Union Arcade

Union Savings Bank and Trust
Location 229 Brady St.
Davenport, Iowa
Coordinates 41°31′20″N 90°34′25″W / 41.52222°N 90.57361°WCoordinates: 41°31′20″N 90°34′25″W / 41.52222°N 90.57361°W
Area less than one acre
Built 1915 & 1924
Architect Temple & Burrows
Architectural style Classical Revival
Governing body Private
MPS Davenport MRA
NRHP Reference # 83002520[1]

The Union Arcade is an office building located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by its original name Union Savings Bank and Trust Although it was not the city's largest bank, and it was not in existence all that long, the building is still associated with Davenport's financial prosperity between 1900 and 1930.

History

Third Street looking east. The lower level of the Union Savings Bank is shown at right before the upper floors were added.

Union Savings Bank was established in Davenport in 1891.[2] The bank moved to its Brady Street location around the turn of the 20th century. It had previously been the location of Davenport National Bank until Union Savings Bank took it over. The lower level of the present building was completed around 1915 and the upper floors of the building were completed in 1924 according to the designs by Davenport architectural firm Temple & Burrows.[3]

As the bank grew it started to acquire other banks in the city. In the 1920s it merged with Davenport Savings Bank and Scott County Savings Bank and was renamed Union Savings Bank and Trust Company. After the start of the Great Depression many banks failed or were severely weakened. One of those banks was First National Bank, which Union Savings Bank and Trust took over before the Bank Holiday in 1933. The other Davenport banks who survived up to this time included: American Commercial and Savings Bank, Bechtel Trust Company, Northwest Davenport Savings Bank, and Home Savings Bank.[4] The bank, however, was not one of the banks to emerge after the Bank Holiday. By the 1960s the banking room on the main floor of the building was converted into retail space.[3] Professional offices occupied the upper floors.

Rodney Blackwell of Financial District Properties bought the Union Arcade in late 2013 for $1.65 million.[5] In March 2014 a $13 million renovation project began to turn the building into 68 market-rate apartments with commercial space on the main level. It is expected to be completed in the summer of 2015.

Architecture

Brady Street facade

The building is a seven-story, L-shaped structure designed in the Classical Revival and the emerging Chicago Commercial Style.[3] It is 125 feet (38 m) tall.[6] The main façade of the building fronted Brady Street, with its secondary façade on East Third Street. It is built of limestone and it has a limestone foundation. The Classical Revival details are found primarily on the street level façade, which was the part of the building constructed around 1915. When it was built it had columns in the Ionic order at the street level side on Brady Street. On the north side, the columns become pilasters featuring the Corinthian order.

The upper floors were constructed nine years after the lower level of the building. It is here that the Chicago Commercial Style is in evidence. The windows are stacked in pairs between the vertical piers and are themselves separated by decorative metal spandrel panels.[7] The top of the building features a heavy cornice.

Kruse & Parish was the architectural firm that remodeled the building’s storefront to function as the Union Arcade. It is probably at that time that the Ionic columns were removed from the building. A mezzanine level, which provides a transition to the upper levels, was also added at that time.

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2010-07-09.
  2. ↑ Svendsen, Marls A., Bowers, Martha H (1982). Davenport where the Mississippi runs west: A Survey of Davenport History & Architecture. Davenport, Iowa: City of Davenport. p. 5-4.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Union Savings Bank & Trust" (PDF). Davenport Public Library. Retrieved 2010-10-06.
  4. ↑ Svendsen, 5-5.
  5. ↑ Jennifer DeWitt. "$13M renovation of Union Arcade begins". Quad-City Times. Retrieved 2015-04-18.
  6. ↑ "Union Arcade Building". Emporis. Retrieved 2012-01-09.
  7. ↑ Wehner, Nowysz, Pottschull and Pfiffner. "Union Savings Bank and Trust" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-04-18.

External links