The Bankers Trust Company Building is an office building located at 205 West Congress Street in Downtown Detroit, Downtown Detroit, Michigan, within the Detroit Financial District, Financial District. Designed by Wirt C. Rowland of SmithGroupJJR, Smith, Hinchman & Grylls and completed in 1925 the ornately modeled building is an exquisite example of Italian Romanesque Revival architecture.
[Bankers Trust Company Building](_blank)
''Detroit1701''. Retrieved July 28, 2014.
History
The Bankers Trust Company was founded in 1917 and its offices were originally located in the Savoyard Centre, State Savings Bank Building, at the northeast corner of West Congress and Shelby Streets.
[McGeen, Denise]
Bankers Trust Company Building
''Historic Detroit''. Retrieved April 26, 2016. The bank later hired the architectural firm of SmithGroupJJR, 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.
Description
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 (architecture), International Style, was completed in 1960.
References
Further reading
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External links
Historic Detroit — Bankers Trust Company Building
{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Bank buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan
Office buildings in Detroit
Historic district contributing properties in Michigan
National Register of Historic Places in Detroit
1925 establishments in Michigan