Fort Des Moines Historic Complex, Building No. 123, Des Moines, Polk County, IA

Significance: This stable barn adhered to standardized building plan 37G in the office of the Quartermaster General. Completed on October 29, 1903, after an expenditure of $7,754.10, the building had red brick walls joined in running bond with red-pigmented mortar, a slate roof, and a limestone water table foundation. Its dimensions ran 34 feet wide by 116 feet long. Unlike any of the other stables, this gabled building, situated immediately east of Building No. 122, lacked the ridgetop monitor; it instead had four ventilators along it ridge. The roof eaves exhibited ornamental rafter tails. The south side of the building had a double-wide door at ground level with a smaller attic or loft entrance with a segmental arch directly above the door. Four 4-light windows were also on the front, two on either side of the door and loft opening. The north end had three double hung windows at the lower level. At the loft level was an opening like that on the south side, on either side of which was a 4-light single sash window. The east side of the building had a doorway towards the south end, and nineteen single sash windows along the lower level. Two more such windows were at the attic level toward the south end. The east side had sixteen single sash windows at the lower level, with two more at the attic level towards the south end. There was a doorway near the south end. On the west side of the building an I-beam with floral decoration stood atop the entrance to the double door; iron bumpers were at the bottom edges of the entrance. Beneath the eave at either end was a cathead. All the windows had 2-course segmental arches and plain lug sills, as did the loft openings. The ground level doors had plain flat arch openings.
Survey number: HABS IA-121-X
Building/structure dates: 1903 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1938 Subsequent Work
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 74000805