Taft–West Warehouse

Polk County, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Heritage registerNational Register of Historic Places↗

Located in Des Moines, Iowa, the Taft–West Warehouse is a three-story brick structure completed in 1923 by the local architectural firm Vorse, Kraetsch, & Kraetsch. Built for the C.C. Taft Company, a wholesale dealer in fruits, vegetables, candy, and tobacco, the building exemplifies Art Deco design through its clean lines and Commercial style aesthetic, deliberately eschewing the ornamental excess of late Victorian commercial architecture. Constructed during the transitional period between railroad and truck-based warehouse distribution, it originally stood among numerous structures in Des Moines's Court Avenue wholesale district; today it is one of only five or six such buildings still standing. The structure has served multiple commercial tenants over its history and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.