Tuesday 7 March 2006

National Farmer's Bank, Owatonna, Minnesota - Louis Sullivan



National Farmer's Bank, Owatonna, Minnesota - Louis Sullivan - 1908

In 19o6 architect Louis Sullivan criticised the then-traditional bank with its classical ornament and layout in an article in The Craftsman -- read by musician-turned-banker Carl Bennett, Sullivan was challenged to "suggest how to obtain something better than the usual Roman bank."

The Owatonna National Farmers' Bank in Minnesota was the result: a variegated brick cube sparely, beautifully and thematically ornamented and proportioned, and judged by Frank Lloyd Wright to be the best of the many banks Sullivan was to build in this later part of his career.

LINKS: Louis Sullivan's Owatonna Bank
'The tall building artistically considered' - Louis Sullivan -- Peter Cresswell
Lieber-Meister page: Louis Sullivan, the architect & his work

TAGS: Architecture

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

And it also looks like a huge old-fashioned money box, with a bank note motif on the side :-)

Excellent!!!