Hotel Fort Des Moines

Standing as a prominent architectural and cultural destination since 1919, the Hotel Fort Des Moines over a century later has been rehabilitated into a full-service boutique hotel. Over the course of its lifetime, the building has undergone several renovations including the infill of the grand, two-story lobby space. Reopening the historic two- story space along with the restoration of the remaining historic fabric has restored this hotel to the existing grandeur it once had. Significant difficulty with the removal of the intrusions while preserving the remaining historic fabric was overcome by the owner, design and construction team’s commitment to design integrity. The hotel is comprised of 290 newly renovated guest rooms on floors 3-11, maintaining the original floor layout, guestroom entries were reopened in their historic location where possible. The first and second floors are composed mostly of event and public space, injecting new life at the street level through featured storefronts and large arched windows that pique public interest. Careful consideration was taken to restore the historic finishes while selecting complementary finishes to denote new from historic. The detail in the historic fabric also provided a premium result that a new-build project could not hope to match. This project demonstrates that the benefits of rehabilitation work extend beyond the envelope of a single building, helping to lift the neighborhood as a whole.