"You can "Bank" on Great Architecture here" Owatonna by yooperprof

NATIONAL FARMER'S BANK OF OWATONNA

incredible fine detailing

Banker Carl Bennett wanted more than a prominent new building to house his family's business. He wanted a work of art. Bennett's search for an architect led him in 1906 to Louis Sullivan, one of the country's most innovative designers. Together they created a magnificent home for the National Farmer's Bank in downtown Owatonna. This brilliant collaboration of patron and architect produced what many consider the finest small-town bank in America.

After helping to make Chicago the country's architectural capital in the 1890s, Sullivan came through with a bank design for Owatonna unlike any other. Believing that function and form of a building should complement one another, he conceived a structure resembling a treasure chest, a fitting image for a bank that housed people's savings.

Sullivan chose for his bank a theme that he used often - an arch within a square - then attached it to a rectangular office building. He combined those simple, monumental shapes with complex ornamental details that bring the building to life. Set in sandstone and brick walls are two monumental stained-glass windows, each framed by a wide-band of terra cotta - a hard molded clay - accented by a narrow band of glass mosaic.