Lafayette Loan & Trust Building
( Lafayette Bank & Trust)
| Dates: | 1913-1914/c.1949/1964/c.1968/1998 |
| Location: | Southeast corner Main and Fourth Streets, Lafayette, Indiana. |
| Architects: | J. F. Alexander & Son, of Lafayette, Indiana with Dennison & Hirons, of New York City |
| Contractor: | A. E. Kemmer |
| vaults: | National Safe and Lock company, of Cleveland, Ohio |
The Lafayette Loan & Trust Building was Lafayette's first skyscraper when it was completed in 1914. It replaced a late-1850s Italianate landmark, the John L. Reynolds Marble Block. It was designed by J. F. Alexander & Son in cooperation with E. A. Dennison of the firm of Dennison & Hirons, of New York City.
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| "Front Elevation of the Lafayette Trust Company's Proposed Building," Lafayette Morning Journal, August 11, 1913. |
Lafayette Loan & Trust Building, c.1915. |
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From the Lafayette Sunday Times, October 25, 1914: “Hundreds of people have daily watched the men working, placing the massive iron doors in position... The new vaults were built by the National Safe and Lock company, of Cleveland, O. Each door weighs twelve tons, is eight feet high, four and one-half feet wide and fifteen inches thick. Both doors are equipped with double combination locks and triple time locks... It took S. B. Sidamay and Charles Wanstall, two experts sent from the factory, two weeks to install the big doors.” |
Detail showing the bank entrance (left) and the lobby entrance (right) with their original bronze surrounds. |
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| Lafayette Loan & Trust Building, c.1915. | South side of the building from an aerial photograph, c.1919 |
An addition was built to the south of the building about 1949, and the entrance lobby and elevators were relocated into this addition. The addition appears to have been clad in Rostone, a manufactured stone product produced in Lafayette. The original bronze entrances appear to have been removed at this time and replaced with windows. The new lobby featured pink marble and aluminum-frame doors and windows in a typical 1950s Modernist style.
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| 11-13-1958 Night view from the top of the Lafayette Life Building showing the c.1949 addition (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | Detail of the new entrance showing the Art Deco eagle over the entrance and the mezzanine floor (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
In October, 1964, the cornice was removed from the building. The cornice was probably made of pressed sheet metal, and appears to have been painted to match the limestone trim. About 1968, the exterior was painted white, the pilaster capitals on the 6th floor removed, and the limestone storefront covered in white marble panels and aluminum siding. This remodeling does not seem to have ever won much public praise and the building became a bleak eyesore on the courthouse square. Two 1870s buildings to the south of the Loan & Trust Building were demolished and replaced by a barren little courtyard.
In 1998 the building was again remodeled in an arbitrary manner with no regard for the original design. The exterior was covered in a layer of EIFS, hiding all of the historic fabric that survived the previous remodelings. The limestone storefront is thought to be intact underneath, as are the window lintels.
The banking room appears to have been remodeled in the 1970s-1980s, removing or covering most of the historic interior. One of the two 12-ton vault doors appears to have been removed. The mezzanine was walled off from the rest of the banking room and a suspended ceiling was installed to conceal the plaster cornice moldings and ceiling. The original marble, bronze, and copper counters and mahogany furniture have all been discarded. The original main staircase remains intact from the 3rd floor to the roof, and various floors retain some of their mahogany woodwork and glass doors. Floors 2-7 all have terrazzo flooring with marble tile trim but this has been covered with vinyl and carpet in most areas. The pink marble baseboards of the hallways survive on several floors. Most of the mahogany woodwork has been painted white.
Lafayette Bank & Trust has announced that it is moving to the new Renaissance Place development across the square and has sold the building.
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| 10-19-1964 Removal of the cornice (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | 10-19-1964 Detail showing pilaster capitals at the 6th floor level (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
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| 10-19-1964 View of Main Street storefront level during removal of the cornice (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | 10-19-1964 View of Fourth Street storefront level during removal of the cornice (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
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| 10-19-1964 Detail of limestone storefront (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | 10-19-1964 View of cornice removal from Fourth & Ferry Streets (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
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| 10-19-1964 The fire escape at the northeast corner of the building featured scrolled brackets and patterned railings. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | 6-1968 View of the fire escape just before its removal. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
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| 1912 The building at left was the Reynolds Marble Block, on the site of the Loan & Trust Building. The yellow building was the Ankeny Jewelry Store, demolished c.1949 when the Loan & Trust building was expanded to the south. | This c.1965 view shows the two buildings at the right in the previous image. They were demolished about 1967-68 for a bleak courtyard adjacent to the bank. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) |
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| 9-29-1974 View of the building after its c.1968 remodeling, with storefront covered in white marble and aluminum siding and brick painted white. (Image courtesy of the Herman Berry Collection) | View of the building in 2004 showing the unsympathetic EIFS cladding applied to the building in 1998. |
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| The Lafayette Loan & Trust Building offers fine views of the Lafayette skyline | |
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From the Lafayette Sunday Times, December 20, 1914:
Lafayette’s first skyscraper was formally thrown open to the public yesterday, and was inspected by thousands of admiring citizens. The building of which every one in Lafayette is proud, is the new home of the Lafayette Loan and Trust Company, a the corner of Fourth and Main streets, and bespeaks of the civic pride of the members of the Trust company and will ever be a monument to their faith in the city.
The building is one of the handsomest in the middle west and is complete in all its appointments. It is seven stories high, the main floor being used as a banking room by the Trust company and the upper floors devoted to offices. The banking rooms are said to be the handsomest west of New York, and reflect great credit on those who made it possible. The vaults are massive and well arranged, setting to the rear of the room, some distance from the massive marble counters. The rich mahogany trimmings and furnishings, the copper and brass work on the counters, together with the elaborate entrance and artistically decorated walls, make the banking rooms exquisitely attractive.
… Besides the many oral compliments, several banking houses and business men sent handsome floral offerings and beautiful baskets of carnations, roses and other flowers adorned the marble counters in the banking rooms. Among those who sent tokens were: The American National Bank, Wallace Brothers, M. Schultz and A. E. Kemmer, the contractor…
The first depositor in the new bank was little Milner Weston Wallace, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy W. Wallace. The young man is the grandson of William Wallace, one of the directors of the company who has overseen the work of constructing the new skyscraper.