Iowa Tea Rooms

YWCA Tea Room, Cedar Rapids, Iowa postcard front, circa 1910.

Tea Room Lounge, Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines, Iowa, interior, postcard front, 1920s. The Moorish-style waiting room adjacent to the tea rooms on the top floor of the Younker Brothers Department Store looks like a movie set. Through the arches in the background, patrons would enter the art deco Garden Room.

A corner of the Garden Room in Younker Tea Room, Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines, Iowa, interior, postcard front. The combination of brightly-painted furniture, stylized art deco trompe l'oeil wall mural, and live potted plants makes the Garden Room the most attractive of the several tea rooms at Younker Brothers Department Store.

Younker Tea Rooms, Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines, Iowa, interior, postcard front. At left we see another view of the Garden room, with linens, place settings, and floral arrangements on the tables; at right is what appears to be a separate tea room set up to accommodate large private parties.

Younker Brothers Department Store, Des Moines, exterior, postcard front.

Fountain Cafe and Tea Room, Davidson Brothers Department Store, Sioux City, Iowa, interior, postcard front.