Landmarks: The art of renovation

Northwestern Financial Review, Aug 15, 2001 by Crews, Jennifer Goepfert, Dullum, Justin

Almost every small town has one: a stately building on Main Street endearingly called the old bank building. Rarely functioning as banks anymore, these buildings instead house cafes, offices, gift shops and the like.

"It's expensive to renovate and maintain an old building," said Bob Buckley of the Kirk Gross Company, a Waterloo, Iowa-based architectural firm specializing in bank buildings. "The windows are often oversized and inefficient. A lot of times there are asbestos issues or other hazardous material."

The advent of the drive-up was also a significant factor in the decline of old bank buildings, as antiquated structures often suffer from being geographically locked in tight, downtown quarters. "A bank should acquire enough adjoining land to build space for their needs down the road, and the limited availability of space-is usually problematic for older structures," said Jon Thorstenson, HTG Architects, Eden Prairie, Minn.

If expandability were not a contemporary issue, old structures still would offer inconveniences. "A typical bank was 25 feet wide and 80 or 100 feet deep with a vault in the center, which makes the interior difficult to deal with," Thorstenson said.

Regardless of the complications it can present, a few banks still operate from old, historic structures-those that were once banks and those that were not. "Some people value the tradition of the architecture and are committed to preservation and making the bank function around that," Buckley said. These banks endure the uphill climb of making a landmark a place of business and visa versa. The effort turns a community bank into a historic city treasure.

Here are the stories of three banks that are operating in classic buildings.

Wells Fargo, Marquette, Mich.

Wells Fargo, Marquette, Mich., was originally two separate edifices. Constructed by a brother and sister, the buildings were intended to function together. Unfortunately, a family argument caused an irreparable rift, and the buildings stood independent of each other for 66 years. In 1992, the buildings were finally united into one banking complex.

The bank sits upon property that was originally owned by Louis G. Kaufman, a financial giant in the early 1900s. First National Bank, founded in 1866 by Peter White, suffered through three separate fires before Kaufinan decided to donate his property to the bank. The.First National Bank building was constructed of Indiana limestone with a Roman Corinthian exterior. Several of the best Italian marbles were imported for the main banking room and bronze work was installed throughout the building.

Upon its completion, Kaufman stated, "I have attempted to build an institution, not for today, but for generations to come."

The building remained the main office of the bank and of the holding company until 1973, when First National became part of the Michigan Financial Corp. In 2000, the bank merged with Wells Fargo.

In 1992, the growth and changes in the bank made the building inefficient. The bank had purchased the sister structure, the Kaufman building, which housed a J.C. Penney's store, in 1988. In 1992, the Kaufman building and the First National Bank Building underwent renovations to unify the two buildings, yet maintain the historical integrity of the main bank building. The buildings were left intact and connected via an elevator, staircase and street level ramp.

Indiana limestone was used throughout the main building and in areas of the Kaufman building. The front of the Kaufman building, which had previously been a storefront, was remodeled with windows designed to mimic the windows of the main bank building.

Extreme care had to be used to prevent damage to the original workmanship. Renovation plans called for a new information desk in the lobby, replacement of worn travertine floor sections and the restoration of original lighting fixtures. Wherever possible, existing materials were salvaged for re-use. The heating system was updated and several plastic laminates and remnants of 1960s renovations were removed.

The renovation was not without its surprises. During excavation for the connector building, a buried railroad tank car was uncovered.

"Many years ago there was a railroad spur that ran behind the building and under the street out to the harbor," explained Toni Eppensteiner, property manager of Wells Fargo. "In the early 30s, the bank was converted to oil and they were abandoning the railroad spur so they put the tank down there, filled it with oil and ran a pipe into it."

When the bank was converted to gas power in the 1970s, the bank capped the tank and never cleaned it. The discovery of the tank shut the project down for a full three weeks. The tank was so close to the bank's foundation that removal would have threatened the bank's structural integrity. So the tank was cleaned and filled with concrete and is still under the bank today.

Care was taken to integrate modem technology with the architecture. Security cameras and motion detectors were installed with fabricated boxes in black and brass surrounding them.