Downtown Iowa City now listed in National Register of Historic Places

The Iowa City Downtown Historic District is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The official designation was made on May 27.

Since 2017, the city of Iowa City has been working with an architectural historian Alexa McDowell of AKAY Consulting, on an update to the city’s historic survey of the Downtown. Over the course of the project, AKAY Consulting met with several stakeholders and held several public meetings.

The findings were presented to the public and then the City Council in October 2018. AKAY Consulting made several recommendations, including moving forward with a National Register of Historic Places nomination. At that point, the Historic Preservation Commission and the Iowa City Downtown District each recommended to the City Council moving forward with a National Register nomination. The city contracted with AKAY consulting to prepare the nomination.

The final nomination is available online.

Listing in the National Register of Historic Places is an honorific designation with economic benefits, such as tax credits. The National Register does not protect properties from demolition, nor does it regulate changes made to a building.

For more information, visit icgov.org/HistoricSurvey, or contact Anne Russett, Senior Planner, at (319) 356-5251 or anne-russett@iowa-city.org.