Rock Island Alum Brings Busy Architectural Firm to New Moline Home
True to the class and quality it’s brought to countless projects across the Quad Cities, Streamline Architects has unleashed its unerring design skills to transform its elegant new home.
Andrew Dasso, owner and principal architect of his 10-year-old firm, has bought the 115-year-old former U.S. post office at 1800 River Drive, Moline, which now houses 23 employees and the company’s emotional support mascot, the 10-year-old, super friendly dog, Maddux.
Dasso wanted to move to own their own building, since they had been leasing at The Rust Belt complex, 575 12th Ave., East Moline, he said Monday. He originally started in downtown Davenport, near today’s Devon’s Complaint Dept.
The big new Streamline Architects sign, at 1800 River Drive, Moline, where they will host an open house Thursday, Oct. 23 from 4-7 p.m. (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Dasso is a 39-year-old Rock Island native, who worked as an architect for Heart of America before launching his own design-build firm. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Streamline moved to East Moline in 2018, with 20 employees. One of the adaptive re-use projects Streamline did was its former home, The Rust Belt rehabilitated a former 19th-century automotive factory, and Dasso owns the Iron + Grain coffee house there.
“That was my baby,” with complex owner Larry Anderson, Dasso said. “Hopefully, it will continue to spur more interest in East Moline.”
His wife Marguerite and her sister Crystal run the Mexican restaurant Jennie’s Boxcar there, named after their grandmother. It opened in January 2020.
Andrew Dasso, a 39-year-old Rock Island native, in front of the new Streamline home, Oct. 20, 2025 (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Dasso was especially be gratified to be part of the $8.7-million Rebuild Rock Island downtown revitalization that recently completed.
“That has a lot of meaning to me because I’m from Rock Island,” the 2004 Rocky alum said, noting his wife was his high school sweetheart. “To really support what they were hoping to accomplish – opening it to all hours of the day. It’s too soon to see how it’s going to change.”
“The Rust Belt was one of my favorite projects; it was one I designed myself,” Dasso said. “The Tangled Wood (in Bettendorf) was a pivotal project. Once it opened, people started taking notice of the overall atmosphere.”
Among many projects the firm has done are MLK Park, Exotic Thai, Miss Phay Café, Necker’s Jewelers, and Armored Gardens in Davenport; Bend XPO and Bend Apartments in East Moline; Blueprint Bar and Lounge at Moline’s Spotlight Theatre; and Crawford Brew Works, Edison’s Gastropub and Davenport Country Club in Bettendorf.
Streamline has done over 1,000 projects, and is licensed in 12 states. It’s a full-service architecture firm specializing in institution, hospitality, retail, office, multi-family residential, single-family residential, education, municipal, healthcare, industrial, religious, and community centers.
Moving to downtown Moline
Located just off the I-74 River Drive exit, the historic old Post Office first opened in 1910, built on the site of the early home of industrialist John Deere. That house was demolished in 1908 to make way for the city’s then-new Post Office building.
Deere and his wife lived at this location for many years, as he wanted to be near his factories. By the 1870s, over 50 trains a day passed just a block behind his house. This may have caused him to decide it was time to move away from the noise and dust up onto the bluffs at 12th Street and 11th Avenue, Moline, where he lived until his death in 1886, at 82.
The River Drive building was a post office from 1910 to 1935 (the lobby area still contains several post office boxes), when the current post office opened next to the old Carnegie library on 17th Street. The Illinois National Guard occupied the building for a while, and the Streamline lobby includes many historic photos of the building over the years.
Andrew Dasso with his family dog, Maddux, who comes to work with him. Dasso and his wife have three daughters, ages 7, 9 and 11 (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The old Montgomery Elevator bought the building in 1987, and KONE (research and development offices) did a majority of the restoration, occupying the building until 2005. Willis of Illinois, Inc. purchased it in 2009, and was last occupied by Willis insurance company about 10 years. Before Streamline purchased, the building had been vacant about five years, Dasso said.
The lobby walls were repainted by Streamline to the original off-white plaster look, he said. There are new bookshelves at the east end of the hall installed, where the former owner had a John Bloom painting on display.
They renovated the foyer lobby area, including a sleek new coffee bar, with counter and seats, to be used for public events in the future. The east end of the space has a long table for staff.
The exterior of 1800 River Drive, Moline, which first opened in 1910 as a U.S. Post Office (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The main office space is a large open setting, with cubicles (one occupied by Dasso), and 22-foot-high ceiling, a new big ceiling fan, and 18-foot-tall windows. The main floor offices were renovated for conference rooms (with clear glass walls), including one big board room.
The total square footage for the firm grew from 6,000 in East Moline to 8,500 square feet just on the main level in Moline. There are a couple second-floor carpeted areas, one of which will be used for a children’s play area for employees. The main floor Montgomery elevator only goes down to a basement.
Streamline also built a small new patio outside. They have worked with every major construction company in the Quad Cities; Davenport-based Russell did this project.
The main Streamline offices, with cubicles, and 22-foot-high ceiling (photo by Jonathan Turner).
“Something stood out about this building,” Dasso said, noting its ideal central location. “The proximity to the Quad Cities; it’s right in the middle of everything. We want to be accessible to all of our clients.”
“We want to make sure we’re supporting the community,” he said.
“I always had a goal in being our forever home by our 10-year anniversary,” Dasso said. Now, they have 25 employees (two-thirds are architects), including two in Iowa City, an office which opened about four years ago.
A long table in the main foyer at the River Drive building, available for staff (photo by Jonathan Turner).
Now, Streamline is working on the Davenport Hilltop master plan; construction of the new five-story Quad City Bank & Trust headquarters in Bettendorf (near the TBK complex), and 42 new apartments at the former Moline Dispatch building at 1720 5th Ave., Moline.
The east-facing façade (where the press room had been and demolished) will have large windows, with a landscaped parking lot, Dasso said.
New bookshelves on the east end of the main floor replaced a large John Bloom mural that was kept by the former owner (photo by Jonathan Turner).
QCBT is Streamline’s largest project to date (a total campus design), across from the new Iron Tee Golf facility, for which Dasso’s firm designed the interior. The bank has an 18-month construction timeframe.
Streamline is also doing a new greenhouse for the Wallace’s Garden Center, Bettendorf, which was lost in a fire on May 31, 2025.
The entry foyer at Streamline Architects includes a new coffee bar area, to be used for public events (photo by Jonathan Turner).
The business is celebrating its new location and 10th anniversary at a public open house Thursday, Oct. 23, beginning with a 4 p.m. ribbon cutting and then open house (with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres) until 7 p.m.
The main new board room, which had been subdivided into offices (photo by Jonathan Turner).
