Starting along the Des Moines River, the old Brown-Camp Hardware Store warehouse (now eponymous lofts) is located at Water Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway.


The one, the only Des Moines Police Station is on the east side of the river at Court Avenue. It must take awhile to dispatch to the far corners of the city from here. (If only there were other police stations in town.)


Back to the west shore, 100 Court Avenue started life as a grocery warehouse. Now, it's office space.


The Polk County Courthouse is visible due west from the river along aptly named Court Avenue.


The northeast corner of the Polk County Administration Building, at Water and Walnut Streets.


A similar but different corner.


The city's first public library is along the east side of the river. After over a century of dedicated service, it's become some agglomeration known as the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, which is basically a bunch of nouns strung together meaninglessly to sound important. So I'll call it the Des Moines Public Library anyway.


City Hall, a.k.a. the Municipal Building, a.k.a. the last building I'm featuring from the downtown riverfront. It's north of the Public Library between Locust Street and Grand Avenue.


The Iowa Supreme Court is due east from the river along aptly named Court Avenue. What, did I say that already? Well, maybe they should call it Courts Avenue, because the city planners clearly put thought into this layout.


Visible in the foreground of the first Supreme Court photo, this is the Allison Statue (1917). I like to think of the naked chick's name as Allison Statue, but really this is the statue for Senator William B. Allison, as the plaque attests. He must have been one hell of a guy to be honored in such a way.


Somewhat newer, also in that general monument area.


The main star of the monuments, all between the Supreme Court and State Capitol, is the 1896 Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Over 18 only, please. Those affections don't flow from nowhere.


The last monument on the page is unusual in several aspects. First, it's pretty obviously just an unusual statue. If not apparent from the photo, it's only a few feet tall, and not quite a faithful replica of the original. Instead of the tarnished copper that decorates the one in New York, this one was created green and ended up fading to white after a recent rehab. Second, it's not near the other monuments, being across Walnut Street and on the same side as the Capitol. Finally, it's not even unique in these aspects. It was one of a series of national miniatures created and erected by the Boy Scouts in 1950, and is one of the few that was kept for longer than it takes to say, "Well, Johnny, that's just BEAUTIFUL and I'm going to keep it RIGHT with all your other artwork."


From far away, the gold trim of the Capitol glisters in the sunlight (it's a word, look it up).


Circling the building from 7th Street heading east (bit of a faraway shot) to Grand Avenue heading west. The third photo is the northern façade.


Looking east from 12th Street.


Plenty of the juicy Capitol details, especially of the glittery bits. The frieze in the peaked roof is like a miniature Iowa history lesson, what with a locomotive, scales of justice, cross, books, Romans, adobe beehives... okay, I'm not sure what the lesson is here, but it's 25% of your Iowa history grade.

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