Bankers Trust Company Building, Detroit (MI)
N 42° 19.746 W 083° 02.886
17T E 331254 N 4688347
Bankers Trust Company Building is located in downtown Detroit, Michigan.
Waymark Code: WM18T0B
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 09/21/2023
Views: 1
In the heart of Detroit’s Financial District, the two-story, ornate, terra-cotta-clad, Bankers Trust Company Building stands like a little secret treasure amongst its towering neighbors.
Architect Wirt C. Rowland, of the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, designed the Italian Romanesque-style bank in 1925 at a particularly dramatic time in the neighborhood’s development. Long the center of Detroit’s banking activity, the surrounding area underwent a dramatic transformation in the early 20th century from one composed primarily of wood-framed office buildings to one of much taller steel-framed office towers. Though Detroit’s largest banks were constructing the massive skyscrapers that now define the Financial District, Bankers Trust opted for a more modest two-story structure on the southwest corner of West Congress and Shelby streets. It formally opened Dec. 22, 1925.
Although small compared with some of its contemporary neighbors, such as the Dime, Ford, Buhl, Penobscot and Guardian buildings, what the Bankers Trust Company Building lacks in size, it more than makes up for in startling romantic charm. A subtle interplay of rose and beige terra cotta against bronze and marble accents is made even more dramatic by exuberant carvings and sculptural reliefs that cover the facades on Congress and Shelby. A large, angled entrance bay faces the intersection. It consists of a modern glass door enclosed in a rounded bronze outer door, all framed by a massive round arch. Marble columns topped by lions holding shields with insignias of keys flank the arch. Various other carvings, including dogs, sphinxes, plant motifs and zigzags cover the shafts and molding. A Byzantine-style wheel window pierced by modern blue lightbulbs fills the tympanum. “Bankers Trust Company” is spelled out in bronze lettering above the door.
Prominent, full-story arches containing bronze-framed windows span both facades. A modern side entrance is located within the arch at the west end of the Congress facade. A bandcourse featuring chevron and Greek key patterns is incorporated into cubiform capitals atop clustered arch supports. Lions perch on each cluster. A second-story arcade - formed by differently patterned shafts topped by Corinthian capitals - contains pairs of bronze-framed windows that alternate with blind arches. The blind arches contain polychromatic geometric medallions called opus sectile. More opus sectile, stylized eagles, and grotesques fill the spandrels and tympanums. Above, the elaborately carved cornice culminates in a flat roof.
A 1960 addition is attached to the building’s east elevation. This 3-story, steel-framed commercial building consists of alternating concrete and glass panels. Its south elevation is clad in beige brick that extends over the facade’s southeast corner. The addition represents a modest application of International Style elements to a commercial building.-
Historic Detroit