Farmers and Merchants Union BankLouis Sullivan
Exterior · Columbus, United States · 1919
Photo: w_lemay · 2022-09-26 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons · Original 3843×2882
Built in 1919-1920, this Chicago School and Sullivanesque-style building was designed by Louis Sullivan for the Farmers and Merchants Union Bank in Columbus, Wisconsin as one of his late-career “jewel box” bank buildings that are largely located in smaller communities throughout the midwest. The building was the last “jewel box bank” designed by Sullivan, and the second-to-last commission of his career, and was intended to communicate the bank as a modern and progressive institution, rather than employing the stodgier and more traditional Classical design found on most other banks of the era.