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April 2009 DSMRC Meeting - Downtown Building Move

By RenovateDSM - Posted on March 2nd, 2009
Categories:
04/04/2009 - 09:30
04/04/2009 - 11:00

The April Des Moines Rehabbers Club meeting will celebrate the "saving" of a historic building in the East Village. The former Don's Service Station dates back to 1931 when it was erected by The Continental Oil Company (now ConocoPhillips) as a training station for gas dealers. Constructed of terra cotta in the Spanish Mission Revival style of architecture, the building served the east side of downtown Des Moines as a gas and service station nearly 80 years. JSC Properties, which is owned by Jim Cownie, acquired the property in August of 2008 as part of a larger real estate transaction. Cownie plans to develop the property as a parking lot.

Historic East Village has been working overtime to save this building from the wrecking ball - they have passed first hurdle, and the building will be moved on Saturday to a new site at 3rd and Walnut.

Join the Des Moines Rehabbers Club to watch the building move and hear from some of the people involved in the effort. (note: Workers will start the process at 7:00 am, so be there early if you don't want to miss anything.)

    Where: Meet at East 3rd and East Walnut - this is the "destination" [Google Map of the move route]
    Date: Saturday, April 4, 2009
    Time: 9:30 to 11:00

RAIN LOCATION: Meet at the State Historical Society of Iowa (Google map) building. In the event of inclement weather, we will meet inside and a representative from the Historic East Village group will talk about the process of moving the historic masonry structure.

In October 2008, the Des Moines Rehabber's Club named the structure one of seven "Most Endangered Properties" in Des Moines.

DSMRC monthly meetings are free and open to the public! They are typically held on the first Saturday of each month from 9:30 to 11:00 in the morning. Each meeting is at a different location and covers a different topic. We welcome people of all skill levels whether you are a professional general contractor, exploring options for redoing a bathroom, or simply want to talk about renovation with other interesting people.

Please contact Steve Wilke-Shapiro at swilkeshapiro@gmail.com or 515-710-3484 for more information.