Downtown at Night

Urban landscape pictures from downtown Des Moines.  I really like architectual photos so I hope to do more in the future. 

This isn’t even downtown, but it was on the way and I had to get a picture of it.  This is a mural on the side of the Italian American Cultural Center of Iowa.

A further away shot of Downtown Des Moines, showing the tallest buildings.  The building on the right with the lights on it’s edges is the Ruan Building.  801 Grand is the tallest building.  The brightest one, to the left of that, is EMC Insurance I think.

 Driving under a sky walk.

 Another skywalk with a couple more in the background.  Des Moines is crazy about skywalks.  According to the city, skywalks make up more blocks per capita in Des Moines than in any other city of a comparable size in the U.S.  It has become a sort of status symbol for businesses.  If you have a building downtown, apparently adding a skywalk link shows that you’re important and that you have money.  According to Wikipedia:Skywalk Des Moines, IA has 30 blocks connected via skywalks, with over 3.5 miles of length. 

Many cities that have built skywalks are realizing that it was a bad idea.  They reduce ground level traffic, eliminating retail on first floors.  To get to 2nd floor businesses on the skywalk, you have to obviously find stairs or an elevator up from the street level.  In some places you may have to walk a block or so to find an open business with access to the 2nd floor skywalk.  Also even in much larger cities it creates a ghost town effect because people are split between two levels.  Read http://www.walkablestreets.com/skywalk.htm for more information on skywalks backfiring.  Some cities are taking theirs down in the name of downtown revival.  I just heard on the news that we approved to add a couple more links on the South-West end for the Allied Insurance complex. 

Very interesting windows, with what looks like a tinted pane in the middle of each.

A neon sign for The Travelers.  I think it’s an insurance company but other than the sign, I’ve never heard of them.  Since the sign is still lit, they must be in business still.

 Read much?  Nine different news dispensers.

This appears to be a retirement / nursing home.  Check out the different colors you see through the windows of rooms with lights on.  I’m not sure if it’s window coverings or painted walls that are creating this.

 Skywalk to the convention center.

Fire escape

See Page 2 for more.