Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank (1891)

Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank
The Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank from the northeast
Location Minneapolis, Minnesota
Coordinates 44°58′43.26″N 93°16′3.39″W / 44.9786833°N 93.2676083°W / 44.9786833; -93.2676083Coordinates: 44°58′43.26″N 93°16′3.39″W / 44.9786833°N 93.2676083°W / 44.9786833; -93.2676083
Built 1891
Architect Franklin B. Long; William Kenyon
Architectural style Classical Revival, Beaux-Arts
NRHP Reference # 84001419 [1]
Added to NRHP January 12, 1984

The 1891 Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a Beaux-Arts style building that formerly served as the headquarters of Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. In 1942, the bank moved to a new location at 88 S. 6th St. at the corner of Sixth and Marquette.

The building was designed by the locally prominent firm of Long and Kees as a one-story building. Long and Kees usually preferred the then-popular Richardsonian Romanesque style for their buildings, but deviated from this style for the bank. In 1908 architect William Kenyon designed a second-story addition that enlarged the façade while retaining the Beaux-Arts style. The exterior is faced with white limestone, with five piers of rusticated stone supporting fluted Corinthian pilasters.[2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The building is now home to The Downtown Cabaret, a strip club. Architecture critic Larry Millett writes, "If you step inside for a view of the, ahem, scenery, you'll discover a glass dome that once illuminated a 'ladies banking lobby' but is now the scene of activities not everyone would consider ladylike."[3]

References

  1. Staff (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. "Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank". Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
  3. Millett, Larry (2007). AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: The Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-87351-540-4.
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