Saving Iowa City’s Slezak National Hall.

On October 4, 2023 – these were the headlines that shocked so many Iowa Citians. Now, keep in mind that it’s one thing to see a property owner put a building up for sale. But, here’s the rub that makes this headline so difficult for so many. The Pagliai’s Pizza building and its surrounding property – located on and near the corner of Bloomington & Linn Streets in Iowa City – has been in the extended Slezak family for several generations, and as one of Iowa City’s longest-standing commercial properties without the much-deserved landmark status, any new owner will have the legal right to tear it all down!

Yikes! So, it’s on that note, Our Iowa Heritage adds our voice to the battle cry…

*Little Village writer, Paul Brennan opened his October 10, 2023 article with this…*

The address 302 E. Bloomington St. may not sound familiar to many, but almost everyone living in Iowa City, and generations of students and visitors, know Pagliai’s Pizza. The 19th century building in Iowa City’s Northside Neighborhood has been home to the iconic pizzeria since the 1970s, and its future is a topic for discussion on the agenda of the Iowa City Historic Preservation Commission. Late last month, 302 E Bloomington St was listed for sale by Gary Skarda, whose great-great grandfather – Joseph Slezak – first owned the building, which dates back to 1875. The building, also known as Slezak Hall, has remained in the family for over 145 years.

So, in an effort to help you better understand the historical significance of Iowa City’s Slezak Hall and the surrounding property, we invite you to travel with us back to the 1870’s…

Slezak Hall opened to the public in 1875, and by the following year (1876), The National Hall (as it was also called) was the home for the city’s July 4th Grand Procession celebrating the nation’s centennial.

FYI – In the Bohemian language – National Hall is known as Narodni Sin. So, on occasion, you will find this name assigned to Iowa City’s National Hall.

In the 1850’s, many European immigrants flooded into Iowa. My Boller family, for example – with roots in, what is today, southwestern Germany, – arrived in Johnson County (via Ohio) in 1853. Another region of Europe that was well represented here in the Hawkeye State was, what is today called, the Czech Republic – which back in the day was called Bohemia.

Arriving in Linn County, Iowa around 1855, Johann (John/Jan) & Anna Sichrova Slezak came from Přívrat, Bohemia – a village in the Ústí Nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of today’s Czech Republic (see map above). Below is the Slezak family listing from the 1860 U.S. Census for Linn County, Iowa…

**1860 U.S. Census** shows **John & Anna Slezak** living in **College Township of Linn County** with their six children – **Joe** (age 14), **Frank** (age 12), **Wesley** (age 10), **Rose** (age 8), **Adolph** (age 4), and **Anne** (age 2).

By the time the Civil War ended (1865), Johann & Anna Slezak had settled in Monroe Township of Johnson County with their eight children – Josef (Joseph-1847), Frantisek (Frank-1849), Vaclav (Wesley-1849), Rosa (Rose-1851), Adolph (Albert 1855), Anne (1858), Mary (1861), and Emma (1864).

**1870 U.S. Census** shows **John & Anna Slezak** living in **Monroe Township of Johnson County** with Joseph (age 23), Frank (age 21), Wesley (age 19), Rosa (age 18*), Albert (Adolph) (age 14), Anna (age 12), Mary (age 9), and Emma (age 6). Note that Joseph, Frank, Wesley, and Rosa were born in Bohemia, while Albert (Adolph), Anna, Mary, and Emma were all born in Iowa. *Rosa is incorrectly listed here as age 10.

*The earliest recorded commercial use on this corner date from 1868 – Frank Shimek’s Shoes & Boots and Joseph Shingmir’s Guns & Pistols.*

According to historical records, in 1872 – four years before his death – Johann (John) Slezak purchased Lots 5 & 6 in Block 57 (shown above from the 1875 Map of Iowa City published by A.T. Andreas). By 1875, Johann’s oldest son – Josef (Joseph) Slezak – had completed the first building, located on the corner of Bloomington & Linn.

As we told you at the beginning of this post, the building – known as Slezak Hall or National Hall – still stands today, serving as the long-time home of Pagliai’s Pizza. As you can see from the pics above, the original building is a two-story brick facility – measuring 40′ x 80′ – and when it opened in 1875, the first floor became a dry goods (grocery) store and tavern, while the second floor served as a large meeting hall for the growing Bohemian community on the north side of the city. Note – the Goosetown Neighborhood is located just east of this area.

Over the next decade, three additional facilities were added on Lots 5 & 6 – making the Slezak property into a true, commercial center that included a farmers hotel, a dance hall with a stage and balcony, a grocery (dry goods) store, a saloon & Bohemian restaurant (noted for its 25-cent meal that included a free beer!), and even a horse stable to park your wagon and/or buggy!

#1 – Slezak Hall (1875), #2 – three-story brick addition for hotel sleeping rooms and a Bohemian restaurant (built soon after original building), #3 – carriage house (built in the late 1880’s) contained a laundry room, a hoist, and added sleeping space, #4 – stable for feeding horses & storing wagons & carriages (built in the 1880’s).

In the earliest days of Iowa City, the City Scales were set up at the intersection of Iowa Avenue and Dubuque Street, just north of The Franklin Market. Here, at this public meeting place, local farmers and retail merchants would make their daily transactions. This photo is of the area as it looked in the 1880’s.

In the 1880’s, as Iowa City grew in size, Johnson County farmers would regularly travel by horse and wagon into town to sell their farm products and buy much-needed supplies. Much of that trade occurred on Iowa Avenue – just blocks from Slezak Hall. Often, these “day trips” would include an overnight stay in town, so, between the 1880’s and 1920’s, business entrepreneurs – like the Slezaks – opened “farmers hotels” – offering inexpensive overnight boarding that also included a hearty meal and a stable where farmers could safely park their horses & wagons.

Besides Slezak Hall (#1 above), other farmers hotels in downtown Iowa City included John Greulich’s Farmers Home on Iowa Avenue (#2 above left), and John Grady’s Grady Hotel (#3 above right) on Burlington & Madison Streets.

With the University Hospital (above left), Mercy Hospital (above right), the SUI Homeopathic Hospital (below left), and the SUI Medical Laboratory buildings (below right) just blocks away, Slezak’s Farmers Hotel – later called The National Hotel – also served the increasing number of hospital visitors. Read more here.

From the time of its opening in 1875 until 1906 (when the new CSPS Hall opened at 524 N. Johnson Street), Slezak’s National Hotel and Hall was recognized as being a local Bohemian cultural center, with the following Bohemian fraternal and community organizations using the hall for their meetings: Trasti (c. 1892), Zastit (1901-15), Slovanska Lipa (1892), Forum Palacky (1904-9), and Iowa City Lodge #180 of ZCBJ (1914). Newspaper clippings from 1918 (below left) and 1921 (below right) indicate that Slezak Hall hosted a variety of community events – from social gatherings to basketball games!

Though its popularity as a hotel declined greatly after the SUI hospital moved to the west side of the river (1920’s), and as other hotel accommodations entered the market, Slezak Hall transitioned – under the ownership of the Slezak/Holub family – making the hotel into an apartment complex, while the remainder of the property transitioned into rented commercial space. All the while, the historical value of the building was not forgotten…

*This report shows the historical value of Slezak/National Hall and gives a brief historical overview – all with the hope of designating the property as a city landmark.*

Iowa City historian – Irving Weber – brought Slezak Hall to the attention of his readers in The Iowa City Press-Citizen during his first year of writing weekly articles (1973). This popular story (above) appeared again in Weber’s published book – Historical Stories About Iowa City – Volume 1 (1976). Read more about Irving Weber here.

**Holub Grocery occupied the lower level of Slezek National Hall in the 1930’s. Read more here.**

***Jan (Johann/John) Slezak*** *(1812-1876) and **Anna Sichrova Slezak** (1822-1905) are buried in the Czech National Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.*

As the Iowa City newspapers mentioned in their October 2023 articles, National Hall and the surrounding buildings on Lots 5 & 6 (Block 57) have been in the Slezak family for five generations. But, as we’ve been digging a bit deeper into the history, the actual number is six generations, starting with Generation One: John (Johann) & Anna Slezak – who first purchased the property in the early 1870’s, before their oldest son – Generation Two: Joseph (Josef) Slezak became the first owner/operator of the facility, overseeing the saloon and dry goods store.

**Josef (Joseph) Slezak** (1847-1912) married **Eva Til Slezak** (1852-1923) in 1870 and had 12 children. Below is the U.S. Census from 1880 showing Joseph & Eva with their four oldest children – **Anna** (1872), **Frank** (1873), **George** (1876), and **William** (1877). Joseph & Eva are buried in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City.

*In the 1920’s, photographer Fred W. Kent took this picture of the Slezak home – located at 328 Brown Street in Iowa City*.

When Joseph & Eva’s oldest daughter – Generation Three: Anna Slezak (1872-1963) married Joseph F. Holub (1867-1934) in 1892, much of the Slezak operation was turned over to their son-in-law. Records also indicate that Anna’s oldest brother – Frank V. Slezak – remained active in the operation as well.

Generation Four: William J. Holub (1892-1975) was Joseph & Anna Holub’s only child and had joined the operation with his father (Holub & Son) by the early 1920’s. The Slezak property eventually went into the hands of Generation Five: Marilyn J. Holub (1928-2014) and her husband – Vladimir Frank (Val) Skarda (1924-2009). All are now buried in Oakland Cemetery as well.

There are stories that **Iowa City Glass Works** products were made for mail-order trade, sold “by the barrel” to stores for use as premiums or give-aways. **William J. Holub** (above left) – grandson of **Joseph Slezak**, who was said to have been an officer in the Glass Works – said that he remembers barrels full of ICGW glassware being stored in the basement of Holub’s dry goods store in the 1920’s.

Generation Six: Johann (John) Slezak’s ggg grandson – Gary Skarda – told The Daily Iowan that he decided to sell the Slezak building because of his advancing age and medical issues, including the amputation of his right leg. “I was unable to do things at the property that I was able to do before,” Skarda said. “I can’t even drive right now because I need special tools in the car to be able to drive because it was my right leg.”

*Note that while there are “technically” four buildings on the property, since they are interconnected, it is viewed as one building.*

According to the current valuation on the Iowa City Assessor’s site, the property is worth $1,530,570, but the asking price is listed at $5 million! The listing (see above) describes the building as “a true Landmark property,” but reassures any prospective buyer that it’s not a landmark in the legal sense, and therefore, the buyer is free to do whatever they want to the buildings, including tear them down and redeveloping the property.

Both **Pagliai’s Pizza** and **The Bloomington Street Laundromania** have long-term leases, and Pagliai’s manager has said there are no plans to move. Like the building, Pagliai’s is family-owned. The current owner, Anthony Fontanini, is the nephew of Armond Pagliai, who came to Iowa City in the 1970’s to open a pizza restaurant, after owning and operating a successful pizza place in Ames called the Pizza House with his brother Sam.

According to city law, only the Iowa City City Council can give landmark status to the building(s) at 302 E. Bloomington – which would prevent it from being demolished.

Although landmark status is normally conferred at a property owner’s request, the city council can designate a landmark without such a request if it determines it is in the public interest to do it. Without the owner’s consent, it requires a super-majority of council members — six out of seven — to confer landmark status on a property.