Old Brewery in Dubuque IA
Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company, Dubuque Iowa
The Dubuque Brewing and Malting buildings represent a once-major industry in Dubuque, the years of its operation (1895-1916) seeing no fewer than nine such breweries at work at the same time.
The Dubuque Brewing and Malting Company was incorporated on April 14th 1892, with a capital of $150,000, later increased to $250,000. The new company was a merger of four other Dubuque breweries; the Heeb, Iowa, Western, and Northern; and contributed to the city's reputation as the major brewing center of the upper Mississippi Valley.
Louis Lehle, a Chicago architect and brewery designer, drew the plans, and Fridolin Herr, Sr., a prominent Dubuque architect, engineer, and sculptor, was engaged to superintend all phases of the brewery's construction. The entire complex was completed by 1895, and the cost of building and equipment was $500,000.
The enactment of prohibition in Iowa forced the closing of the brewery in 1916. The capacious buildings were acquired a few years later by the Corn Belt Meat Packing Company, followed by H & W Motor Express in 1930. In 1934, A.F. Heeb, one of the partners in the original Dubuque Brewing and Malting operation, attempted to revive the business, but by 1940 H & W had moved back to the plant. It has since been used for general storage.
On October 10th, 2023, demolition of portions of the structure began due to unsafe conditions.
Site Description
The original, ten-building brewery complex consisted of 224,500 square feet of floor space. It was built around an open court (95' x 100') and covered nearly three acres. The foundation, twelve feet deep and twelve feet wide at the bottom, is made of large overlapping stones on a bed of concrete to prevent settling. 800 tons of iron and steel were used in the buildings; the floors are steel, supported by heavy iron piers. No wood was used in the structural units of the buildings.
Of the original complex, five structures retain their original character:
1. Office building, corner of 30th and Jackson Street. A seven-story structure surmounted by two towers of 30 feet each. It has galvanized iron cornices and a slate roof. Frontage is 62 feet, depth 40 feet.
2. Machinery house, facing Jackson Street. A 4½-story structure, 50½' x 50'. It is connected to the office building by a stone, arched, entryway into the courtyard.
3. Brew House, abuts Machinery House. Five stories high, with floors of rock asphalt laid on steel beams. Has an open center court with a skylight. Dimensions are 54' x 52'.
4. Mill House, abuts Brew House. Dimensions 25' x 52'. Has a brick chimney on an octagonal base, originally 175' high but now considerably shorter.
5. Stock House or Cooler, attached to the rear of the office building. Has five stories and a basement. Its open interior features brick arches on iron piers.
The main facade of this brewing complex is suggestive of the Richardsonian style.
The first-floor elevation is faced with cut stone, while brick is used for the remainder. The Romanesque arch is everywhere apparent. It is featured in wide, heavy entrances and windows on the first floor, and again in brick arcades of varying heights above, emphasized by outlining the arch shape in light brick. Straight-topped windows are also used, separated vertically from one another by decorative brick panels. Wide, segmental arches on buildings 2, 3, and 4 contribute to the variety of window shapes.
Extensive corbelling below the cornice line and many pinnacles atop towers, and turrets (both round and square), provide additional decorative detail. Building #1 features corner pavilions ending in square, mansard-roofed towers with pinnacled dormers. The tower of building #4 has a pyramid roof and very small, circular dormers. Each of these towers is set off from its base by a wide, rounded arch of stone which marks the top of a pavilion arcade.
Behind this elaborate front, the brewery buildings become largely utilitarian in design. A few pinnacled corner pilasters, along with corbelling, wall pilasters, and the scattered use of the three window shapes (round- and segmental-arched, and rectangular) on building #5.
The interiors of buildings 1-5 exhibit few clues as to their original function. They have been used for general storage for many years, with a concomitant loss of the machinery once found in them. Generally speaking, only the exterior of these buildings remain to illustrate the original design and character of the brewing complex.
Five other buildings (listed below) were part of the original complex. Four are extant, but have experienced extensive alterations and additions which have destroyed their basic architectural and historic integrity.
6. Coal Room, east of and adjoining the Boiler House.
7. Racking house, across the courtyard from the Stock House. Two stories, connected with the Stock House by a tunnel. Dimensions are 40' x 105'.
8. Wash House, adjacent to Racking House. Two stories, 54' x 105'.
9. Bottling works, eastern corner of the lot, connected to the Stock House by a tunnel. Two stories, 75' x 180'.
10. Barn, north of Bottling Works. Two stories, 65' x 138'. Space between the Barn and Bottling works was covered by a roof, and served as a wagon shed and wagon wash. This structure was destroyed by the H&W Company, and replaced with a two-story brick structure which serves as office space for this firm.
No exterior structural alterations have been made to the buildings facing Jackson Street (buildings 1-4). The bottling works and wash house are occupied by the Unique Balance Company. A railroad spur to the center of the inner court enters from the north corner of the complex.
(1976)
(1976)
