New Perry Building

Built after the fire of 1904, this building stood apart from the rest of the district through the color of its brick façade and the district’s only example of the bead and reel motif below the cornice. It and the building that burned in 1904 were both built as investments by T. B. Perry, a pioneer local lawyer and businessman. At that time, owning real estate was a good investment, and owning a building on the Square with one’s name on it carried prestige. Perry and his son, T. B. Perry, Jr., kept their offices on the second floor for many years. The elder Perry had first come to Albia in 1853 as a schoolteacher, later served on the First State Board of Education, and also built the National Register Perry house on Benton Avenue West.

Albia, Iowa · United States