LitCity

Adler Journalism Building

140 W Washington St, Iowa City, IA 52240

41.661166

-91.538725

0
Afro-American Studies Center (Afro House)

303 Melrose Ave, Iowa City, Iowa

41.656934

-91.543595

1
Carver-Hawkeye Arena

1 Elliot Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242

41.664302

-91.554580

2
Currier Hall (Currier House)

413 North Clinton Street

41.665971

-91.534555

3
English-Philosophy Building (EPB)

251 W. Iowa Ave

41.661437

-91.540414

4
Halsey Hall

28 West Jefferson Street, Iowa City, IA

41.662515

-91.536691

5
Iowa City

123 S Linn St

41.661128

-91.530168

6
Iowa House / Iowa Memorial Union

125 N. Madison St.

41.663250

-91.538521

7
Iowa Memorial Union Footbridge

125 N Madison St, Iowa City, IA 52245

41.663679

-91.539094

8
Iowa Writers' Workshop (Dey House)

507 North Clinton Street, Iowa City, Iowa

41.667233

-91.535157

9
Kuhl House (University of Iowa Press)

119 Park Rd, Iowa City, IA 52242

41.671193

-91.542132

10
MacBride Hall / Museum of Natural History

17 North Clinton Street

41.662023

-91.535647

11
Mayflower Dorm

1110 N. DUBUQUE ST., IOWA CITY, IA 52242

41.676881

-91.531903

12
North Hall (Center for the Book)

20 West Davenport Street

41.665808

-91.534447

13
Phillips Hall

41.661748

-91.534230

14
Quadrangle Dormitory

310 GRAND AVENUE IOWA CITY, IA 52242

41.659336

-91.544849

15
Quonset Huts (first location of the Iowa Writers' Workshop)

125 N Madison St

41.663679

-91.538999

16
Shambaugh Auditorium

125 West Washington St.

41.659655

-91.538568

17
Shambaugh House

430 North Clinton Street

41.666695

-91.534162

18
The Iowa River

41.663094

-91.539444

19
The Old Capitol (Old Cap)

21 North Clinton Street

41.661426

-91.536078

20
Theater Building

200 North Riverside Drive

41.666931

-91.539369

21
University of Iowa Main Library

125 West Washington St.

41.659655

-91.538568

22
Van Allen Hall

30 North Dubuque Street

41.662418

-91.532354

23

Adler Journalism Building

140 W Washington St, Iowa City, IA 52240

Afro-American Studies Center (Afro House)

303 Melrose Ave, Iowa City, Iowa

Known as the Afro House, this space provides a supportive and inclusive environment and programs that empower students, faculty, staff, and community members to excel in their endeavors, stretch themselves to experience diversity, engage in activism, make positive choices, and serve their communities. African American Studies examines the shared experiences of African-descended people throughout the diaspora. Drawing on a rich tradition of scholarship, teaching, and civic engagement, the faculty introduce students to the foundations of African American Studies (AAS) and collaborates with them to develop projects and analyze information that leads to new intellectual perspectives. The African American Studies major involves three core areas of study: history, religion, and the diaspora; literature and performing arts; and media, politics, and social institutions.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena

1 Elliot Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242

Carver–Hawkeye Arena is a 15,400-seat multi-purpose indoor arena located in Iowa City, Iowa. Opened in 1983, it is the home court for The University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's basketball teams.

Currier Hall (Currier House)

413 North Clinton Street

The Currier House, a residence house on the University of Iowa campus, was located on the corner of Bloomington and Clinton streets, where the current Currier Hall dormitory now stands.

English-Philosophy Building (EPB)

251 W. Iowa Ave

The English-Philosophy Building, known on campus as EPB, has been home to these two humanities departments and the Department of Linguistics since its construction, and to the Department of Rhetoric since 1970. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

Just west of the Main Library is the English-Philosophy Building. From the time it was built in the late 1960s until 1997 it housed the Workshop. Its gray, utilitarian classrooms were the location of much beauty and heartbreak. Its small lounge on the third floor was the space where visiting writers for all those years endured the question and answer sessions that take place the morning after heralded readings. I have heard Robert Hass, Louise Glück, James Tate, James Merrill, John Ashbery, W. S. Merwin, Seamus Heaney, and Helen Vendler all answer questions in that room. Brilliant questions from brilliant students as well as questions such as, “Do your ideas just come to you or do you make them up?”

Halsey Hall

28 West Jefferson Street, Iowa City, IA

Before the construction of Halsey Hall, the women’s gymnasium had been confined to a small space in the basement of Schaeffer Hall known as the Crypt. With a new building and the advent of Elizabeth Halsey as director of women’s physical education (a post she held from 1924 until 1956), the athletic life of female students at the University of Iowa was transformed.

Iowa City

123 S Linn St

For 80 years, Iowa City has been teaching the world to write. The Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa pioneered the teaching of creative writing at the university level. Dozens of creative programs within the university and the city followed. The newest chapter in this tradition is Iowa City’s designation as a UNESCO City of Literature.

Iowa House / Iowa Memorial Union

125 N. Madison St.

The Iowa Memorial Union, or IMU, at University of Iowa opened in 1925. The building currently houses a number of student clubs and the Iowa House Hotel. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

If you exit the north entrance of the English-Philosophy building and cross Iowa Avenue, you can walk along a river path ... that eventually leads to the Iowa House Hotel (125 North Madison Street), where John Cheever and Raymond Carver both lived while they taught at the Workshop in the fall of 1973. No biography of either of them neglects to mention the degenerate drinking they engaged in when they lived there.

Iowa Memorial Union Footbridge

125 N Madison St, Iowa City, IA 52245

This bridge over the Iowa River connects the east and west University of Iowa campuses.

Iowa Writers' Workshop (Dey House)

507 North Clinton Street, Iowa City, Iowa

The Dey House is the home of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

... cross the river, and follow Dubuque Street to Church Street. There, if you turn right, you’ll pass the University president’s mansion and come upon Dey House, set on a grassy knoll overlooking the river. In 1997 the Writers’ Workshop relocated from the English-Philosophy building to this nineteenth-century house. The Frank Conroy Reading Room, which was completed in 2006, has vaulted ceilings and a magnificent library. A host of memorable readings by authors such as Robert Hass, Gurganus, D. A. Powell, and Dora Malech have taken place there.

Kuhl House (University of Iowa Press)

119 Park Rd, Iowa City, IA 52242

Across the river from North Hall is 100 Kuhl House, home, since 1997, to the University of Iowa Press. Built of limestone from the river cliffs in the area, it is one of the oldest buildings in Iowa City. Inside are shelves upon shelves of the books director James McCoy and his talented staff have published. I am, of course, partial to the poetry series, which includes writing by some of the best poets around: Michele Glazer, Robyn Schiff, Emily Wilson, Susan Wheeler, and Cole Swensen, among them. The Sightline Books series in nonfiction is also remarkable. We at Prairie Lights are waiting with bated breath for July 25 when Carl Klaus and Ned Stuckey-French are scheduled to read from their stunning newly released collection, Essayists on the Essay. - From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller

MacBride Hall / Museum of Natural History

17 North Clinton Street

The Museum of Natural History was founded by order of the Iowa Legislature in 1858 and are the oldest university museum west of the Mississippi River. They combine exhibits, education resources, programming, collections, and research opportunities to support the University of Iowa and the community. With their sister museum, the Old Capitol Museum, they are part of the University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums, the "Doorways to Discovery" on the historic Pentacrest in downtown Iowa City. They are located in Macbride Hall, which they share with the Department of Anthropology and parts of several other university departments.

Mayflower Dorm

1110 N. DUBUQUE ST., IOWA CITY, IA 52242

Home to the residents of the International Writing Program for many years, the Mayflower Residence Hall is a multi-suite building located on the Iowa River.

North Hall (Center for the Book)

20 West Davenport Street

The present North Hall was built to house University High School, an experimental school founded in 1916. Until it closed in 1972, the school’s core faculty of graduate students provided an evolving, progressive curriculum to children from Iowa City and its nearby environs. Now home to the School of Social Work and the Center for the Book, North Hall has a small café, Wild Bill’s, that employs and benefits persons with disabilities. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

Just north of the Iowa Memorial Union is North Hall, home to the Iowa Center for the Book (216 North Hall), founded by Merker, a student—along with Justice and Levine—in Berryman’s 1950s workshop. Tim Barrett, the MacArthur award–winning papermaker who was recently the subject of the New York Times Magazine article “Can a Papermaker Help to Save Civilization?” works there, preserving, documenting, and demonstrating centuries-old hand-papermaking practices, alongside former Iowa Center for the Book teacher Shari DeGraw, who does beautiful work with the Empyrean Press.

An unpretentious and relatively utilitarian building, North Hall continues Main Campus North’s string of red-brick buildings designed by Proudfoot, Bird and Rawson. With its modest entrance bay and the restriction of detailing to limestone quoins, it is also one of the least ornamented. Both the upper and lower entrances are crowned by plaques announcing the building’s former life as a school, and North Hall as a whole has a reticence in keeping with that history. One whimsical and enigmatic touch, a pair of doubled X’s, is executed in brickwork on the east façade.

Phillips Hall

Quadrangle Dormitory

310 GRAND AVENUE IOWA CITY, IA 52242

Now demolished, the Quadrangle Residence Hall was an example of Collegiate Gothic, as are most of the other early buildings west of the river. Originally a closed quadrangle with four entry pavilions — one in the middle of each side — it was reduced to about two-thirds its original size when the disused northeast quadrant was razed in 1975.

Quonset Huts (first location of the Iowa Writers' Workshop)

125 N Madison St

The Quonset Huts acted as temporary structures on the University of Iowa campus, and were the location of Iowa Writer's Workshop classes in the early 1950's. They remained on the east side of the Iowa River after World War II. "None of the classrooms in these huts had air conditioning," writes Workshop graduate Robert Dana of the buildings "and when the rain drummed down on them, all talk ceased [...] Nonetheless, the workshop quarters were basically humble.."

Shambaugh Auditorium

125 West Washington St.

Shambaugh Auditorium is one of the main venues for readings hosted by the Workshop. When Live From Prairie Lights was broadcasted on the radio, we often held readings there too. J. M. Coetzee and Susan Sontag read there. I have heard John Ashbery read there on more than one occasion, and it was where I first heard Donald Justice read. That, for me, was a life-changing event. I felt “the top of my head coming off”—before I’d heard Emily Dickinson’s famous phrase—and the experience remains the standard by which I’ve measured all other readings. I would recommend or, if I may, insist that everyone go the Academy of American Poets website to hear Donald Justice read. In addition to being a perfect poet, his voice is an instrument. I’ve never heard a poet read with more nuanced control of the speaking voice.

- From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller

Shambaugh House

430 North Clinton Street

The Shambaugh House is the home of the International Writing Program (IWP) on the University of Iowa campus. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

Catty-cornered across the street from the Dey House is the Shambaugh House, home to the International Writing Program. Founded in 1967 by Paul Engle, it currently brings in forty writers—recent visitors include Hans Castellanos Moya and Etger Kerret—from countries all over the world for ten-week residencies each fall. Prairie Lights hosts readings by the fellows each Sunday afternoon during their tenure.

The Iowa River

The Iowa River meanders south through Iowa City and the University of Iowa Campus.

The Old Capitol (Old Cap)

21 North Clinton Street

Together, Old Capitol Museum and the Museum of Natural History (next door in Macbride Hall) form the University of Iowa Pentacrest Museums. Old Capitol Museum has been in operation since 1976, when the building reopened after a major renovation. It is the only National Historic Landmark in Iowa City. Throughout its long history, the building has served as a seat of the territorial and state governments, a university building serving numerous schools and colleges, administrative offices, and finally a museum. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

Built in 1840, the Old Capitol building has been beautifully restored. The first-floor museum often features exhibits related to the Workshop. A gorgeous spiral staircase leads to the original Senate chambers, where literary events are frequently held. Recent events include a retirement celebration for long-time Iowa Review editor David Hamilton and an evening with Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Natasha Trethewey, sponsored by the Derek Project, a nonprofit organization that introduces students from the Iowa City Community Schools to a well-known author.

Theater Building

200 North Riverside Drive

A tinted-glass atrium on the building’s river side provides access to all three stages, and the terrace in front accommodates outdoor dining during summer repertory.

University of Iowa Main Library

125 West Washington St.

Built in 1971, the Main Library, set on a high platform, makes a statement: the building is both a repository of knowledge and a monument to learning. Visitors approach the south façade via stairs that, along with the scale of the building and its massive slab roof. The Main Library houses Special Collections and The Studio, among other departments and collections. From City Guide: Iowa City by Jan Weissmiller:

West of the Old Capitol toward the Iowa River is the University of Iowa’s Main Library (100 Main Library). The Special Collections and University Archives are well worth a tour. Special Collections can show you the Writers Archive, which contains the works of some of the great letterpress artists that have printed here. Among them are books from Carroll Coleman’s Prairie Press, founded in the 1930s to publish the work of contemporary writers in well-made volumes. Editions from Kim Merker’s Windhover Press include the first published works of poets Denis Johnson and Mark Levine. After perusing the archive, make your way up to the second floor where the thesis of every MFA recipient of the University of Iowa is shelved. It is a rite of passage for Workshop students to go there to read the student work of Mark Strand, Allan Gurganus, and James Tate.

Van Allen Hall

30 North Dubuque Street

Home to many readings and events for writers in Iowa City, Van Allen Hall is a manifestation of both the University of Iowa's strong support of the sciences and the critical importance of its namesake’s work. An observatory is visible above the roofline, and the building’s auditorium — a single-story, slab-roof-covered auditorium attached to a multi-use, multistory structure - makes Van Allen visually consistent with other buildings on the Iowa Avenue Campus.