Monumental Money

[ikaros]

This was an idea from mmarotta, who pointed out to me that there were several buildings in and near downtown Columbus that had coins as part of their decorations. I haven't gone in the Huntington yet, but I found the other ones he was talking about. Some of these are going to be subjects of further photographic study (i.e., I don't like the way they came out but haven't had the chance to go back and re-shoot). Interestingly, none of the banks that had coins on their façades are still banks.

 

We'll start, though, with the building that isn't a bank. The Leveque Tower is one of my favorite studies because it's a magnificent Deco tower with amazing decorative work all over it. And among other things, it also has carvings of a few ancients in its lower face:

 

Not far from there is what I think is the old Dollar Savings Bank, which is now a multi-vendor space, involving fudge and cell phones or something like that. Unsurprisingly, they have a dollar coin on the façade, but it's an unusual year and design -- a 1907 Peace dollar:

 

Dollar Savings struck again at a former branch at Third and Olentangy River Road, with another Peace dollar -- this one a 1954:

 

Lastly, just across from the State House is this former bank (name unknown to me) that also found 1954 to be a good year -- for a Walking Lib. This is one I'm going back to try to get again; it's really awkward to get a decent angle on because of landscaping at the State House.

 

I am, of course, keeping an eye out for more. Anyone else have coins carved in buildings near them?

[mmarotta]

Nice work! When I was on projects in Columbus, walking around downtown, I saw the 1907 Peace Dollar. It's a poor workman who blames his tools, so I will not fault my camera for the fact that I never got a picture. (My avatar is the work of a photography lab aide in the fine arts department of my community college when I worked in campus safety.)

 

I believe that in architecture, these are called "medals." That makes it hard to search via the usual engines because you get way too many hits for the easy answer. Decorations such as these must certainly be found in other places in addition to Columbus, Ohio. Does anyone know of them in your own locales?

 

Thanks, again, ikaros, for the hard work and good shooting.

[Art]

Very interesting. I had never given this any thought. As far as I know there are none in my town but I'll look around a bit. We have quite a few buildings that once served as banks and now have other uses.

[ikaros]

What's funny is I went by that Dollar Savings at High and Gay twice every workday, and never noticed the disjoint of a Peace dollar dated 1907 until mmarotta pointed it out--much less the existence of the 1954 Peace and Walker. Nor did I think about coins in the context of decorations on non-financial buildings like the Leveque. Amazing the things that go on right under our noses. Anyway, I think the next project (when the weather is not so horribly cold) will be to see if any of the other Dollar Savings branches are still standing. The Peace dollar clutched in the talons of an eagle appears to be their 'logo', and it'll be interesting to see what other dates are out there. The bank itself appears to have gone belly-up in the S&L debacle 20 years ago, so finding them ought to be an interesting chore. Also, I need to find out what the building with the Walker on it used to be, to see if they have any old branches in the area, too.

 

I don't expect to find any examples in my home town when I'm there for the holidays; the oldest bank building there dates from about 1960 and is sprawled out like a ranch home, not marble and stately like... well, like a bank. There are four bank buildings in Rossford that I can think of, and as best as I can recall, only two are still banks. MidAm merged into what eventually became Sky, and Fifth Third ate First National of Toledo. Meanwhile, the old First Federal S&L of Wood County building is now owned by the Board of Education, and the old Rossford branch of the Glass City Federal Credit Union is a Marco's Pizza now (Glass City FCU is still alive and well, but they scaled back during the recession of the 80s).

[thedeadpoint]

Awesome thread, guys! I will have to drive through downtown Richmond in hopes of seeing something similar!

[bill]

Great images! One has to wonder about the 1907 Peace dollar. 1907 must refer to some significant date for the bank, but it obviously had to be created after 1921. Interesting.

[ikaros]

Great images! One has to wonder about the 1907 Peace dollar. 1907 must refer to some significant date for the bank, but it obviously had to be created after 1921. Interesting.

The bank was founded in 1907--I found that much online, but since Dollar went under before the Internet, there's not a whole lot else online as yet. I'll have to spend some time at the library after the holidays, when I can breathe again. I'm not sure when the building was built. I would guess the 1920s, before or just at the start of the Great Depression; it has a very Deco feel to it, and the façade appears to be marble, not concrete. I haven't found any of their other abandoned branches other than the one at Third and Olentangy River. Since that was a Peace dollar dated 1954, I suspect the branches' "dollars" are dated by their construction date.

[hiho]

Interesting thread and the photos are pretty good ikaros.

 

You would think that in a city as big as New York that there would be numerous examples, yet I have never seen even one.

 

I'll keep my eyes open.

[ikaros]

Interesting thread and the photos are pretty good ikaros.

 

You would think that in a city as big as New York that there would be numerous examples, yet I have never seen even one.

 

I'll keep my eyes open.

Maybe on the older buildings in the financial district? Never been to NYC m'self. And they could be anywhere. The Peace dollars and the ancients were right on the façade, while the Walker was up in the pediment. I suspect that companies with some form of money in their titles will be more likely--for example, Dime Bank of New England uses the obverse of the 'Mercury' dime as part of its logo, while The Dime Bank in Pennsylvania uses the reverse of the Roosevelt dime... but Dime Savings in Brooklyn doesn't seem to actually use a dime at all. Cairns Penny Savings in Australia uses the classic Australian 'roo reverse. It's an open question whether they use the designs architecturally -- can't get a good enough image in Google Street View to tell for certain.

 

I find the unusual date and design combinations the most fascinating. I mean, a 1954 Walker... as much as I love the Franklins, that's cool. And a 1907 Peace is just disjointed in time and space.

[Saor Alba]

Brings to mind a few years ago when the ANA adopted a new logo with the Peace Dollar image and the 1891 date.

[Dockwalliper]

Check out this link.

 

 

Second National Bank, Richmond IN.

 

[Dockwalliper]

 

Rushmore Bank and Trust, Rapid City SD.

[Art]

Nice finds Doc. Haven't found anything in town with coins on it.

[ikaros]

Excellent finds, Doc!

 

When it warms up, and when the frantic rush of the holidays is over, I'll get back into researching central Ohio institutions. I can do a couple Google Streets explorations of downtown Toledo, since I know the area well enough for it to not be a completely random exercise.

[Dockwalliper]

I found another. The old Frost Bank building in San Antoino TX.

 

 

[ikaros]

I found another. The old Frost Bank building in San Antoino TX.

 

 

Terrific Buffalo Nickel there -- both sides, no less! Kind of a shame it's not dated, but an excellent rendition.

[Dockwalliper]

Living in the Buffalo area lots of establishments use the Buffalo nickel on signs and ads but none that I know that have them built into the building facade.

[ccg]

Great thread! I can't think of anything around here, unfortunately.

[ikaros]

Realizing that this topic has lain fallow for a VERY long time... is there the remotest chance anyone saved the images from this?  Imageshack went evil a few years ago and cut off all free users, so I no longer have access to my own pictures, and I find myself a) in need of them and b) disinterested in re-taking the pictures any time soon.

[Corina]

i use flickr for my photos they are free to upload and you have lots of space to use for photos

[ikaros]

Yeah, I found a couple of the original images and started a new album for them on my Flickr.  A fortunate thing, because one of them doesn't exist anymore; the building has been torn down.