There has been a time-honored tradition for financial institutions to create the impression that they are a segment of the government, if not the government itself. This bank building of the late twenties carries out this illusion with great force. The 11 floors of the building are encompassed within a shell that alludes to the Greek; the layered domed bell tower could be an Athenian monument, while the ground floor takes one into the Hellenistic and Roman realms of the classical world. Equally Roman and Imperial is the three-story-high public banking room on the lower level. As is true with the nearby First National Bank Building (
ME113), the limestone sheathing has been detailed to read as a thin skin, with the detailing carried out in a linear manner. As a skyscraper, the building functions well; at street level the treatment is that of a rusticated basement which is carried up to the second and third floors with pilastered walls and arched openings. The roofscape is highly effective, its central pedimented roof surmounted by the narrow, tall clock tower.