Putnam-Parker Block
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Putnam-Parker Block
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| Location | 100-130 W. 2nd St. Davenport, Iowa |
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| Coordinates | 41°31′17″N 90°34′28″W / 41.52139°N 90.57444°WCoordinates: 41°31′17″N 90°34′28″W / 41.52139°N 90.57444°W |
| Built | Putnam Building 1909-1910 M.L. Parker Building 1922 |
| Architect | D.H. Burnham & Co. |
| Architectural style | Chicago School |
| NRHP Reference # | 11000662 |
| Added to NRHP | September 15, 2011 |
The Putnam-Parker Block, also known as City Square, are historic structures located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. The property is three buildings that take up the south half of block 43 in what is known as LeClaire’s First Addition. The main façade of the structures face south along the north side of West Second Street. They were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
Antoine LeClaire, who was primarily responsible for establishing the city of Davenport, built a hotel named the LeClaire House on the northeast corner of Main and West Second Streets in 1839. It contained retail space on the ground level. At the other end of the block on the northwest corner of Brady and West Second Streets he built a three-story brick building in 1850. It also provided retail space on the main level and LeClaire Hall on the upper floors. It was later renamed LeClaire Row. Charles Viele bought the half-block sometime before 1886. The LeClaire House was renamed the Newcomb House after Viele’s sister Mrs. V. Newcomb and the LeClaire Row was renamed the Viele Building. The Fair, a department store that would eventually become the M.L. Parker Department Store occupied the retail space of the Newcomb house at this time.
William C. Putnam bought Viele’s interest in the block in 1895. He renovated the buildings and lowered the stores to street level. Putnam and his mother, Mary Louisa Duncan Putnam, established the Putnam Trust. The Trust owned the entire half block of West Second Street. It benefited the Putnam Memorial Fund, which was the nonprofit charitable support organization for the Davenport Academy of Sciences, now known as the Putnam Museum. They paid for the construction of the present museum building and the neighboring building, which housed the former Davenport Museum of Art until it moved downtown as the Figge Art Museum. The trust was dissolved in 2015 when the estate sold its last property, a parking lot on Main Street.
Putnam planned to replace the old hotel with a modern office building, but he died in 1906. The plans were eventually carried out and the Putnam Building was completed in 1910. The other structures on the block were renamed the North Putnam Buildings. A variety of retail and professional offices have been housed in the building over the years. Among them was the historical library of the Davenport Public Museum, now the Putnam Museum. H.E. Schraff Store occupied space from around 1928-1956, and Simon & Landauer from 1933-1964. More recently the local chamber of commerce was headquartered here. The Current Iowa will soon take over the Putnam Building. The Current Iowa will be a new 78 room contemporary hotel with over 20 suites. The Current is located at 215 Main Street. On the corner of Main and 2nd Street in downtown Davenport. The hotel is one block away from The Figge Art Museum. The Current will fly the flag of the Marriott Autograph Collection, a portfolio of exceptional one-of-a-kind hotels owned by Marriott International, Inc. The Current Iowa will be the sister hotel of (Hotel Blackhawk) which is two blocks away.
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