The champions and projects that represent the best of historic preservation in the community will be recognized during the Des Moines Heritage Trust’s first historic preservation awards dinner later this year.

The award winners were recently announced, and they include a developer who focuses on the redevelopment of historic buildings, an architect who was at the forefront of historic preservation and projects, both commercial and residential, that exemplify the history and futures of those buildings.

An iconic piece of playground equipment also gets a nod from the Des Moines Heritage Trust.

Tim Waddell, president of the nonprofit’s board, said too often historic properties only get attention when they become a nuisance or at risk of demolition, and the awards are intended to “celebrate historic preservation in a positive way.”

“Our historic buildings are part of the cultural fabric of our community,” he said. “It’s not just history. It’s all part of the cultural fabric. For some reason or another, these buildings were built and they were built by the people who lived here and they were important in one way or another. We may not always know what the original purposes are, but I think they are an important part of our cultural heritage and fabric today, in the past and into the future. I think that is all part of how we can celebrate, if we are able to retain them, that people will know what people in the past felt was important.”

The award winners were selected among nominations that were submitted on the Des Moines Heritage Trust’s social media sites. Nominations were reviewed by board members, who then decided winners for each category.

This year’s winners are:

Historic Preservation Champion:

Tim Rypma, Rypma Properties

Waddell said the award recognizes an individual, group or organization whose focus is primarily historic preservation. “And that is what has been happening with Rypma Properties,” he said. “Most of his projects are historic preservation projects, and that is unique and why it’s important to recognize him because of the work he’s been doing over the past two years or so. It’s just been dynamic, the amount of projects he’s worked on and the future is the beneficiary of that.”

Historic Preservation Hall of Fame:

William Wagner

“William Wagner was a very well-known historic preservation architect until his death about 20 years ago,” Waddell said. “He had a wonderful, beautiful townhouse that was in the Central Business District that was his architectural firm and it was considered to be that important that it was actually, physically moved to Sherman Hill and it still exists today. William Wagner was completely dedicated to historic preservation in Central Iowa and did some of the most pen and ink drawings of historic buildings hoping that would memorialize them. He was an early supporter of historic preservation in our metropolitan area.”

Historic Preservation Project of the year – Commercial over 5,000 square feet:

Val Air Ballroom – Sam Summers

“The Val Air Ballroom is an important part of a lot of people’s lives,” Wadell said. “It was a place where people had prom and other dances, but before then it was people going to dances in the 1950s and nightclubs that were popular in that period. And then over time it became a place where they had bands and other types of events. It’s been there since the 1940s. It was built by Tom Archer, who lived next door to it. He owned a lot of those types of event places. It’s  important to West Des Moines’ heritage, it’s important to the heritage of the metropolitan area. It’s had a lot of attempts to bring it back to its glory days but it failed a couple of times. I think it was a place where people were afraid it might go away. The Val Air is such an icon of this community it’s important to be recognized.”

Historic Preservation Project of the Year – Commercial under 5,000 square feet:

French Way Cleaners – Connor Delaney

“When everybody talks about the Highland Park commercial district, they’ll say, oh, the building with the horns on the front of it, and everybody kind of knew that building. It’s important to the Highland Park area. It’s an important building to save,” Waddell said.

Historic Preservation Project of the Year – Residential:

1074 31st St., Des Moines – Invest DSM

“We thought it was important to recognize not only the renovation of some really great Victorian buildings in the Drake neighborhood, but to recognize Invest DSM and what they have been doing to try to resurrect many of our historic neighborhoods in the city,” Waddell said. “So we felt this was a great example. It’s beautiful.”

Historic Preservation Project of the Year – Public:

Iowa State Fair Sheep Barn Renovation – Iowa State Fair

“The Iowa State Fair is iconic to our entire state, and many of the barns were built at the turn of the 20th century, some even before that,” Waddell said. “They are important not just to the agriculture community but to the people who love to go look at the animals. One by one, the Blue Ribbon Foundation has been restoring these historic buildings on the fairgrounds and the Sheep Barn was completed in 2024, so we felt it was time to recognize the Iowa Blue Ribbon Commission and what they’re doing to restore and maintain our beautiful State Fairgrounds.”

Historic Preservation Project of the Year – Adaptive Reuse:

Winterset High School Apartments – HKG Development

“It’s an important project because so many school districts are building new schools or there’s other situations where they lose a school and it’s not going to be used anymore as a school, so alternative ways to use that building because schools and churches in any community are among the best built buildings in a community, and that’s the case here,” Waddell said. “So to destroy it is a tragedy. So when you find something you can retrofit, particularly a large high school building, it’s important that you find new value to it, that you maintain the historic building into the fabric of the community.”

Historic Preservation Project of the Year – Special Project:

Union Park rocket slide – city of Des Moines

“It’s not a building, so that’s why we call it a special project,” Waddell said. “The Des Moines Heritage Trust is into the preservation of historic buildings, but we felt we wanted to recognize the Union Park rocket slide. It was nominated and it came before the board and there was lots of discussion about it. We felt like it was important to recognize the park and the city of Des Moines. It was a very expensive project that could easily have been sent to the scrapyard as a piece of metal, but instead they recognized the iconic value and that it was a beloved playground for the past, present and future of our community.”

The Historic Preservation Awards dinner is scheduled for 5 p.m. on May 15, at the Des Moines Heritage Center, 120 E. Fifth St., in Des Moines. For more information or to buy tickets, visit www.desmoinesheritagetrust.org.