History

Clinton, Iowa, built its fortune on lumber in the nineteenth century, and by the early twentieth had diversified into manufacturing and commerce. The Ankeny Building dates from the building boom of the late 1920s and early 1930s, when American downtowns were still investing in quality commercial architecture even as the Great Depression began to constrict credit. Chicago architect Harold Holmes brought a professional finish to the commission that a smaller Iowa city might not have expected: the building’s terra cotta cladding and steel window systems reflect the design standards of a major metropolitan practice applied to a river city courthouse town.

The building takes its name from the Ankeny family, who were significant figures in Iowa politics and commerce in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 as part of the Clinton, Iowa Multiple Property Submission — a recognition that situated it within the broader context of historic downtown commercial architecture in the region.