Professor Charles O. Denny House

Des Moines, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Built in 1893 for Professor Charles O. Denny, a Latin instructor at nearby Drake University, this 2½-story Victorian house in Des Moines exemplifies the domestic architecture spawned by the university's distinctive real estate practices. The structure displays hallmark Victorian details including a hipped roof with multiple gablets, fishscale shingles, decorative bargeboards, and reeded panels forming the cornice, while a wraparound porch with pedimented entry provides focal emphasis. Denny acquired the lot from Drake University in 1892—one of ten plats the institution sold to develop its surrounding neighborhood through innovative financing—ostensibly for speculative investment rather than personal residence. The house's significance lies not in its individual design but in its role as evidence of how Drake's financing strategies shaped settlement patterns in the campus district. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.