Introduction To Architecture

1. NATIONAL FARMER'S BANK OF OWATONNA
 The National Farmers
Bank of Owatonna, Minnesota is a historic bank
building at Broadway and Cedar Streets. It was
designed by Louis Sullivan with decorative
elements by George Elmslie.

2.  It was built in 1908, and was the first of Sullivan's "jewel boxes".
The building is clad in red brick with green terra cotta bands,
and features two large arches on its street-facing facades.
Single-story wings, originally housing bank offices, extend along
each side. The National Farmer's Bank Building has been called
"the most beautiful bank in the world." It is also referred to as
a "masterpiece."
Ar.Louis Sullivan
George Elmsie

3.  The building is clad in red brick with green terra cotta bands,
and features two large arches on its street-facing facades.
Single-story wings, originally housing bank offices, extend along
each side.

4.  Internal elements include two stained-glass windows designed
by Louis J. Millet, a mural by Oskar Gross, and four immense cast
iron electroliers designed by George Grant Elmslie and cast by
Winslow Brothers Company (owned by William Winslow, for
whom Frank Lloyd Wright designed an iconic house).[2][3]

5. Stained Glass Arch
 Designed to resemble treasure boxes, the masonry-clad
steel frame buildings awe tourists and bankers alike with
their stained glass, murals, plaster, terra cotta, tile,
wood, and other ornamentation.
 An autumnal color palette and stylized plant motifs in he
arch evokes the bank’s praire community.

6. The exterior of the bank is decorated by Green Terracotta
Trim
Green Terracotta Trim

7.  Murals are used inside the bank to make the interior
look much interesting and attractive.

8. National Farmers’ Bank of Owatonna interior cast iron electrolier.

9. Sullivan designed the bank to resemble a jeweled strongbox,
giving depositors a sense of security. The building is bathed in a
symphony of color, as Sullivan described it. Green and brown
terra cotta panels and blue and gold glass mosaic bands contrast
with the reddish brick walls and the red sandstone base that
anchors the bank to its site. Elegantly arched stained-glass
windows are mirrored on the interior by murals of dairy and
harvest scenes painted by Chicago artist Oskar Gross. The lavish
organic ornamentation, designed largely by Sullivan’s partner
George Elmslie, carries through all interior elements, from 18-
foot-tall light fixtures down to the tellers’ window grills.

10. Plan Section
Main facade, from west Corner view, from southwest South walls

11. This was the first of eight small banks designed by
Louis Sullivan at the end of his career. This
structure is often regarded as the finest of the
eight.
It bridges a transition from Chicago School to the
Prairie School of Architecture, best known through
the work of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Sullivan's chief draftsman at the time, George
Elmslie eventually set up shop in Minneapolis, and
went on to become one of the leaders of the Prairie
School.
The dark red brick building rises over a red
sandstone base, and features elaborate terra cotta
detail, a notable feature of Sullivan's work.

12. The building was added to the National Register of
Historic Places in 1971 and made a National Historic
Landmark in 1976.
The first major interior modifications occurred in
1940, destroying some of the teller windows and
light fixtures.
The interior murals were painted by Oskar Gross,
and depict agricultural scenes.
More sensitive renovations took place in the 1950s
and a major overhaul from 1976 to 1982 restored
most of the original features.
The stained glass windows are the work of Louis J.
Millet, a long-time collaborator of Sullivan.