Des Moines from the top of the Ruan Building

[butters]

Here's some pictures I took from the top of the Ruan Building. Unfortunatley, I took the pictures at night and my camera has real problems focusing at night...

[Ingersoll1978]

Although blurry...still cool. Look at the christmas lights at Allied. They look very cool from the air. Thanks for sharing these butters!

[4th&Court]

Yeah driving by Allied at night is SWEET. Those are the bluest blue lights I've ever seen, and the trees look surreal.

[DMRyan]

Whoa, is the room spinning?

Thanks for the photo view of what it's like to be drunk at the top of the Ruan Center around Christmas time.

[Cyclonefan]

how did you get up ther butters? Nice photos, maybe try daylight next time

[butters]

how did you get up ther butters? Nice photos, maybe try daylight next time

My boss is a member of the Des Moines/Embassy Club, so I had the chance to have dinner in the restauant on the top floor. It's a great view up there. It's pretty surreal to be looking at the rooftops of the Marriot and Equitable buildings.

Unfortunately, my camera is just your standard quality point and shoot digital. Works great in the daytime, not so great at night...

[wmjindsm]

Looks like the Embassy Club is condensing into one downtown location at the Ruan Building, moving out of 801 Grand. How many spaces did the club have? I remember the one that was at Capital Square. Is the one at 810 at the top of the building? I didn't know they were at the Ruan building too. I had always thought 801 Steak & Chop was at the top and got excited whem I got to go, realizing when I got there that it is on the second or third floor.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/ ... locations/

[dogbo]

Looks like the Embassy Club is condensing into one downtown location at the Ruan Building, moving out of 801 Grand. How many spaces did the club have? I remember the one that was at Capital Square. Is the one at 810 at the top of the building? I didn't know they were at the Ruan building too. I had always thought 801 Steak & Chop was at the top and got excited whem I got to go, realizing when I got there that it is on the second or third floor.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/ ... locations/

The Embassy Club Club and Des Moines Club merged a few years back, that is why they had two locations. Embassy was 801. DM Club -- Ruan.

Embassy Club in on the top floor of 801 Grand. Their banquet rooms are the floor below, so they basically take up two floors.

[GoVerticalDSM]

Great shots from the Ruan! I really wish downtown DM would get a new restaurant at or near the top of one of these buildings. I don't like that they are reserved just for these snobs, I mean people, in these exclusive clubs.

I think Legends has a restaurant in one of Ames' "high rises." Maybe not Legends because I hate it, but it would be great to see some restaurant open near the top of one of our high rises.

I now think the Ruan is a great quirky building to be embraced. I even like the spot on the east side where it looks like the building threw up rust on itself from one of the top vents! Must have had a bad day.

[dogbo]

I would think the top floor would be primed for a restaurant to move in. At first I thought maybe 801 Steak and Chop could leave the 2nd floor, but I'm not sure they'd want to mess with their location.

[Mastermind]

I have never been to 801, but for years i thought it was on the top floor.

[casbern]

Sorry to bring up a zombie thread, but does anyone know of any talk to resurface the Ruan Building and remove the corten steel that currently shrouds the structure?

[dsmspence]

Sorry to bring up a zombie thread, but does anyone know of any talk to resurface the Ruan Building and remove the corten steel that currently shrouds the structure?

I kind of hope there isn't a plan for this... I like the corten steel, I think it gives the building character. I've always loved the modernism of Ruan, much cleaner than the post-modernism 1990's look of 801...

[dogbo]

Sorry to bring up a zombie thread, but does anyone know of any talk to resurface the Ruan Building and remove the corten steel that currently shrouds the structure?

I'm not sure there is any practical reason to do this, so I would be suprised they'd spend the money to do this.

[JMsioux]

As someone who worked with steel, corten included, for over 12 years, I appreciate the stark beauty of Ruan.

[DMRyan]

Not a chance in hell.

[butters]

I can appreciate the diversity of materials a corten steel clad building could bring to a city skyline. And I totally get why some people love the idea of a corten steel clad building - it brings a antiquated finish to an otherwise moden structure. But the Ruan Center is a horribly executed and embarassing installation of the material. The steel has not weathered even remotely uniformly. And a good portion of it is not patinated, rather it has just plain rusted. The building is jut depressing to look at up close.

[DMRyan]

Yeah, it definitely looks better from a distance than up close.

[dsmspence]

I still don't know... I walk past Ruan twice a day every day and there's a strange je ne sais quois that I love about this complex...

[Ingersoll1978]

I still don't know... I walk past Ruan twice a day every day and there's a strange je ne sais quois that I love about this complex...

It's my favorite building downtown!

[hawk61401]

Here's an article from last month's Future Space Magazine about the John Deere Headquarters in Moline that was built with cor-ten steel. http://bit.ly/zYR3rc Even after 50 years, it is still one of the most amazing designs of cor-ten steel in the world.

Why didn't this happen to the Ruan Building? I doubt if air pollution in the Quad Cities is a whole lot higher than in Des Moines. As the article says ..

Due to Corten’s chemical compositions, it is renowned for resisting corrosion from the elements by forming a protective layer when exposed to the ever-changing weather conditions. Subjected to the weather or atmospheric conditions, the protective layer continuously develops and regenerates, thus creating its notable red, rust-like appearance that deepens over time.

Imagine if the Ruan Center had that notable red look with the bronze colored windows like the Time Life Building in Chicago. It was always a mystery to me why John Ruan didn't use the bronze windows. Maybe it was a lot more money, but the effect would have been dramatic on the Des Moines skyline. Nothing looks better with cor-ten steel than bronze windows. http://bit.ly/HyoFiY

[DMRyan]

Cityview's Civic Skinny notes this week that the State of Iowa is close to locking a deal to rent significant space in the Ruan II Building, where Wellmark had left a few years ago.

Slowly chipping away at the office vacancy problem (of course this office space the state leaves won't really help out, other than in the core of downtown).

[dogbo]

^^ should help provide back some daytime foot traffic that was lost when Wellmark moved and thus help businesses located along the skywalk.

[dsmspence]

Sorry to bring up an old topic - But I had two burning questions that I knew could be answered here. One: How close is the State to renting out that significant amount of space in Ruan 2? Two: What's with the restaurant Winston's in Ruan 2? I know it's been closed for some time now, but I peeked in the windows and the bar looks to still be fully stocked and places set at the tables. It literally looks as if it was closed up for the night and no one has opened it back up since. I'd bet it has a great view of the corner of Locust and Sixth... I vaguely remember this place being open back in the day when I was younger and would visit my dad's office in Ruan 2...

[dogbo]

Sorry to bring up an old topic - But I had two burning questions that I knew could be answered here. One: How close is the State to renting out that significant amount of space in Ruan 2? Two: What's with the restaurant Winston's in Ruan 2? I know it's been closed for some time now, but I peeked in the windows and the bar looks to still be fully stocked and places set at the tables. It literally looks as if it was closed up for the night and no one has opened it back up since. I'd bet it has a great view of the corner of Locust and Sixth... I vaguely remember this place being open back in the day when I was younger and would visit my dad's office in Ruan 2...

It looks that way because they still do private parties and in fact, I have an after work function scheduled there in a couple weeks.

I believe the owners also run Chef's Kitchen in Beaverdale. Maybe they are holding onto the space in hopes to re-open one day when there are some additional bodies again in the nearby buildings? I know a lot of people were disappointed when Winston's closed. It was definately a downtown institution.

[Ingersoll1978]

I loved Winston's. It was like walking into a time warp back to the '80's. I hope it comes back!

[hawk61401]

Sorry to bring up an old topic - But I had two burning questions that I knew could be answered here. One: How close is the State to renting out that significant amount of space in Ruan 2? Two: What's with the restaurant Winston's in Ruan 2? I know it's been closed for some time now, but I peeked in the windows and the bar looks to still be fully stocked and places set at the tables. It literally looks as if it was closed up for the night and no one has opened it back up since. I'd bet it has a great view of the corner of Locust and Sixth... I vaguely remember this place being open back in the day when I was younger and would visit my dad's office in Ruan 2...

I'm trying to do the math. A million square feet of office space was lost between the Ruan Center, Ruan II, J.C. Penneys, and the Hub Tower. The latest update I see on Loopnet shows 5 full floors for lease with up to 65,640 contiguous SF.
http://tinyurl.com/btyn7zk

That can't be right can it? Surely, there's more vacant space in the Ruan Center than that.

[DMRyan]

I don't know about the vacant space left in the Ruan Center, but Ruan II is nearly entirely vacant I believe. I think this is the building that the State of Iowa is potentially discussing to lease space in.

This beauty would've made a great residential conversion if it weren't knocked down for the crappy Ruan Center II.

[Young DSM Social Club]

It's really too bad because you would have had a nice batch of older buildings altogether - Liberty, Equitable, DSM Building. Wasn't there some structural issues with this building though, or am I thinking of something else?

[hawk61401]

It's really too bad because you would have had a nice batch of older buildings altogether - Liberty, Equitable, DSM Building. Wasn't there some structural issues with this building though, or am I thinking of something else?

John Ruan did a lot of great things for Des Moines but his understanding of good architecture and preservation was lacking. The building was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was removed from the Register because of a procedural error. So, within months, construction of Ruan II began.

Ruan endowed the World Food Prize with 10 million. He never gave it a thought about the old library. He wanted it located in a ten-story exhibit hall topped by a 20-story hotel and office tower (World Trade Center) across the street.

I was disappointed and angry when he destroyed the old Banker's Trust Building, but, more so with the small minded legislators who stifled his dreams about the World Trade Center. He was even using his clout to have the Department of Agriculture moved to Des Moines. Today, not only would the skyline be different, but the prestige of Des Moines would even be greater if he had been allowed to fulfill his legacy.