Tour Booklet WNB FINANCIAL MORE THAN A BANK Exploring our Historic Downtown treasured heritage. Office Tour 204 Main Street

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INANCIAL WNMOREB T FHAN A BANK

8/18 Tiffany Studios created the center ceiling cove from George Maher sketches. The Prairie design style appears in the ceilings of the upper level meeting rooms. The stepped design echoes the patterns in the furniture that was custom built for those rooms.

Furniture Decorative cove (above) The chairs and and Prairie style molding. Welcome tables both reflect Thank you for touring the Prairie School influences. These original furniture Downtown office of pieces were carefully restored in 1991 during the WNB Financial. building’s last major renovation.

You will find many interesting Thank You! artistic and architectural We hope you enjoyed your tour of WNB features on the tour. Financial’s Downtown We hope you enjoy your visit! building. If you would like to arrange a group tour, please call at least one day in advance (507-454-8800 or 1-800-546-4392 if calling from outside the Winona area). WNB Financial gratefully acknowledges the Winona County Historical Society for

the use of its resources Prairie School-inspired The completed building in 1916. in the publication of furniture. this book. 2 11 Staircases A Brief History of the Bank The white marble’s The bank was formed as the Winona Savings strength and Bank and began business in July 1874. uniformity make it an excellent choice WNB Financial’s for the two stairwells Downtown building that lead from the was erected in 1916, first to third floor. originally housing The stairwells both the Winona are designed to Savings Bank and provide an elegant the newly formed passageway to the Winona National third floor’s artistic Bank. Engraved splendor. Top-grade on the front of this Staircase details. mahogany railings building is “Winona wrap around the Savings Bank” as the staircases. merger with Winona National Bank had Metal Works not occurred when it The main floor has several examples of Prairie was built. School-inspired ventilation grids. Iron window gates help complete the building’s formidable Over the years, WNB front entry. All metal works were designed by Financial has had George Maher. prominent presidents, including William Ceiling Cove Mitchell for whom The vault cove may have been inspired by the William Mitchell decorative cove on the center ceiling of the Law School in St. building. The ceiling cove has a unique pattern Paul is named, and that incorporates the lion motif and lotus pattern. William Windom, a former United States Treasury Secretary. Building construction. The Building The building was designed by prominent architect George Maher of Chicago who also designed the Watkins building in Winona. Maher was a contemporary of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The bank building is in Egyptian Decorative staircase metal work. Revival style, but it has clear Prairie School 10 influences. 3 Monolithic Columns Smaller stained glass windows are located at the The building’s face has a formidable look North and South sides of the lobby. According to highlighted by the two grand columns. The front the newspaper article, the smaller stained glass design is meant to show strength and stability, windows each took a Tiffany artist 24 working two important banking concepts. days to complete.

Column features: The most impressive art glass window in the • Height: 37 feet building is the huge, colorful window placed • Diameter: 4 feet, 8 ½ inches over the entrance on the West side of the • Weight: 32 tons building. A lotus pattern is apparent in the large • Each column is a single granite piece. art glass window, and Maher’s Prairie School • Each pillar rests on a 5-ton granite base. influences are also evident. During bright, sunny • The granite was quarried in North Carolina and days, the window shines brilliantly and is a focal polished in Vermont. point of color and beauty. • At the time the columns were erected in 1916, they were among the largest gray granite Skylights columns in the United States. Maher designed the building to be illuminated by direct light fixtures as well as the indirect The original planning for the building included light of many skylights. columns made of the much less expensive Bedford stone. Architect George Maher A large skylight is in the center of the lobby, convinced bank and other skylights are located in the marble president E.L. King staircases and the third floor meeting rooms. that the columns The skylights share and bases should be the same simple granite instead. The yet elegant design granite cost nearly motif, characteristic two-and-a-half of the Prairie times as much as the School architectural Bedford stone, but movement. Maher focused on the long-term value Light Fixtures of granite. In a 1913 The third floor light letter to E.L. King, fixtures show an Maher assured King art deco influence. that, “no bank that Remarkably, most of might be erected at the original fixtures are Winona in the future still in place today after Skylights and light Details from the columns could be erected of a more than 90 years of fixtures in a third floor meeting room. outside of the building. better material than continuous use. 4 granite.” 9 Unlike the Tinos The granite columns have stood the test of time Green marble, the and continue to impress visitors and life-long Italian white marble residents alike. The columns, however, are not is uniformly smooth merely large pieces of polished granite. At each and strong. The column’s top is detailed artwork that might floral bowls and the not be noticed by the casual observer. Maher staircases are made designed the column artwork that celebrates of the white marble. the building’s grand structure while blending Note the intricate cohesively with the architecture of the building. detail of the marble Note that the lion motif is evident at the very top work above the of each column. building’s front door. Buried Treasure Each groove A secret lies beneath the South column. On and curve were October 15, 1915, the bank’s owners placed a painstakingly detailed copper box (a time capsule) in the ground that in the blueprints by would soon be occupied by the South column. Details of white marble molding and steps. Maher. Also note Among the items in the box were family photos, the Prairie School- newspapers, bank plans, and various other items inspired banding pattern on the center lobby’s from the time period. Because the column would white marble. have to be removed to reach the time capsule, there are no current plans to recover the box. Stained Glass Windows The famous Tiffany Studios of New York created The Vault all of the building’s stained glass windows from The original souvenir booklet crafted in 1916 architect George Maher’s sketches. The art referred to the vault as “the mammoth steel glass was so dazzling that the local newspaper vault.” It was built by the Diebold Safe and Lock considered its installation newsworthy. Company of Canton, Ohio, which has long been considered the leader in vault equipment.

Original Tiffany stained glass. The mammoth steel vault. 8 9 In the grand design of the bank, the vault serves Marble as an imposing, impregnable structure – a place Marble gives the where your money and valuables are safe. interior an elegant appearance while Maher took great care to distinguish this enhancing the image building as safe and secure, something critical of a safe, solid to the bank’s success, especially in the early institution. Maher part of the century. In 1916, the Federal designed every Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) did not shape and size of the exist. Banks had to demonstrate strength and marble. stability because the financial panic and four- year economic depression that had begun in Green Marble 1893 were still frightening memories for many citizens. The exquisite emerald green marble A hidden architectural treasure is located above radiates color and Green marble planters. the steel vault. The owners apparently thought fascinating patterns. that the vault area was a bit austere, so one Marble dealers refer to this popular marble as month before the grand opening in 1916, they Tinos Green marble because it was quarried engaged Tiffany Studios of New York to add a from the Isle of Tinos, a Greek island in the decorative touch that blended harmoniously with Mediterranean Sea. The tiny island of Tinos the building’s other architectural and artistic is home to several Greek mythology figures, features. including Aeolus and Poseidon. Tinos Green marble appears prominently in many famous On the ceiling above the vault, a decorative buildings, including the Carnegie Museum of cove (also called a Art. frieze) outlines the ceiling. This cove White Marble was designed by The white marble is called English Vein Italian Tiffany Studios, and white marble and was imported from the Carrara it matches the general District of Italy. theme of the stained glass windows (also designed by Tiffany Studios). The intricate detail is remarkable – especially when one considers that to design, mold, and The frieze from above paint the entire cove the vault. cost only an Green marble ventilation grid. additional $275. 6 7