arthur Elementary building
The designation would formally recognize the building’s local significance and protect its historic facade.
Oct. 6, 2025 5:30 am, Updated: Oct. 6, 2025 7:08 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — For over a century, students walked through the wide-battered piers flanking the entrance of Arthur Elementary to start their school day and broaden their minds. Now, the building owners are looking to honor that history.
The Eastern Iowa Arts Academy, which owns the former elementary school, is seeking to have the building recognized as a local landmark — a designation reserved for sites of particular historical and cultural significance within Cedar Rapids.
“We really wanted to raise the profile of the building,” said Heather Wagner, the academy’s executive director. With this designation, “we’re able to ensure the building’s historic character is preserved and honor Arthur’s historical importance to Cedar Rapids.”
As of last week, the designation request has been approved by both the Cedar Rapids City Planning and Historic Preservation commissions, and the matter will next go to City Council for final consideration.
In addition to formally recognizing a structure’s significance, the local landmark designation comes with additional requirements around historic preservation review before any changes can be made to a building’s exterior. This protects the structure’s original historic character and guards against future demolition.
It does not come with any additional requirements for interior alterations, however, so Eastern Iowa Arts Academy would be free to continue with ongoing efforts to renovate the space into an all-ages arts hub and improve accessibility.
“By getting a local landmark (designation), the way the outside looks will always be protected, but the inside will be flexible … which is what we need for our creative transformation,” Wagner said.
What makes the Arthur building unique?
Eastern Iowa Arts Academy purchased the Arthur building at 2630 B Ave. NE from the Cedar Rapids Community School District last year following the district's 2022 decision to decommission the school to maximize operational efficiency.
The building has since been transformed into the main hub for the nonprofit’s free and low-cost arts programming for children and adults from across the Cedar Rapids area. Today, it’s home to everything from art classes and band rehearsals to recording studios and a fiber arts club.
But before its transformation into an artistic hangout, the Arthur building served as a space for some of Cedar Rapids’ youngest residents to engage in elementary education.
The building itself was constructed in 1914 and 1915 by Guarantee Construction Co. based on a design from renowned Cedar Rapids architect Robert R. Mayberry, who designed several other Eastern Iowa school buildings now found on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mayberry utilized a unique “fortress” architectural style for the Arthur building, leading to the parapet design of the building’s roofline, its symmetrical facade and the wide-battered piers framing the entrance. It was built using pressed brick and cut blue Bedford stone with plain oak decorations and steel window casings.
“At the time it was built with some modern technologies, and it had the first auditorium in a Cedar Rapids elementary school,” noted city planner Jeff Wozencraft at a recent City Planning Commission meeting.
The building was constructed to be almost entirely fireproof and was equipped with a modern vacuum steam heating and ventilation system. It opened in 1915 and operated as a grade school until the summer of 2024 — serving thousands of students over the years on Cedar Rapids’ northeast side.
Today, the building appears almost exactly as it did at the time of construction, aside from a 1947 addition designed to match the style and materials of the original structure. In obtaining a local landmark designation, Wagner said the goal is to maintain that historic facade many in the surrounding neighborhood have come to know and love.
The Arthur building “looks like a castle, which I think is just incredible,” Wagner said. “It’s a very unique architectural feature in Cedar Rapids … and for me, all of those features are art from the people who designed all its tiny little details” that need to be preserved.
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