The Cathedral of St. Raphael was completed in 1861 in brick, with the front facade in limestone finished later in 1876. Dubuque is actually an archdiocese, despite being by far a much smaller city than many other metropolitan areas in Iowa. It speaks to its rich history as a Roman Catholic community that the smaller…
Tag: Dubuque
Bluff Street Between 3rd and 5th Streets, Dubuque, Iowa
At the corner of West 5th Street and Bluff Street is the Augustine A. Cooper House, a restored Romanesque Revival mansion that is now a bed and breakfast. Cooper was a wagon manufacturer in Dubuque, and his wagons were shipped throughout the United States and even the world. But Cooper’s house is a bit of…
Washington Park, Dubuque, Iowa
What impresses me about Dubuque is its abundance of successful public spaces; here is Washington Park, which possesses the Post Office on the south side. Designed by James A. Wetmore, it opened in 1934. I strongly suspect this Art-Deco edifice was part of the New Deal, and it even has some WPA murals on the…
Main Street, Between 2nd and 9th Streets, Dubuque, Iowa
Starting in the south at 2nd Street, at the Hotel Julien Dubuque, named after the founder of the City of Dubuque, we head north through the southern part of downtown on Main Street. To the east, much of the old industrial area was destroyed by a highway built in the 1960s. There was even a…
Bank and Insurance Building, Dubuque, Iowa
Built by a host of Dubuque’s financial giants to create what we would probably now call “Class A Office Space,” the Bank and Insurance, or Fischer, Building, dominates Main Street at the corner of 9th Street. It opened in 1895 and is a tour-de-force of terracotta ornament. The top and street level stories have been…
Main Street Between 11th Street and 9th Streets, Dubuque, Iowa
I cut over from Locust Street towards Main Street; like many cities in America, living close to the central business district was once prestigious, before the noise and smoke of the automobile made it less desirable. The incredibly beautiful Second Empire townhouses left behind along Main Street and its side streets remind me of what…
Locust Street Between 11th and 12th Streets, Dubuque, Iowa
Heading south on Locust Street, we cross over 12th Street, and see a nice solid, but smaller Italianate house with accompanying belvedere. Streets head off to the west, beginning their ascent up to the bluffs. Remember, they were originally built and graded for horses pulling carriages and wagons. Next to the Italianate house, is this…
Locust Street Between Loras Boulevard and 12th Street, Dubuque, Iowa
Heading south on Locust Street from Loras Boulevard (14th Street), we encounter older houses, and more middle class houses, but no less elegant. There are row houses, and also freestanding Italianate houses, such as the one above. As you can see below, there are also houses up on the bluffs, but I did not have…
The Ryan Houses, Dubuque, Iowa
On the southwest corner of Loras Boulevard (named after one of the many of Dubuque’s universities up the bluffs to the west and what was originally 14th Street) and Locust Street are two of the most beautiful houses in the city, and the Midwest. They were both owned by William Ryan, who made his fortune…
Main Street Between 13th and 15th Streets, Dubuque, Iowa
I think Main and Locust streets in Dubuque might have the best preserved row of upper-middle to upper class houses from the 1870s to 1890s in the Midwest. While there are some losses, for the most part, the street wall looks much the same as if you could go back in time to 1890, and…