Bank of California Building (Seattle)
Encyclopedia
The Bank of California Building is a landmark building located at 815 2nd Avenue in Seattle, Washington
. It is located mid-block adjoining the Exchange Building. It was built by the Bank of California (predecessor to the Union Bank of California
) in 1924 and has been continually used as a bank ever since. It housed the offices for the Bank of California until 1973 when a new building, the Union Bank of California Center
was built at the corner of 4th and Madison Streets. Ironically, this newer, larger building is no longer used as a bank and instead is occupied by a Bartell Drugs
store. The original Bank of California Building was retained as a branch office until being sold to the Puget Sound Mutual Savings Bank in 1982 which was headquartered in the building until 1993 when through a series of mergers and acquisitions the bank became a branch of Key Bank
, which it remains to present day.
The Building is a rectangular two Story plus basement Reinforced concrete building faced with terra cotta
meant to imitate stone. It features a sky-lit banking room that spans all floors and includes a mezzanine. It was designed in a "strict Italian Renaissance" style typical of many banks in the 1920s by John Graham & Company
, one of Seattle's most prominent architectural firms. Graham would also design the building's aforementioned replacement in 1973.
The Bank of California Building was designated a City of Seattle Landmark in 1987.
. The Bank of California became a national bank in 1910 and soon was one of the biggest banks west of the Mississippi River
. By the early 1920s the bank had outgrown its small office at the Northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street. In May 1923 the bank purchased the Epler Block located two doors north of their own from the Epler Estate for $160,000 with the intention of building a new bank building on the site. The property had been purchased in 1882 by W.F. Epler who, following the Great Seattle fire
, built a substantial four story brick and stone building on the lot that was completed in 1890.
The bank chose the John Graham firm to design a two story plus mezzanine
concrete structure with a terra cotta facade that would cost around $200,000 but would actually cost $50,000 more. A completed architectural sketch of the building was published in the Seattle Times on September 25, 1923. A preliminary and apparently innovative concept hatched during the building's designing was to incorporate customer parking in the building's basement. It is unknown whether this idea was actually implemented. Demolition of the Epler Block began in November 1923 and lasted for several months. Construction began in early 1924 and by May of that year, the concrete structure was complete. The building officially opened to the public on August 25, 1924.
The bank continued to expand by opening offices in the Exchange Building and building a parking garage to the south. By the late 1960s, they were ready to expand and set out to construct the Union Bank of California Center
, which covered an entire city block bound by Madison, Marion, Fourth and Fifth Avenues and would contain over 150000 square feet (13,935.5 m²) of space for the bank, much more than the old building had. When the new bank opened in early 1974, the original building was retained as a branch office which prompted local banks to file suit claiming unfair competition, which was later overturned. By 1983, Bank of California had left the building and it became the main office of the Savings Bank of Puget Sound, formerly the Puget Sound Mutual Savings Bank. The savings bank was purchased by Puget Sound Bancorp of Tacoma in 1986 which in turn was acquired by KeyCorp in 1993. The building has housed a Key Bank
branch ever since.
meant to imitate stone. The facade is composed of large windows framed by four free standing roman ionic columns with two related pilasters, the center space being slightly spread to allow for the entrance doors, capped with a large arched pediment. The entablature
is crowned by an attic forming the fourth floor. The design follows the Ionic order and includes an architrave
and frieze
which once bore the name of the bank but is now bare. Above the fourth floor is a smaller cornice
topped with a pediment
bearing the building's date of construction.
ceiling. The interior was described by The Seattle Times in an August, 1924 article:
The marble
used for the counters and floors was variegated
Escolette imported from France
while woodwork was made of polished black walnut
. Large clocks, with dials of escolette were centered in balcony grill work at each end of the main lobby. Offices were located on each balcony. The basement housed the vaults and recreation rooms for employees while the fourth floor contained offices and a large club room for employees.
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
. It is located mid-block adjoining the Exchange Building. It was built by the Bank of California (predecessor to the Union Bank of California
Union Bank of California
Union Bank, N.A., formerly known as Union Bank of California, N.A., is a full-service commercial bank providing an array of financial services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, and major corporations...
) in 1924 and has been continually used as a bank ever since. It housed the offices for the Bank of California until 1973 when a new building, the Union Bank of California Center
Union Bank of California Center
901 Fifth Avenue is a skyscraper in Seattle, Washington. It was completed in 1973 and has 42 floors. It is the 11th tallest building in Seattle, and was designed by John Graham and Associates. The building was opened as the Bank of California Building. Flood lights illuminate all sides of the...
was built at the corner of 4th and Madison Streets. Ironically, this newer, larger building is no longer used as a bank and instead is occupied by a Bartell Drugs
Bartell Drugs
Bartell Drugs is a chain of pharmacies in the Puget Sound area of the U.S. state of Washington. Currently, they primarily serve the Seattle and King County area but have been slowly expanding into Snohomish and Pierce Counties to the North and South, respectively. George D. Bartell, grandson of the...
store. The original Bank of California Building was retained as a branch office until being sold to the Puget Sound Mutual Savings Bank in 1982 which was headquartered in the building until 1993 when through a series of mergers and acquisitions the bank became a branch of Key Bank
Key Bank
KeyBank is a regional bank headquartered in Key Tower within Cleveland, Ohio's Public Square. , it is the 19th largest bank in the United States based on total deposits...
, which it remains to present day.
The Building is a rectangular two Story plus basement Reinforced concrete building faced with terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
meant to imitate stone. It features a sky-lit banking room that spans all floors and includes a mezzanine. It was designed in a "strict Italian Renaissance" style typical of many banks in the 1920s by John Graham & Company
John Graham & Company
John Graham & Company, or John Graham & Associates was the name of an architectural firm, founded in 1900 in Seattle, Washington by English-born architect John Graham , and maintained by his son John Graham Jr. ....
, one of Seattle's most prominent architectural firms. Graham would also design the building's aforementioned replacement in 1973.
The Bank of California Building was designated a City of Seattle Landmark in 1987.
History
The Bank of California, organized in San Francisco in 1864, came to Seattle in 1905 with the acquisition of the London and San Francisco Bank who had branches in Seattle, Tacoma and Portland, OregonPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
. The Bank of California became a national bank in 1910 and soon was one of the biggest banks west of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. By the early 1920s the bank had outgrown its small office at the Northwest corner of 2nd Avenue and Columbia Street. In May 1923 the bank purchased the Epler Block located two doors north of their own from the Epler Estate for $160,000 with the intention of building a new bank building on the site. The property had been purchased in 1882 by W.F. Epler who, following the Great Seattle fire
Great Seattle Fire
The Great Seattle Fire was a fire that destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle, Washington, USA, on June 6, 1889.-Early Seattle:In the fall of 1851, the Denny Party arrived at Alki Point in what is now the state of Washington...
, built a substantial four story brick and stone building on the lot that was completed in 1890.
The bank chose the John Graham firm to design a two story plus mezzanine
Mezzanine
Mezzanine may refer to:* Mezzanine , an intermediate floor between main floors of a building* Mezzanine, in technology, can refer to a thin sheet of plastic insulating different parts of circuitry from each other in cramped environments, such as laptop interiors* Mezzanine board, or daughterboard,...
concrete structure with a terra cotta facade that would cost around $200,000 but would actually cost $50,000 more. A completed architectural sketch of the building was published in the Seattle Times on September 25, 1923. A preliminary and apparently innovative concept hatched during the building's designing was to incorporate customer parking in the building's basement. It is unknown whether this idea was actually implemented. Demolition of the Epler Block began in November 1923 and lasted for several months. Construction began in early 1924 and by May of that year, the concrete structure was complete. The building officially opened to the public on August 25, 1924.
The bank continued to expand by opening offices in the Exchange Building and building a parking garage to the south. By the late 1960s, they were ready to expand and set out to construct the Union Bank of California Center
Union Bank of California Center
901 Fifth Avenue is a skyscraper in Seattle, Washington. It was completed in 1973 and has 42 floors. It is the 11th tallest building in Seattle, and was designed by John Graham and Associates. The building was opened as the Bank of California Building. Flood lights illuminate all sides of the...
, which covered an entire city block bound by Madison, Marion, Fourth and Fifth Avenues and would contain over 150000 square feet (13,935.5 m²) of space for the bank, much more than the old building had. When the new bank opened in early 1974, the original building was retained as a branch office which prompted local banks to file suit claiming unfair competition, which was later overturned. By 1983, Bank of California had left the building and it became the main office of the Savings Bank of Puget Sound, formerly the Puget Sound Mutual Savings Bank. The savings bank was purchased by Puget Sound Bancorp of Tacoma in 1986 which in turn was acquired by KeyCorp in 1993. The building has housed a Key Bank
Key Bank
KeyBank is a regional bank headquartered in Key Tower within Cleveland, Ohio's Public Square. , it is the 19th largest bank in the United States based on total deposits...
branch ever since.
Exterior
The 60 feet (18.3 m) wide Second Avenue facade of the Bank is clad in gray glazed terra cottaTerra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
meant to imitate stone. The facade is composed of large windows framed by four free standing roman ionic columns with two related pilasters, the center space being slightly spread to allow for the entrance doors, capped with a large arched pediment. The entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
is crowned by an attic forming the fourth floor. The design follows the Ionic order and includes an architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
and frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
which once bore the name of the bank but is now bare. Above the fourth floor is a smaller cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
topped with a pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
bearing the building's date of construction.
Interior
The main feature of the bank was the 60 by 70 feet (21.3 m) main banking room with a 40 feet (12.2 m) high rotundaRotunda (architecture)
A rotunda is any building with a circular ground plan, sometimes covered by a dome. It can also refer to a round room within a building . The Pantheon in Rome is a famous rotunda. A Band Rotunda is a circular bandstand, usually with a dome...
ceiling. The interior was described by The Seattle Times in an August, 1924 article:
The marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
used for the counters and floors was variegated
Variegation
Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves, and sometimes the stems, of plants. This may be due to a number of causes...
Escolette imported from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
while woodwork was made of polished black walnut
Black Walnut
Juglans nigra, the Eastern Black walnut, is a species of flowering tree in the hickory family, Juglandaceae, that is native to eastern North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south to Georgia, northern Florida and southwest to central...
. Large clocks, with dials of escolette were centered in balcony grill work at each end of the main lobby. Offices were located on each balcony. The basement housed the vaults and recreation rooms for employees while the fourth floor contained offices and a large club room for employees.
External links
- London and San Francisco Bank (1904) at the University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
Special Collections division