David J Gill
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, PITTSBURGH Branch, 1931, Walker & Weeks, architects
This is all that remains of the original 1931 Art Deco interior of the Main Banking Room by Walker & Weeks. These architects did a lighter, more delicate, Beaux Arts sort of Art Deco here that is not unlike Severance Hall in Cleveland, also by Walker & Weeks and built just before this project.
For an idea of the original appearance of what was a unique and significant Art Deco interior see the pages of the 1932 article on the building in "Throvgh the Ages" also in this photo album. These interiors may have been destroyed as early as 1950 when an addition to the building more than doubled it's size.
All of the original Federal Reserve regional headquarters banks and their branches had monumental "main banking rooms." In the age of electronic banking these spaces are obsolete. Despite this obvious change in function, the Federal Reserve system's poor stewardship of their architectural legacy is unjustified. It's not irrelevant to point out that an institution that can create money out of thin air can afford, like no other institution, public or private, to preserve these buildings. The Banks did not need to jettison this real estate to reduce costs or put the capital invested in the property to better use. (This building was sold for just $8M.) Though little known, this building was among the finest and most interesting built for the Federal Reserve system.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, PITTSBURGH Branch, 1931, Walker & Weeks, architects
This is all that remains of the original 1931 Art Deco interior of the Main Banking Room by Walker & Weeks. These architects did a lighter, more delicate, Beaux Arts sort of Art Deco here that is not unlike Severance Hall in Cleveland, also by Walker & Weeks and built just before this project.
For an idea of the original appearance of what was a unique and significant Art Deco interior see the pages of the 1932 article on the building in "Throvgh the Ages" also in this photo album. These interiors may have been destroyed as early as 1950 when an addition to the building more than doubled it's size.
All of the original Federal Reserve regional headquarters banks and their branches had monumental "main banking rooms." In the age of electronic banking these spaces are obsolete. Despite this obvious change in function, the Federal Reserve system's poor stewardship of their architectural legacy is unjustified. It's not irrelevant to point out that an institution that can create money out of thin air can afford, like no other institution, public or private, to preserve these buildings. The Banks did not need to jettison this real estate to reduce costs or put the capital invested in the property to better use. (This building was sold for just $8M.) Though little known, this building was among the finest and most interesting built for the Federal Reserve system.