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
The interior of the bank in the previous OTR includes two stained-glass windows designed by Louis J. Millet, murals by Oskar Gross, and four immense cast iron electroliers designed by Sullivan’s associate George Elmslie, who also designed much of the interior and exterior ornament. The interior has been described as a “Symphony of Color” using over 240 shades of yellow, red-orange, and green. People have described it as similar to entering a cathedral. I have to say that’s the way I felt too. The high ceiling, the light from the stained glass, and the expanse of the space give it the same feeling.
The interior was remodeled in 1940 when a local contractor attempted to modernize the bank and, in the process, destroyed terra-cotta decorative elements, installed fluorescent light fixtures, and sold Sullivan’s ornamental teller’s windows as scrap metal for eighty cents each. A subsequent remodeling in the 1950s restored much of the ornament and art and preserved the historic character. The teller windows are gone though.
This is the first thing you see when you walk in the door.
Detail of clock
Turning around, this is what you see as you look back to the entrance.
One of the upper corners
One of Oskar Gross’s murals
Ornament decorating the arches
Detail of arch ornament
The cast iron electroliers weigh 5,500 pounds each
The base of the electrolier
Stained glass window
laura
That building is the embodiment of social good and civic pride.
Scuffletuffle
Simply gorgeous!!! Sad about the fate of the teller windows…
Cheryl from Maryland
@laura: Yes. And that social good and civic pride are beautiful.
eclare
The level of detail is mind-blowing…
Suzanne,
MMMMM. There’s that sweet, sweet light coming in through those gorgeous windows.
Inject it straight into my veins.
zhena gogolia
Beautiful 🤩 thank you
tandem
Thank you, Frosty, for showing me this marvelous building. I was familiar with the architect — an Intro to Architecture class covered his role in designing skyscraper, but didn’t address his other work.
Marleedog
We visited Oak Park and Spring Green earlier this summer. They had some style back in the day, that is for sure.
It took me a minute to figure out that electrolier is a portmanteau of electric and chandelier.
Looking forward to more, just don’t go all Brutalist on us, ok?
Suzanne,
Just one comment….. if you’re me, someone around you will make some statement like, “They just don’t know how to make anything beautiful anymore”. And I am always bothered by that kind of statement. One of the things that I am always struck by, when I see these kinds of beautiful buildings in somewhat unlikely places, is that someone decided to make an investment when they decided to develop this building. They didn’t hire Louis Sullivan and those wonderful artisans with a roll of the dice and this gorgeous jewel came out, like SURPRISE! They decided to make a commitment to their community and to their business and to leave a legacy, to make something beautiful that would endure beyond their lifetimes.
There was never a past where everything that was built was great. That’s a myth. We have lost some of these building arts, but we have developed others. I guarantee that there was plenty of crap built in that era, which is what makes buildings like this so special.
Hold fast to what is good!
Thanks for sharing these photos. This is amazing.
JeanneT
Beautiful. Thanks for sharing these!
JML
Allow me to make the classic MN comment: “Bet it’s expensive to heat in the winter!”
Lovely building. Glad it’s still in use for its intended purpose and hasn’t lost things like the stained glass.
artem1s
It’s also important to note that at the time Sullivan and Wright’s Prairie Style buildings were a significant departure from Neoclassic and the first Chicago Style and not everyone was on board with their embellishments and thought they were ‘gaudy’.
Betty
Gorgeous. I am thinking though about the amount of work it must take to maintain all the beautiful detail.
Suzanne
@JML:
This is one of those things that we have gotten much better at in architecture over the years. Up until the late 70s, energy was pretty cheap. So buildings weren’t designed to mitigate usage. Our requirements are much stricter now, and so exterior wall and roof assemblies are much more robust and much more expensive now than they used to be.
frosty
Ha! Not a chance.
frosty
@eclare: Yes, the detail is amazing. I had a 18-200mm lens so I could get some good zoomed-in shots – too many to fit in this post. So I’ve got one at the end of the series that will include some of them.
pat
So I guess everyone knows that there is only one Owatonna in the midwest and it is in Minnesota, right? No need to mention MINNESOTA?
My spell-check wants to change Owatonna to Tonnage. So there.
tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)
The inside is gorgeous! Thank you for sharing this bit of architectural history with us.
TF79
@pat: Right in the heart of Tim Walz’ MN-1 congressional district, in fact. And the MN state HQ of the early 1900s Klan revival
Elizabelle
I love thinking of all the artisans and craftspeople and construction trade who worked on that project, bringing their best to it as well. Economic and social development.
Thank you, frosty. Great topic.
stinger
How beautiful! Thank you!
WaterGirl
I just made a category called “frosty’s Bank Tour” so we can easily find these later, if interested.
Tehanu
Wow!