On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
On our way eastbound from North Dakota, we had to plan some stops in Midwestern states. I had a year of Architecture History as an undergrad and fell in love with Louis Sullivan’s work. Remembering that he ended his career designing banks in out-of-the-way small towns across the Midwest, I looked them up and we changed the itinerary to go by a couple of them, including the one in this post.
Louis Sullivan was one of the most famous architects in American history, working in Chicago at the turn of the last century. He was part of the Chicago School, known as the “father of the skyscraper” and a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright. He was one of the first to see that steel-framed buildings could have their own form, and he designed them with a base, shaft, and capital, something that we see so often now that it doesn’t seem revolutionary. From there he took the plain and simple mass elements of the skyscraper and added ornament in iron or terra cotta, which became his trademark.
The Panic of 1893 caused a decline in large commissions. Sullivan himself went into a financial and emotional decline, during which his partnership broke up and Wright left his studio. In his later years he began doing work outside of Chicago and across the Midwest: banks, commercial buildings, and residences. He died alcoholic and bankrupt in 1924.
Between 1908 and 1920 he designed eight banks in what became known as Prairie Style, which he referred to as his “Jewel Boxes”, all of which are still standing. The bank in Owatonna was the first and most elaborate. It came about because the bank’s owner, musician-turned-banker Carl Bennett, wanted a building where farmers would feel comfortable, not a Classical Revival design derived from a Greek temple. He was also looking for a work of art and his search for an architect led him in 1906 to Louis Sullivan. The collaboration of patron and architect produced what many consider the finest small-town bank in America. Architectural historian Tom Martinson calls it one of the greatest buildings in American history, because it is unlike anything else before or since.
The bank and the smaller horizontal office building behind it were both part of Sullivan’s design.
Entrance to the bank
Lower right corner of the entrance wall
Upper left corner of the entrance wall
Terra cotta tiles making up the banding around the arched stained glass windows
The mosaic tile inside the banding
Terra cotta ornament at the top of the walls
Detail of ornament on the office building. The “B” is for Bennett, the bank owner who commissioned the building.
The ornament between the arch windows of the office building
Street view showing typical town architecture compared with Sullivan’s bank. “It’s a building where if you were to know nothing about architecture and were driving through Owatonna one day, and got to the town square and saw it you would scratch your head and say what in god’s name is this doing in this little town, ” says Larry Millet, who wrote a book on the Owatonna bank, called The Curve of the Arch.
p.a.
Very nice! I know it’s a bank, but when looking at the first photo, my mind says “train station”, maybe because of the big arching windows they had back in the day.
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/f52fa459-2eed-46b2-b026-9565d5bb8850
oldster
Beautiful photos, and thanks for the capsule bio of Sullivan.
Yes, it’s a cool building, and points to possibilities that were not pursued. Banks did not have to look like Greek temples.
Suzanne,
I have always loved Louis Sullivan’s work, too. Were you able to go inside?
One of the things I always enjoyed about Sullivan, Wright, and a few others was that they did some of these middle-class commercial buildings. So much Serious Architecture is centered around museums, churches, and universities….. and most retail and commercial buildings are terrible. It’s nice to elevate that experience.
jackmac
Wow! Beautiful building. Sullivan wasn’t the only noted architect doing bank gigs. A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed bank building remains in operation in Dwight, Illinois. But it is much smaller in scale and nothing like this Sullivan work
Liminal Owl
What a great building! Love looking at it, especially the beautiful details. Thank you for the pictures and the history lesson.
Jay
Wonderful photos, wonderful history.
Lapassionara
What a treat. I had no idea that Sullivan had designed buildings in small towns. Thanks so much for sharing these.
waspuppet
Great pictures of a beautiful building. Incidentally, I highly recommend the art book Dangerous Years, a collection of the photographs of Richard Nickel, who spent his life documenting and physically salvaging Sullivan’s work—mostly in Chicago (as the buildings were being torn down for parking lots), but he took field trips too. He died when one of the buildings collapsed on him.
eclare
What a beautiful building and interesting post. Thanks!
evodevo
@waspuppet: So many historic architectural wonders have been torn down to accommodate some Fifties/Sixties “upgrade”. We own such a bldg in small-town KY. It costs money for upkeep, and if you can’t find someone to buy who has semi-deep pockets the bldg falls into neglect and usually gets torn down. Such a shame.
Cheryl from Maryland
Fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
Prescott Cactus
Great history lesson and photos ! Thank you much !
stinger
Great photos of fine architecture. I bet the people who built it really took pride in their work. Nice for them to get to do something so creative and original.
Although I don’t see what about it would make “farmers” feel particularly “comfortable”; note well your first and last shots.
There’s a Sullivan jewel box bank in Grinnell, Iowa. And the more recent Jacobson Exhibition Center at the Iowa State Fairgrounds draws on some of the same visual themes as a Sullivan — huge glassed arches, inset tile.
ETA: I look forward with hope to your photos of the interior!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Thanks for pointing out beautiful buildings I might not have noticed.
I live in an over-55 condo building in Chicagoland. All the elevators are named for architects, including one for Sullivan.
Ohio Mom
There is a Louis Sullivan bank in Sidney, Ohio. It’s a little town near I-75, otherwise in the middle of nowhere.
The bank has a similar big semi-circle design: https://ohio.org/things-to-do/destinations/peoples-federal-savings-and-loan-building-a-louis-sullivan-masterpiece
We stopped there once, on our way to Detroit to visit my sister and her family. Then we ate, leading me to wonder what the town’s economy would be like without architectural sightseers.
Betty
@evodevo: A big difference between the US and Europe. Americans continue to think new is better and marvel at the old buildings in Europe. The details in that bank building are fascinating. I can’t imagine who today would pay to build a commercial building that interesting.
MazeDancer
Excellent photos of the rich details. Thank you!
zhena gogolia
Thanks for this fabulous post! On night 1 of the DNC, Stephen Colbert showcased the interior of the Chicago Auditorium theatre, one of Sullivan’s masterpieces. You can see it here full of people!
frosty
@Suzanne,: The interior is the next post. Not to get ahead of myself but the people who work there and the towns are aware of their good fortune and proud of their buildings.
Uncle Jeffy
I lived in Owatonna on a as a kid (third thru eighth grade). My dad owned a music store downtown. The bank was one of the most beautiful buildings in the town. The town was also where most of the class rings in this country were made (Josten’s). Moved to Illinois in 1960, and haven’t gone back, sadly.
Trivia Man
@evodevo: It takes a craftsman to build a barn, but any jackass can kick it down. Buildings are difficult to keep because they do require such attention to maintenance. And all it takes is one lazy owner or unexpected disaster and the history is gone forever.
frosty
@Ohio Mom: Sidney was my next stop. Stay tuned! Two posts, same as this one, for the exterior and interior.
For both of them we stayed a day so I could visit the banks. Turned out for both it was a Sunday. Good for exteriors because no one parked in front of them.
I had to hustle on Monday to get there early for the interiors and get back to pack up before checkout time.
Trivia Man
@frosty: So good to hear. Everyone can help keep it alive.
Yet Another Haldane
Thank you! Owatonna is about an hour’s drive from here, I’ll add it on my road trip gawking list.
Was Sullivan a big wheel in the Chicago Columbian Exposition? I have vague memories from reading Devil In the White City.
prostratedragon
Some of the best photos I’ve seen of the building details. Beautiful!
Math Guy
This is now a Wells Fargo bank in Owatonna, Minnesota. I did not know about the bank but now I’ll make a point of driving down there some afternoon to look at it. Thanks for the post.
H.E.Wolf
Gorgeous photos of a magnificent building. This amateur architecture nerd thanks you for sharing them!
tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)
This was fascinating. I know little of American architecture and enjoyed the history you shared. Yesterday, I learned that my great great grandmother’s brother (great great uncle?) was an architect who was responsible for many buildings in Milan in what I am guessing was the late 1800s, perhaps turn of the century. I am hoping to learn more about that.
JeanneT
Very cool!! Now I am really looking forward to seeing the inside of this building.
Trivia Man
@Betty: that is the frustrating part – plenty of billionaires who could do it for no reason other than a whim. Instead they sit on it like a dragon’s hoard ir overspend on private projects.
Andrew Carneige’s libraries changed America for the better. All it takes is one of those greedy parasites doing something similar. Maybe they ate doing quiet good works I don’t know about – in which case I apologize. But surely there is something they could do for society like Andrew’s schools.
3Sice
County seats tend to have more ornate buildings and still functioning mercantile drags. Lawyers spend pretty well, and there are ancillary businesses that help prop up the restaurants, bars, and so forth.
Quiltingfool
Thank you for sharing this!
JPL
Thank you for the pictures and the post. It really does look like a jewelry box.
frosty
@3Sice: You’re right. The three banks I saw were in County seats, in a corner across from the courthouse like this one. All the downtowns looked like they were doing well, unlike a lot of the rural towns we’ve driven through. Newark, OH has been restoring other blocks in the area.
Delk
I live by Sullivan’s Last Building .
Denali5
Love these photos! Thank you. It’s great to know that some small towns benefitted from the talent of Sullivan.
Ohio Mom
@frosty: The other site on I-75 I can reccomend is the outsider art work, The Temple of Tolerance: https://jimbowsher.com/the-temple-of-tolerance/
It’s about 20 miles north of Sidney. Of course, I don’t know how you have routed yourself from North Dakota and what your destination is.
I used to love long, meandering car trips. I still might, if we weren’t driving in the smallest Kia available. Too much road nouse and too bumpy.
frosty
@Yet Another Haldane: Sullivan did one building in the Columbian Exposition, the Transportation Building. He was out of step with all the others. I mention this a little in the pictures from Sidney.
This is a really good summary of the Transportation Building – it was huge! It was the first hit on an internet search.
https://chicagology.com/columbiaexpo/fair026/
Another Scott
Great pictures and great narration. Thanks.
I like the way the arches can remind one of a teller window at a bank.
I love architecture from that period. I went to college at the University of Chicago and FLWright’s Robie House is on campus. Just an amazing house. Huge, but fits the land and doesn’t overwhelm the humans when they walk into the place.
The furniture was beautiful but totally impractical (ramrod-straight seat backs, etc.). FLW could make beautiful stuff, but actually living with it was probably a pain in the neck. ;-)
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Scott.
arielibra
I love Louis Sullivan!
Beautiful pictures. I like the banding tiles best. Looking forward to the rest of the series!
Suzanne,
@frosty: Ooooh, I’ll be eager to read it! To me, the best thing about Sullivan’s work is the way the light feels as it comes in those big, beautiful windows.
Xavier
Great idea for a road trip! I often try to find old residential areas in towns I’m driving through.
stinger
@Math Guy:
Wells Fargo also owns the Sullivan bank building in Grinnell — they consider themselves “stewards”, and many thanks to them.
3Sice
The building is reminiscent of the Kehilath Anshe Ma’ariv Synagogue (now Pilgrim Baptist Church) he and Adler did on Chicago’s southside.
stinger
@zhena gogolia: Not a Sullivan building, but the 1928 Paramount Theatre in Cedar Rapids was badly damaged by The Flood of 2008. Over a four-year period it was restored, renovated and improved. The lobby is like Versailles!
Shana
Another Chicago Sullivan building is The Rookery with a lobby designed by Wright. My daughter who worked for the Wright Trust one summer is looking into having her wedding there. I hope she decides to have it there. My late father was an architect and loved Wright and would be so happy if it came to pass.
I remember family trips to go look at the Sullivan banks which I was too young to appreciate
dyspeptic
@Yet Another Haldane:
No. he dseigned hte manufacturers Building- another masterpiece – but he hated Burham and he hated the slavish devotion to neo-classicism at the fair.
dyspeptic
@stinger: Saw the Grinnell bank last year – it is gorgeous and it pretty good shape.
dyspeptic
@dyspeptic: I stand corrected by Frosty above – the Transportation Builing ws his contribution
zhena gogolia
@Shana: It’s beautiful, but it’s Burnham and Root.
TF79
@frosty: Great! The interior is also very cool. The former high school there was also built around the same time, and it was a similar “what in god’s name is this doing in this little town” sort of building: Owatonna_senior_high_school_1921.gif (468×289) (wikimedia.org)
pat
I just got here and have read a few comments and no where have I seen the word Minnesota!
weasel
The green rectangle, with the ovals in the top corners and the arch window in the middle, immediately reminded me of an idealized US dollar bill (unspecified denomination). Subtle indicator that this is a bank building :)
Lovely stuff, thanks for sharing!
stinger
@weasel: Good insight! Now I can’t not see it!
arrieve
Thank you so much for sharing this! Such an interesting story and great pictures–I am addicted to all of the small architectural details on buildings.
frosty
@pat: I had the city and state in the title but “Bank of Owatonna, Owatonna MN didn’t seen right so I cut it and never put it in the text. Sorry ‘bout that, Chief.
way2blue
Gorgeous building. Thanks too for the snippet of history. (Had friends over for dinner last night, talking about how the grand homes of San Francisco were laid out in terraces on land previously owned to Adolph Sutro. A name which lingers even when the ‘why’ fades.)
KRK
Very cool! Thanks for sharing. I look forward to your next posts.
BillD
Nice shots of the details and kudos to Wells Fargo for maintaining the building, but couldn’t WF have put more appropriate signage on the front of the building.