RURAL
BANK
CASE STUDY
National Farmers' Bank Commentary
Louis Henry Sullivan (born: 1856 - died 1924) was a well-regarded
American architect. Becoming one of the first to introduce the idea
of early ‘skyscraper’aesthetics/design, which became embedded
into the likes of American architecture. Sullivan’s designs aimed to
adhere to the ideology of “form follows function”. This essentially
meant a building’s form was based upon its function or purpose it
would serve to the user (Britannica Academic, 2016).
Architect Louis H. Sullivan
Location Owatonna, Minnesota
Date 1907-1908
Building Type Bank
Construction System Bearing Masonry
Climate Temperate
Context Urban, small city
Style Early Modern
Notes Large arch in main facade
Stand back from the corner of Broadway and Cedar Streets in
Owatonna, Minnesota. See how Sullivan's National Farmers' Bank
stands on the corner opposite the park. Massive and stately—68 feet
broad and about 53 feet tall—its silhouette and ornamental patterns
strike golden section rectangles. Great vaulted windows pierce the
deep walls, and a row of dark square windows punctures the base.
Strength in concept; surprise and contradiction in detail. The great
ornamented mass anchors the lines of street facades, bringing
sequences of jumbled store fronts and one fine, arcaded office
building (Sullivan's also) to a monumental climax.
Some of Ar. Sullivan finest work is from these last years, especially the
banks in small prairie towns. The best of these is the National Farmers'
Bank, though much smaller in scale than the earlier skyscrapers, the
bank is just as clearly expressed in its parts. The main banking room is
a single cubical space enclosed by a box, indicated by the wide
stained-glass lunette windows.
SOUTH WALLS
CORNER VIEW FROM SOUTHWEST
The base is of red sandstone, with dark red brick walls.
Ornamentation is concentrated in panels, of bronze-green terra
cotta, with intricate cast iron escutcheons at the corners; the cornice
is simply corbeled brick courses. To the rear is a separate block
housing offices and shops, a speculative venture by the bank, but
clearly related to the bank in materials and design. The building is
clad in red brick with green terra cotta bands, and features two
large arches on its street-facing facades. Single-story wings, originally
housing bank offices, extend along each side. Internal elements
include two stained-glass windows designed by Louis J. Millet, a
mural by Oskar Gross, and four immense cast iron electroliers
designed by Elmslie and cast by Winslow Brothers Company.
INTERIOR
The building is bathed in a symphony of color, as Sullivan described
it. Green and brown terra cotta panels and blue and gold glass
mosaic bands contrast with the reddish brick walls and the red
sandstone base that anchors the bank to its site, giving depositors a
sense of security.
CEILING
The interior space extensively uses the colour green, hand-painted
murals and intricately crafted light fixtures reflective of the pattern
featured on the exterior. Suggesting the idea that even the average
citizen had the ability to indulge in luxury.
PLAN SECTION
When the nation’s farm economy collapsed in 1926, the National
Farmers’ Bank failed. Subsequent owners made only minor
alterations to the banking room until 1940, when a local contractor
attempted to modernize the bank and, in the process, destroyed
important terra-cotta decorative elements, installed fluorescent light
fixtures, and sold Sullivan’s teller’s window wickets as scrap metal for
eighty cents each. No architect was involved in this ill-conceived
remodeling.
In 1955, a new bank president recognized a need for more space.
Some thirty employees were working in a space designed for about
a dozen people. The bank’s board looked into constructing an
addition to the north, but that plan was not feasible because the
owner of the property refused to sell. The bank then arranged to
lease space in the building east of the bank, with an option to
acquire the entire building within twenty years. At the same time, the
bank commissioned a proposal by a Minneapolis firm that
specialized in bank renovations.
During the 1970s, the stained glass skylight in the banking room was
restored. The name of the bank also changed, first to Northwestern
Bank of Owatonna and some years later to Wells Fargo Bank. In 1982
and 1983, St. Paul architect Val Michelson and his associate David
Bowers drew plans and oversaw further restoration of the banking
room, bringing it closer to its original appearance. This work included
matching forty-nine different colors to restore the wall stenciling.
CARTOUCHE DETAILED
Terracotta detailed cartouche gives neoclassical vibes.
