Bankers Trust Co. Building

205 West Congress – Bankers Trust Co. Building – Steel-frame two-story bank building faced in terra cotta (1925). Wirt Rowland, chief designer, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, architects. A small building with facades on both Congress and Shelby and an angled entry facing the intersection, Bankers Trust displays a highly elaborate Italian Renaissance decorative scheme fashioned of buff-color terra cotta above a low buff granite base. The building is finished with massive arches containing windows in both facades. Flanking the arched corner entrance, dark green marble columns support long hoods holding shields. The building has a flat roof. The original bronze window frames remain in place. In two of the original windows, original green marble panels are still in place in the center of the windows. The low second story is finished with an arcaded treatment that uses columns in a variety of designs. The columns, their capitals, the wall surfaces and cornice above and the wall behind the arcade are resplendent in detailing that leaves no surface there uncovered. The upper story windows that occupy the central pair of arches aligned over the arches below contain three-over-three original metal windows. The arches above the windows are also blind, filled with elaborate carving. The corner doorway once featured a revolving door, now removed, but the elaborate bronze outer door remains. The interior has been rebuilt various times as uses changed from the bank to a brokerage, and then a McDonalds during the early 1990s. It is currently used as a nightclub. The current owner recently added bronze lettering over the doorway, “Bankers Trust Company,” as a tribute to the historic past of the building.