Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank (1891)
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Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank | |
 The Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank from the northeast | |
   | |
| Location | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°58′43.26″N 93°16′3.39″W / 44.9786833°N 93.2676083°W |
| Built | 1891 |
| Architect | Franklin B. Long; William Kenyon |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival, Beaux-Arts |
| NRHP reference No. | 84001419 [1] |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 12, 1984 |
| Designated MPLSL | 1980[2] |
The 1891 Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, is a Beaux-Arts style building that formerly served as the headquarters of Farmers and Mechanics Savings Bank. The building is now home to The Downtown Cabaret, a strip club. Architecture critic Larry Millett writes, "If you step inside for a view of the, ahem, scenery, you'll discover a glass dome that once illuminated a 'ladies banking lobby' but is now the scene of activities not everyone would consider ladylike."[3]
The building was designed by the locally prominent firm of Long and Kees as a one-story building. Long and Kees usually preferred the then-popular Richardsonian Romanesque style for their buildings, but deviated from this style for the bank. In 1908 architect William Kenyon designed a second-story addition that enlarged the façade while retaining the Beaux-Arts style. The exterior is faced with white limestone, with five piers of rusticated stone supporting fluted Corinthian pilasters.[4] In 1942, the bank moved to a new location at 88 S. 6th St. at the corner of Sixth and Marquette. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
