+39 Italian Restaurant

Situated on the edge of Des Moines’ Western Gateway Sculpture Park, +39 Italian restaurant is located at 1430 Locust Street in the G.W. Jones Building. The restaurant serves authentic Italian cuisine. The dining room is situated in an old auto show room. All other programmatic aspects including the bar, kitchen, office, deli and cantina are located beyond the dining room. Design work for this facility required a sensitive approach to the historic fabric of the building’s existing interior consisting of ceramic tile floor and molded plaster ceiling and walls.

The G.W. Jones Building automotive showroom and workshop at 1430 Locust Street, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, occupies a mid-block lot in the heart of the former automobile sales and service district on the western edge of the downtown commercial core. The two-story rectangular building constructed 1920 from plans designed by Proudfoot, Bird & Rawson is a two-part commercial block with a decorated facade; the secondary elevations are unadorned. The interior is divided into two zones differentiating the formal first floor front showroom with finished second-floor offices from the utilitarian rear first- and second-floor workspaces. Built to house a Delco-Light generator showroom, distribution center, and assembly/repair workrooms, the building soon after was adapted as an automobile showroom with rear workrooms. The building retains a high degree of architectural integrity and clearly communicates its historic associations with the early automobile industry. Photographer: Cameron Campbell