Summit Apartment Building

Iowa City, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

The Summit Apartment Building in Iowa City is the sole known Iowa work of Chicago architect Parker Nobel Berry, a student and chief designer for Louis Sullivan. Completed in 1916, this three-story Prairie School-style structure with a U-shaped plan and raised basement was Iowa City's first apartment flat. The building represents a stripped-down version of Berry's original, more costly design. Built by local developer Dr. Frank C. Titzell, it later became significant in cooperative housing history: in 1947, following the Iowa General Assembly's passage of the Cooperative Housing Authorization Act, it became the state's first housing cooperative. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.