Looking At The Purdue State Bank

One of the more interesting buildings on campus even when I was a student is the Purdue State Bank building on Chauncey Hill. It just has a look that is not like anything else on campus. It is one of eight jewel box banks built by Louis Sullivan in the early 1900’s. This particular bank was finished in 1914 and has that old building look to it. The details that were put into these old buildings make them so cool. We are lucky to have this one on our campus. Of course over time some things have changed about it. The building was added on to in the 50’s and the front door was made into a window. Later that window was closed up and it become the ATM location. I would have loved to have photographed this little marvel with the front door in place. This bank was part of that series of eight that he designed near the end of his career. This is thought to be the simplest design. If that is the case then I would like to see the rest of them.

Waiting For The Right Light

I went down to campus one night with the photo above in mind. I wanted to photograph this building from the side in the blue hour light. I made the photo below while waiting, but then set up my tripod and waited for the light to even out. I liked the tree on the left side of the frame, and I knew that light on the right side of the frame would look great at blue hour. What I didn’t expect when I walked up was that little bike in the lower right hand corner of the frame. I had thought about moving it, but thought that it would date the photo a little for me. A little modern mixed in with a hundred plus year old building. In the photo below I did the same with the new large apartment building to show the old and new together.

A Surprising Link

When I was looking up this building I saw the architect was Louis Sullivan. He made the phrase form follows function famous, but maybe more importantly was the mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright. I will admit that until writing this I had not heard of Sullivan, but Frank Lloyd Wright was a name that I am very familiar with. I have photographed a couple of his houses over the years. One of them is just a stones throw away from Ross Ade Stadium here in West Lafayette. It is kind of neat to see a piece of architecture that his mentor made not too far away. As part of this series on Thursdays when I look into some of the classic buildings in the area I would love to tour Samara the Wright home. It would be an amazing addition to this blog. I have photographed it from the outside, but never been inside of it. Here are a few bonus photos showing off this unique building just off of the campus of Purdue.