MONROE CENTER SKYSCRAPER BANKS

Monroe Center was the epicenter for Grand Rapids early skyscraper banks. The idea was to build elaborate and imposing structures implying permanence and prosperity by using monumental classical detailing on a grand scale.

MCKAY TOWER - GRAND RAPIDS NATIONAL BANK 1914 At 146 Monroe Center NW:  The first of these banks, set on the corner of Pearl and Monroe Center, is the Grand Rapids National Bank completed in 1914 at 114 Monroe Center. It was built in 1914 on the old homestead of early settler Joe Guild and it was designed by Williamson & Crow and built in different stages with the first rendition a substantial Neoclassic design with large two story fluted columns and elaborate stonework.   Soon after, additional floors were added. In 1926, twelve more floors were added, and in 1940, politician Frank McKay purchased the building, renaming it the McKay Tower. In 1960, the two-story second floor was divided into two floors and a time and temperature sign was added on the roof. Until 1983, it was the tallest building between Detroit and Chicago. McKay willed the bank to the University of Michigan. Several owners later, in 2012, it was renovated, including the ballroom and new apartments on the 15th floor. Lately it was purchased by two tribal investment companies.             .

Details: The four-story neoclassical “banking temple” has a polished granite base and a three-story colonnade supporting the cornice.  Banking offices were on the second and third floor, and their allied bank, City Trust and Savings, had offices on the main level. The interior featured high ceilings and solid marble columns with marble stairs and modern elevators.  Noisy office equipment was tucked away in back rooms. Separate rooms for male and women customers were equipped with writing desks, newspapers and phones. The bank vaults were in the basement. The employees had club rooms, a dining room and handball court. Architects: William Williamson and Henry Crow (Williamson & Crow).  Roger Allen designed the 1960 renovation.

GRAND RAPIDS SAVINGS BANK 1914 at 66 Monroe Center NW: The Grand Rapids Savings Bank was completed two blocks east at 66 Monroe Center at Ionia. This bank was designed by Osgood & Osgood and completed in 1916. The buff brown brick and granite building with Terra Cotta trim was for many years the tallest building in Grand Rapids at 13 floors. In 1926 it was bested by the addition of floors to the Grand Rapids National Bank bringing the height to 16 floors.

U.S. Senator William Alden Smith, Chairman of the Board and publisher of the Grand Rapids Herald, headed up the building committee. History remembers Smith for his role as the chair of the Senate investigation into the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. During the trial held in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York Times journalists sometimes ridiculed Smith for his dogged pursuit of the truth. Still, his relentless determination resulted in improved maritime safety regulations.  

Shortly after the Grand Rapids Savings Bank opened in 1916, 40,000 onlookers gathered to watch Columbia University graduate and aeronaut Harry Gardiner climb the bank's 13 stories, illuminated by floodlights. He was dubbed the "Human Fly" by President Grover Cleveland. Dressed all in white, Gardiner climbed to the roof and out onto the flagpole. He stopped only once on the 9th floor to open a savings account.  The Peoples National Bank was located here through the 1950s and 1960s. Both John Blodgett and U.S. Congressman Gerald R. Ford were office tenants. Old Kent Bank later had offices in the building. A 1980s renovation to attract new tenants included restoring the curved marble staircase and elaborate lobby. The 1987 Grand Rapids Symphony Designer Showcase featured the People's Building. The building was added to the National Register in 1990. In 2002, it was Select Bank but the building was 75% vacant. Cornerstone Architects restored the exterior, ornate lobby, banking rooms, and commercial spaces. Renaissance Zone status was awarded including tax incentives for the purchase of the redesigned condominiums. By 2023, the main floor was vacant.  A&B: 1916 Osgood & Osgood and Owen-Ames-Kimball; 2001-04 Cornerstone Architects.

Building Details:  The monumental 13-story brick building has a three-story base of gray granite blocks and has classical revival and beaux arts styling. Modern in its structural design, the bank was constructed with structural steel in place of load-bearing walls. The front of the building has five bays. The recessed entrance, three bays wide, is exactly in the center and is flanked by two massive Doric Columns. Two engaged outer columns frame the recessed entry space. A large elaborate cornice tops the granite base. Slender brick piers on the upper floors give the building a soaring verticality in the style of the Chicago modern skyscrapers. The three sets of paired windows, flanked by a single window on each end, are capped with Terra Cotta sills and lintels.

Architects: Sidney and Eugene Osgood were the architects and the contractor was Hauser Owens-Ames.

MORTON HOTEL - KENT STATE BANK 1922 55 Ionia NW at Monroe Center Louis Campau once owned the land where The Morton sits. He sold it to Hiram and Myron Hinsdill for $200, and they built the Hinsdill Hotel in 1835-36. In 1840 new owner Canton Smith renamed it the National House and then went to California to prospect for gold. The hotel burned twice before a complicated ownership chain of Smith descendants and George Morton led to the first Morton House, completed in 1873. This was the leading hotel when President McKinley stayed there, but its popularity waned when the Pantlind Hotel opened in 1916. By 1923, the business community, including Miner Keeler of Keeler Brass, financed the current building to support the convention and furniture trade. It was a fireproof steel structure and a limestone, granite, and brick exterior. The opulent lobby featured marble, travertine floors, sweeping staircases,  art-deco railings, gold leaf and frescoed ceilings with angels and mythical creatures, and a palm court. Kent State Bank was located on the main level.  From 1927 to 1937, the building housed the Burleson Sanitarium. The hotel's bar-eateries included Les Idees, Der Kelder, and in the 1960s, the Kitten Club. Bankruptcy hit the Morton House in 1970, and the Saperstein family converted the historic building to rent-subsidized apartments under  HUD contract (Department of Housing and Urban Development). Rockford Development bought the structurally sound building in 2011. In 2014, they cleaned the exterior, installed new windows, and uncovered the interior's opulent decor. Contractors found balconies on the mezzanine levels overlooking the ballroom and discovered a massive bank vault. Following the $24 million renovations, the Morton was an apartment building and in 2021, the global design firm Gensler renovated the Morton Hotel interior as a dog-friendly hotel's with canine amenities included play facilities and a washing station.  Architects: Holabird & Roche Architects/Owen-Ames-Kimball, Contractor; 2014 Integrated Architecture and Rockford Construction; Penthouse: AMDG Architects Inc.; 2021 Interior - Gensler.

GRAND RAPIDS TRUST BUILDING -77 MONROE CENTER CITY FLATS BALLROOM

To the Grand Rapids Trust Company President Joseph Brewer, the new bank building was a monument to the city's growing financial power. Architects used a steel and granite structure for the 12-story Art-Deco skyscraper with soaring piers, receding upper floors, and a terra-cotta facade. Detroit-based Italian-American sculptor Corrado Parducci referenced Native American and Michigan motifs and symbols when he created the bas-relief sculpture.  Kenneth Welch, owner of the Grand Rapids Showcase Company, designed the interior with walnut-paneled walls, coffered ceilings, Romanesque arches, marble walls, and travertine floors. He designed the opulent modern interior with retail shops on the ground floor and a grand marble stairway that led to the second-floor banking lobby.  Welch later became a nationally known shopping mall designer and urban planner.

In 1940, Lansing banker, Howard J. Stoddard founded the Michigan National Bank and consolidated six Michigan banks, including 77 Monroe, where he located the new Michigan National Bank Grand Rapids headquarters. The bank spent over $2.5 million on renovations,.

The Hinman Company bought the bank building in 1995. By 1998, the 6,000-square-foot second-floor banking lobby was closed. In 2012, the City Flats Hotel next door converted the original banking hall into an elegant 225-seat Banquet and Ballroom venue with the original grand marble staircase. City Flats built a mezzanine-level bridge to connect the event space to the hotel. A $50,000 Downtown Development Authority grant helped fund the project. Street level commercial spaces are located off the lobby with its 1920s decor. A & B: Wirt Rowland Architect-Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, Owen-Ames-Kimball, Kenneth Welch, Corrado Parducci.

Text and Photos copyright VanderPloeg 2023