Iowa Building Corp. v. Zirbel

Defendants, as a local board of review, overruled plaintiff’s protest of the 1941 assessment of its real estate situated at tlie northeast corner of the intersection of Sixth and Grand Avenues in Des Moines. The title of the land is in St. Ambrose Cathedral but plaintiff owns the building thereon (covering the entire lot) and holds a one-hundred-y-ear ground lease requiring it to pay all taxes. The 1941 assessment was $438,380 (actual value), divided $162,000 on land and $276,380 on the building.

Upon appeal the district court reduced the total figure of $438,380 to $403,000 — $158,000 on the…