January 2025.
My girl was out of town one weekend in January, so I figured I’d drive out east to Newark to see Louis Sullivan’s Home Building Association Bank, which is the nearest of his “jewel boxes” to Columbus. Unfortunately, it was under renovation when I visited, so I couldn’t see the inside and a bunch of construction stuff was blocking the side. Still, it was really interesting to see one in person for the first time, and this was the first of my many forays across Ohio.
The Home Building Association Bank is located at 1 N 3rd Street in downtown Newark, Ohio. It is at the corner of 3rd Street and Main Street, and it is situated on the middle west side of Courthouse Square. The bank is bordered by earlier Victorian-era commercial buildings to the north, Main Street and similar buildings to the south, 3rd Street and the Licking County Courthouse to the east, and smaller commercial buildings to the west.
History
Before I begin on the history of the actual building, it’s important to understand the nature of Louis Sullivan’s final commissions. In his partnership with Dankmar Adler, Sullivan was an extremely successful Chicago architect during the last decade of the 19th century, having designed many important and beautiful buildings. However, by the turn of the century, their firm had dissolved and Sullivan’s popularity began to wane. This could perhaps be attributed to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the resulting desire for Beaux-Arts architecture, which Sullivan lamented, considering it to have set American architecture back “for half a century from its date.” (Although he decorated his buildings lavishly, he considered other architects’ usage of ornament--especially classical ornament--to be uncreative, and he is best known for the phrase “form ever follows function.”) These final commissions are known as his “jewel boxes,” eight bank buildings and one renovation of an extant building, all in the Midwest.
The Home Building Association Bank was built from 1914-1915 for the Home Building Association Company, also known as “The Old Home.” Largely designed by Louis Sullivan, the mosaics were designed by Louis Millet, and the ornament was carved by Kristian Schneider. It opened on August 15, 1915.
The Home Building Association Bank as it originally appeared. (Aetypic)
The building’s unusual two-story nature was desired by company officials due to the lot’s small size (35 x 65 feet), and the basement was likewise intended for business usage. It might have also been a response to the height of its neighbors. Beyond its stature, the bank is otherwise similar to Sullivan’s other jewel boxes--simple massing and largely flat masonry facades, featuring extravagant ornamentation in carefully considered places. Here, the decoration extends to the borders, the famous mosaics across the front and side, and the florid clusters nearby. The color scheme is also unique, departing from Sullivan’s traditional brick. (More on all that later.)
The Home Building Association Company joined Franklin National Bank to form the Union Trust Company in 1928. The conglomerate was too large for the original building, so they moved elsewhere that year.
The Home Building Association Bank building during Symon’s tenancy. (NRHP)
In 1942, the former bank building was sold to William Camlin, and the Sanitary Meat Market opened inside a year later. Then, in 1946, Symon’s Best Jewelry Company took over, which occupied the building until 1973. They modified the Home Building Association Bank for the first time during their tenancy, altering the original orthogonal portal to a new Art Moderne doorway at a 45-degree angle that was visible from both 3rd and Main Street. Symon’s also obscured Sullivan’s mosaics with signage. Prior to the 1970s, and likely during Symon’s tenancy (considering their other renovations to the building), much of the interior was stripped of its original features. The only remnants were some of the marble flooring and wainscoting, as well as Sullivan-designed frescoes.
Symon’s was the tenant when the Home Building Association Bank was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and pictures during their tenancy appear in the submission form. By that time, the building was heavily altered. Beyond the changes mentioned above, lighting was installed along the roofline, and a blade sign was mounted on the corner. The nomination form also mentions that the “openings on the first floor have been enlarged” (it is unknown to me which ones exactly the author is referring to, possibly those surrounding the new doorway) and that the south side’s windows were shortened.
The Home Building Association Bank during its time as an ice cream parlor. Note the missing terra-cotta above the south windows and corner portal. (Licking County Foundation)
Another bank, the Mutual Federal Savings and Loan Association, was the tenant from 1979 to 1983. They replaced the Art Moderne doors with more modern ones. The Home Building Loan Association Bank’s last business tenant was Tiffany’s Ice Cream Parlor, departing in 2007. By that time, the building was in poor shape, and several of the facade’s tiles were missing.
The interior fresco undergoing restoration. (Licking County Foundation)
Newark native Stephen Jones, an architecture enthusiast, purchased the Home Building Association Bank in 2007 after the ice cream shop’s departure. It was donated to the Licking County Foundation in 2013. They are in the process of restoring the building for the Explore Licking County organization. Its basement restoration finished in October 2016, the exterior was restored from 2019-2021, and work on the interior was ongoing when I visited. It was just completed as of publication, as the building was rededicated on October 27.
Photos
It was a gray, crappy day, but I’m still really happy with the way a lot of these photos came out. Despite the entire side of the building being blocked by a trailer and the site bordered by fencing, I got some good shots.
Taking a page from Richard Nickel’s book here…let’s show the building and its surrounding context first. It is weird that I’m visiting these same buildings that he did 60-70 years later.
It makes me happy that a lot of these neighbors, which had their facades mangled and chopped off during the mid-century era, have been restored. The Mariposa one in particular is a very drastic change.
I believe that the building adjacent to the bank on this side is being modified to make the bank ADA compliant.
Here’s the Home Building Association Bank as the star of the show now:
You can see how the building is largely built using smooth gray terra-cotta, which is a departure from Sullivan’s typical brick materiality. Again, he confines the ornament to select places--largely borders (which accentuate the bank’s square massing), mosaics (an elaborate way to emphasize the occupant), and the five highly elaborate foliate clusters.
The 3rd Street facade:
Here, the building is very vertical, and the stars of the show are the mosaic and flourish below. The fenestration and doorway are simple and appear secondary.
Main Street’s larger and more detailed facade:
I like the three-dimensionality created by the protruding band of masonry around the middle. Though the space in between is pretty bland, the other ornamental flourishes spice it up.
It was surreal seeing Sullivan’s ornament up close for the first time.
Call it excessive, call it whatever you want, but you cannot deny that this is probably the peak of applied ornament in architecture. No other architect’s work compares to this level of extravagance and detail.
Now for probably my favorite photo I’ve ever taken thus far…the elaborate mosaic up close:
If you look closely, Sullivan is credited in gold tesserae.
Those ornamental bands continue up the facade and across the top of the windows:
Here you can see how annoying the trailer is--it’s fully in the way of a bunch of details on the side:
Since the trailer blocked one of the major corner flourishes, I had to get this other one between the fence and cherry picker.
These are pretty typical Sullivanesque ornamental designs--he combines natural forms with geometrical ones to create a compelling end result.
Here’s the third unique one, which borders the south side’s mosaic:
A full shot of the mosaic and windows above:
I particularly like the subtle ornamental border to the building, which is still highly detailed.
Quick bonus pic--I got this looking into the guts of the building next door being renovated. It says “...eat things for your ea…,” which I’m guessing originally read “Great things for your head.” Maybe this was a pharmacy at some point?
The future looks pretty bright for the Home Building Association Bank. Although I missed the interior, Newark is on the way to other locations in Ohio I plan to visit, so I may make an update post with interior pictures. Stay tuned.
Sources:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/73001495.pdf
https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/OH-01-089-0001
https://www.aetypic.com/post/the-louis-sullivan-bank-of-newark
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