Iowa Tea Rooms

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Iowa State Tea Room Gallery, in alphabetical order by name of city or town.

Contents

Cedar Rapids

Y.W.C.A. Tea Room, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, postcard front, circa 1910. The image reproduces an uncredited sepia-tone painting of the Mission-style oak furnishings of the Young Women's Christian Association Tea Room in Cedar Rapids. Realistic illustrations of this kind, taken from photos with the tonalities heightened for the half-tone reproduction process, were a notable feature in commercial art from 1900 - 1920, and were used in catalogues to advertise furniture, hardware, and clothing. This painting, combining impressionistic floral arrangements with detailed brick-work, furniture, lighting fixtures, and door hardware, was obviously made by a highly gifted professional catalogue illustrator.

Des Moines

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.

Sioux City

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


catherine yronwode
curator, historian, and docent
The Mystic Tea Room

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