State Savings Bank

The State Savings Bank Building is of architectural significance as a superbly designed Neo-classical style building displaying fine craftsmanship and exemplifying the work of the nationally prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White of New York. The State Savings Bank Building assumed its present form as a result of the merger of two Detroit banks. The Peoples Savings Bank had been established in 1871 by wealthy financier and real estate investor, Francis Palms. Palms was the patriarch of an important Detroit family noted for their elaborate early twentieth century building projects. In 1907 the Peoples Savings Bank merged with the State Savings Bank (established in 1883) to form the Peoples State Bank. The new firm made its home in the fine structure that the State Savings Bank had constructed in 1900 when it was the largest bank in Detroit. By 1915, the Peoples State Bank had outgrown these quarters. The Detroit architects Donaldson and Meier were commissioned to design a harmonious addition that more than doubled the size of the building. The area on Fort and Congress Streets between Woodward Avenue and Shelby Street had become the financial district of Detroit by 1900 and has remained the center of banking in the city. The construction of the Detroit branch of Federal Reserve Bank directly across the street from the State Savings Bank in 1927, where it is still located, reinforced the importance of the corner of Fort and Shelby as the financial heart of the business district. As a result, the State Savings Bank remained in continuous use as a bank. By 1928, it was occupied by People's Wayne County Bank. Following the dissolution of this company during the Depression, it was taken over as home office of the Manufacturers National Bank (1933), which it remained until early 1980. In 1980 the structure was acquired by Silvers, Inc., an office supply company. They have sensitively rehabilitated the structure for use as an office supply showroom without altering its important architectural features. They wish to have the building listed in the National Register in recognition of its historical and architectural importance. The State Savings Bank is architecturally significant as an accomplished example of turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts classical design by master architects McKim, Mead and White of New York. Considered to be an important design by the firm, it was published in their monograph in 1915. This is the only structure in Michigan designed by this office, which was considered to be the pre-eminent American architectural firm of its period. The actual construction was overseen by the locally esteemed Detroit architects Donaldson and Meier. In 1916, when it was enlarged, John M. Donaldson of that firm, who had been trained at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, was hired to design the addition. He slavishly copied the design of the earlier structure, which was attributed to Stanford White in the firm’s monograph, with the result that the addition is indistinguishable from the original construction.

The State Savings Bank Building is located at the southeast corner of Fort and Shelby streets in the heart of the financial district in downtown Detroit. It is the lowest building in an area of highrise structures that mostly were built in the early twentieth century. It is a long, low, rectangular, white, marble-faced building measuring 100 x 296 feet with a low hip roof concealed by a roof balustrade. Although it was actually built in two stages in 1900 and 1915 by different architectural firms, McKim, Mead and White and Donaldson and Meier, both portions are identical in styling so that the structure presents a unified appearance. The lot slopes dramatically toward the south with the result that the main floor of the Congress Street elevation is raised a full story above the sidewalk on a plain polished granite base. The building has exposed elevations facing Shelby, Fort and Congress Streets. The east side abuts an old office building. The principle elevation faces Fort Street. It is a three-bay composition composed of an Ionic portico in antis flanked by two bays of monumentally-treated round-headed fenestration. The bronze tri-partite window units containing two levels of sash are set within colossal marble arches with keystones. The portico with two free-standing fluted Ionic columns, shelters the modern style main entrance. The entrance wall within the portico was remodelled about 1950 and features a plain, polished gray marble facing surrounding a glass and aluminum door unit with transom. A modern style aluminum clock-face is set into the marble over the door. Above the portico and the continuous m~illion cornice, a free-standing classical, sculptural group caps the parapet wall. It is composed of a pair of classically draped female figures representing Industry and Commerce flanking a scrolled cartouche emblazoned with an armorial motif. Cornucopias of high relief fruits and vegetables and a garland swag complete the grouping. The Shelby Street elevation is composed of eleven bays of colossal arcaded fenestration identical to the fenestration on the Fort Street facade. The middle bay is set off from the flanking ten bays by rusticated masonry piers providing a central focal point for the otherwise repetitious composition. The southernmost bay is pierced at the first story level by a modern aluminum and glass skywalk spanning Shelby Street to a neighboring building. The Congress Street elevation is raised a full-story above the sidewalk on a plain, gray marble base pierced with large plate glass windows. The sidewalk level originally contained rental offices occupied by brokerage houses although this space is now used for retailing by the present owner. The upper part of the facade is merely a three-bay repetition of the design of the Shelby Street elevation, with three colossal marble arches fitted with bronze window units at the main and second floor levels. The Fort Street entrance leads into the 1900 McKim, Mead and White portion of the structure. The square, domed vestibule is sheathed in white Norwegian marble with the dome ornamented with mosaics and bronze grilles.