Jones Business College

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Jones Business College is a building at 1305 Otley Ave. in Perry, Dallas County, Iowa, built around 1913 in the Beaux Arts Classicism style, part of the Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals classification.

Why it's listed

It was listed under criteria B and C, with local significance in social history and architecture. Its period of significance runs from 1913 to 1921, reflecting the building's construction around 1913 and its use as Jones Business College and Chautauqua System offices through that span. C. Durant Jones became the college's owner and president in 1906, and the nomination names him as significant to the property's history.

Physical character

The symmetrical facade is faced in cast concrete trim, with a denticulated cornice of brackets and dentils and a parapet topped with coping and concrete spheres at its corners. Window openings hold double-hung sash in a 5-over-1 configuration, and a belt course runs between the first and second floors. In 1987 a fire gutted the interior, which was rebuilt, and in 1988 a one-story enclosed porch was added.

Historical context

By the 1920s the building had been converted into apartments, and at the time of its listing in 2000 it was used as a multiple dwelling.