The Governor-Lucas Conservation District was Iowa City’s first conservation district. It is a rectangular-shaped neighborhood southeast of the central business district that includes properties along Governor and Lucas streets between Burlington Street and the Iowa Interstate Railroad as well as properties along Bowery Street between Lucas Street and the Summit Street Historic District. Measures to designate the area for protection began with a reconnaissance survey of the neighborhood and blocks to the west completed in 1990. In 1996 and 1998, a smaller area was included in the intensive level survey completed for the Longfellow Neighborhood. Turn-of-the-century houses and tree-lined streets characterize the Governor-Lucas Conservation District with houses dating from the late 19th century through the 1930s. Governor Street’s unusually wide lots and deep set-backs on the east side create a sense of spaciousness that is similar to portions of Summit Street and not found in most Iowa City residential districts. Examples of vernacular house forms and architectural styles from the 1860s through the 1930s are present, with many good examples of Craftsman Style, American Four-Squares and Bungalows intermixed with earlier Victorian styles.
Dearborn Street – Overview
The Dearborn Street Conservation District is a J-shaped neighborhood that includes facing blocks along Dearborn Street and the west side of Seventh Avenue between Muscatine Avenue and the Iowa Interstate Railroad. It also includes facing blocks of Rundell Street between Sheridan Avenue and the railroad and the intersecting blocks of Center Avenue, Sheridan Avenue and Jackson Street. The area was surveyed in 1996. The district abuts the Longfellow Historic District to the west. For organizational purposes, the Dearborn Street Conservation District is within the Longfellow Neighborhood Association. The Dearborn Street area developed primarily during the 1930s and post-World War II years. A number of the district’s houses are based on standardized small house plans popularized during the pre-World War II period. By this time the automobile was more common and many homes have small historic garages that are similar to the houses or are incorporated into the house structure.
Clark Street – Overview
The Clark Street Conservation District is an L-shaped neighborhood that includes facing blocks along Clark Street between Maple Street and the Iowa Interstate Railroad and adjoining blocks of Roosevelt Street and the west side of Maggard Street south of Sheridan Avenue. The district abuts the Summit Street Historic District on the west and the Longfellow Historic District and Longfellow School site to the east. The Clark Street Conservation District includes residences constructed as worker housing for the nearby Kelly Manufacturing Company and Oakes Brickworks during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as homes built for what became an early 20th-century commuter suburb. Modest one- to two-story houses in styles and vernacular house forms typical of the period characterize the district. Scattered examples of earlier domestic architectural styles and forms appear on the west edge adjacent to the Summit Street Historic District. Narrow, tree-lined streets contribute to the historic sense of time and place of this neighborhood.