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Belmont-Sheffield Bank, Chicago
secondrepublic
Posts: 2,619 ✭✭✭
In my neighborhood here in Chicago, there's a big old bank building, the former Belmont-Sheffield Trust and Savings Bank. It's about four blocks south of Wrigley Field, and takes up most of a full city block.
There's a city landmark designation on the building explaining when it was built.
The Wikipedia page for the building adds some more information -- including the fact that the bank folded in June 1932, during the Great Depression. Wikipedia link.
I never had any reason to visit this building until the holidays, when I stopped by the Walgreens shown in the first photo. As you walk into the center of the store, you really see what the inside of the old bank building looked like.
Right in the center of the photo (above) you can make out a circle in the plaster decoration. Hmm... what could that be? Here's a photo of the ceiling from another angle, showing two of these circles:
And now the money shot -- a close up:
There are four of these huge plaster Standing Liberty designs, all dateless, one on each wall. They're probably about two feet in diameter.
There's a city landmark designation on the building explaining when it was built.
The Wikipedia page for the building adds some more information -- including the fact that the bank folded in June 1932, during the Great Depression. Wikipedia link.
I never had any reason to visit this building until the holidays, when I stopped by the Walgreens shown in the first photo. As you walk into the center of the store, you really see what the inside of the old bank building looked like.
Right in the center of the photo (above) you can make out a circle in the plaster decoration. Hmm... what could that be? Here's a photo of the ceiling from another angle, showing two of these circles:
And now the money shot -- a close up:
There are four of these huge plaster Standing Liberty designs, all dateless, one on each wall. They're probably about two feet in diameter.
"Men who had never shown any ability to make or increase fortunes for themselves abounded in brilliant plans for creating and increasing wealth for the country at large." Fiat Money Inflation in France, Andrew Dickson White (1912)
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Comments
-Paul
There's a landmark bank in the small town I live in now, I enjoy visiting when the opportunity arises, it's pretty cool. Here's a really good website, great pics, check it out, the ornamentation in this old bank is amazing -
Merchants National Bank
<< <i>I wonder what the former bank president would have thought if he could have seen what has become of the building today. >>
Or the neighborhood, for that matter.
Thanks for sharing those pics with us !!
Love the SLQ !!
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Coin collecting is not a hobby, it's an obsession !
New Barber Purchases
I see a VERY Type I SLQ!
Cool building and pics, thanks for sharing.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.