Tag: Banks

  • Art Deco Bank in McDonald

    Bank in McDonald

    A sharp-looking but still respectable bank in a kind of baroque version of Art Deco. It is no longer a bank, but it is kept in fine condition by the current occupants.

    Baroque window treatment
    Foliage and flowers
    Bank in McDonald
    Side of the bank
    Sony Alpha 3000; Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

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  • First National Bank, McDonald

    First National Bank, McDonald

    N. G. Pollock of Cleveland was the architect of this small but rich-looking bank, which was built in about 1916.1 It seems likely that some sort of ornate classical crest is missing from the corner above the name “First National Bank,” but otherwise the building is in good condition and still in use as a bank.

    Pediment over the entrance
    Swag ornaments
    First National Bank of McDonald
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Sony Alpha 3000.

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  • Federal Reserve Bank

    Federal Reserve Bank

    Now the Drury Plaza Hotel, this is a splendid example of the far Art Deco end of the style old Pa Pitt calls American Fascist. The original 1931 building, above, was designed by the Cleveland firm of Walker & Weeks, with Hornbostel & Wood as “consulting architects.” It is never clear in the career of Henry Hornbostel how far his “consulting” went: on the City-County Building, for example, “consulting” meant that Hornbostel actually came up with the design, but Edward Lee was given the credit for it; we would not know that Hornbostel drew the plans if Lee himself had not told us.

    At any rate, the lively design almost seems like a rebuke to the sternly Fascist Federal Courthouse across the street, which was built at about the same time.

    The aluminum sculpture and ornament is by Henry Hering.

    An addition in a similar style looks cheap beside the original; perhaps it would have been better just to admit that the original could not be duplicated and to build the addition in a different style.

    Federal Reserve Bank with addition
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10; Samsung Galaxy A15 5G.

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  • Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Co., Squirrel Hill

    Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Co.

    You could count on architect Press C. Dowler for the bankiest-looking banks. The correct Ionic front of this one looks almost exactly the way he drew it, as we can see from the architect’s rendering that was published in the Press on February 8, 1931.

    Press C. Dowler’s rendering of the Peoples-Pittsburgh Trust Co.

    It seems to old Pa Pitt that the mark of a Dowler bank is correct classical detail combined with a lack of fussiness. There is never too much detail. But he takes the details seriously. In other buildings he was already adopting Art Deco and modernist styles, but a bank needed to look traditional and timeless—especially in the Depression. For other Dowler bank designs, see the Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company and the Braddock National Bank.


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  • South Hills Trust Company, Mount Washington

    South Hills Trust Company Building

    Built as a bank and still operating as a bank, this is a little building that gets the message right. It did not have the budget for stone, but the blond Kittanning brick gives it the color of stone, and the simple classical arches convey the impression of a rich and substantial bank where your money will be safe.

    Note how the definition of “South Hills” has changed since this bank was built on Shiloh Street, just a block back from Grandview Avenue.

    Entrance
    Key Bank on Mount Washington
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.

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  • Bloomfield Trust Company

    Bloomfield Trust Company

    This fine new building opened in 1926, and the bank got to enjoy it for five years before it was liquidated in the dark days of the Depression. After that, it sat vacant for a while. Just after Prohibition ended, the Liquor Control Board picked it for a liquor store, but bids for the conversion came in too high, and the board went looking for another location. Later, at some point, it became a bank again. Now the bank has moved out, and it’s ready for its next life.

    As you can see from the picture above, the streets do not intersect at a right angle at this corner, so the building is a trapezoid. The upper floors were built as apartments to gain some extra income to pay for the building.

    Clock and inscription
    Bloomfield Trust Company
    Kodak EasyShare Z981.

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  • Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company

    Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    Another look at the Fifth Avenue façade of this very respectable bank building, designed by Press C. Dowler and opened in 1921.

    More pictures of the Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company building.


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  • A Little Bank in the McKees Rocks Bottoms

    241 Ella Street

    This little building, unless Father Pitt’s correspondents and his own conclusions are mistaken, was the Bottoms branch of the First National Bank of McKees Rocks, and it was a late work of the firm of Alden, Harlow & Jones. Whether the identification is correct or not, however, it is a fine piece of work, and another demonstration of the remarkable architectural riches of the McKees Rocks Bottoms.

    Beehive

    The beehive, symbolic of industry and thrift, would be a good emblem for a bank. It is a bit odd for the business that has occupied the building for decades now, which is an undertaker’s establishment.

    Entrance decorations
    Deco relief
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.
  • A Stroll on Mill Street in Coraopolis

    Mill Street
    Kodak Pony 135 with Kentmere Pan 100 film (monobath developed).

    The main business streets of Coraopolis are Fifth Avenue, Fourth Avenue, and Mill Street, a very narrow street that crosses the other two. (There is also a Main Street in Coraopolis, but, in Pittsburghish fashion, it is not the main street.) Let’s take a stroll down Mill Street together. We’ll take two cameras with us, one digital and the other loaded with black-and-white film.

    Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company
    Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

    We’ll start at the Coraopolis Savings and Trust Company building, a splendid bank designed by Press C. Dowler, who gave us a number of grand classical banks. Right across Fifth Avenue is…

    Ohio Valley Trust Company

    …another grand classical bank, the Ohio Valley Trust Company. This one is still in use as a bank.

    Ohio Valley Trust Company entrance
    Office entrance

    This plain but dignified doorway leads to the upstairs offices, which were a prestigious address for local businessmen. The architect W. E. Laughner had his office here.

    Building at 5th Avenue and Mill Street

    Across the street is a substantial commercial block with a corner entrance.

    Looking down Mill Street
    412 Mill Street

    Now we come to a building with tangled layers of history, but enough remains to show us the style of the original.

    412 Mill Street
    Bricked-in arch

    This bricked-in arch has a terra-cotta head for a keystone. Note that the original building was faced with Roman brick—the long, narrow bricks you see outside the arch—and not just Roman, but yellow Kittanning Roman brick.

    Ornamental head
    408 Mill Street

    This building next door used similar Kittanning Roman brick. The storefront has been altered, but long enough ago that it has an inset entrance to keep the door from hitting pedestrians in the face.

    Hotel Helm

    At the intersection with Fourth Avenue we meet the old Hotel Helm,1 with its distinctive shingled turret. It probably bore a cap when it was built.

    From here Mill Street leads past the train station and the Fingeret building, both of which we’ve seen before. At Second Avenue—as far as we’ll go for now—we come to…

    127 Mill Street

    …the Hotel Belvedere, which was probably a cheaper place to stay than the Hotel Helm. It still preserves its shingled gable, though the rest has been sheathed in three colors of fake siding.

    1. Some of our information comes from 1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps at the Library of Congress. ↩︎
  • The Imperial Bank

    The Imperial Bank of Imperial, Pennsylvania

    The bank for the little mining town of Imperial occupied a building that accomplished its architectural mission perfectly. It was small, but it gave the impression of being respectable and substantial—a place where your money would be safe.

    Front of the bank
    Inscription: The Imperial Bank
    Front entrance
    The Imperial Bank
    Canon PowerShot SX150 IS.