Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank (1891)

The 1891 Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a Beaux-Arts style building that formerly served as the headquarters of Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. In 1942, the bank moved to a new location at 88 S. 6th St. at the corner of Sixth and Marquette.

Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank from the northeast
Location	Minneapolis, Minnesota
Coordinates	44°58′43.26″N 93°16′3.39″W
Built	1891
Architect	Franklin B. Long; William Kenyon
Architectural style	Classical Revival, Beaux-Arts
NRHP reference No.	84001419 [1]
Added to NRHP	January 12, 1984

The building was designed by the locally prominent firm of Long and Kees as a one-story building. Long and Kees usually preferred the then-popular Richardsonian Romanesque style for their buildings, but deviated from this style for the bank. In 1908 architect William Kenyon designed a second-story addition that enlarged the façade while retaining the Beaux-Arts style. The exterior is faced with white limestone, with five piers of rusticated stone supporting fluted Corinthian pilasters.[2] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The building is now home to The Downtown Cabaret, a strip club. Architecture critic Larry Millett writes, "If you step inside for a view of the, ahem, scenery, you'll discover a glass dome that once illuminated a 'ladies banking lobby' but is now the scene of activities not everyone would consider ladylike."[3]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
2. "Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank". Minneapolis Heritage Preservation Commission. 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-03.
3. Millett, Larry (2007). AIA Guide to the Twin Cities: The Essential Source on the Architecture of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Minnesota Historical Society Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-87351-540-4.