547 Second Street Formerly Coulter’s Drapery Owned by City of Webster City. . Southwest parapet leaning . Extensive brick failure on west wall . Rubber roof pulling away from walls, allows rain, snow infiltration . Barricaded on west, south sides

Part One of a Series — How big is the problem?

Three buildings in downtown Webster City have all or part of the premises barricaded by the City of Webster City: the former Monroe Office Equipment building at 518 and 520 Second Street, the former Coulter’s Draperies building at 547 Second Street, and the Lotus Development Project at 720 Second Street.

Some have either signs advising the public they enter and use the buildings at their own risk.

All suffer the same problem: deteriorating brick and mortar, worsened by age and lack of maintenance over many years.

At least four more buildings, all of brick construction, are suspected to be deteriorating. This information is verified either by engineering reports ordered, and paid for, by the City of Webster City, or by drone photography, which is able to safely observe conditions on upper walls and roofs.

Failing brickwork isn’t a new problem downtown, but it entered the public consciousness in a big way the morning of November 30, 2023, when fire broke out on the second floor of 608 Second Street. Smoke and water damage to the Webster Theater, next door, was extensive.

The theater was closed for 18 months, while $2 million was spent on reconstruction and restoration.

The building that would become known as 608 was barricaded for months.

It was a matter of faith that Webster Citians would give money to save the theater, for the second time in a decade, but did anybody care about the fate of 608?

“Yes,” said LIFT WC, a band of committed volunteers who are deeply engaged in restoring The Elks, just a block away. LIFT WC stands for Local Initiative for Transformation in Webster City; it’s a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to revitalizing the community.

With a $100,000 loan from the city and $100,000 catalyst grant from the Iowa Department of Economic Development, LIFT WC’s objective was clear: stabilize 608 so it could be sold. Mayor John Hawkins, who is a LIFT WC board member, his wife, Marcia Hawkins, and a few other fearless volunteers cleaned five feet of debris from the second floor, ordered and had installed a new roof and new windows, and paid a masonry professional to restore and repair the street facade that had been damaged by the raging fire.

All of this happened over roughly six months.

Still, 608 has no electrical, plumbing or HVAC utilities. That means that a new owner, one with equal measures of vision and money, must be found before an office or shop can open on the main floor. With more investment, the second floor could again house apartments.

There’s a vital lesson in the story of 608 Second Street that’s not all that apparent: Without stabilizing 608, the Webster Theater would have been at risk. How? The two buildings, like nearly all others downtown, share a common interior wall. Without stable shared walls, a “domino effect” could theoretically take out an entire block of old brick buildings.

That happened to a row of three brick storefronts east of the corner of Des Moines and Second Street in the 1990s. A failure of brick in the former Bacon’s Gift Shop resulted in the adjoining buildings ultimately being demolished.

Today, it’s the site of Availa Plaza.