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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.
NRHP Ref# 09001067 • Data from National Park Service • Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0
The Bankers Trust Company Building is an office building located at 205 West Congress Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Financial District. Designed by Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls and completed in 1925 the ornately modeled building is an exquisite example of Italian Romanesque Revival architecture.
The Bankers Trust Company was founded in 1917 and its offices were originally located in the State Savings Bank Building, at the northeast corner of West Congress and Shelby Streets. The bank later hired the architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls to design a new headquarters building down the street; the structure, designed by Wirt C. Rowland, was completed in 1925. The Bankers Trust Company occupied the building from 1925 to 1948, when a brokerage firm moved in. The structure later housed a fast food restaurant, a diner, and several nightclubs, before being sold in 2015 to an unidentified buyer for $3 million.
The two-story building is faced with terra cotta and includes elaborate exterior Italian Romanesque–style decorations, with massive arched windows designed to admit light to the banking room. The large first-floor arches are echoed on the second floor. Green marble columns topped with lions flank the corner entrance, which once had a revolving door (now removed). The interior has been remodeled multiple times as the structure served different uses; the three-story addition on Shelby Street, designed in the International Style, was completed in 1960.
Content available under CC BY-SA 4.0