Today we feature a postcard from about 1906 showing the four-story People's
National Bank, located on the northwest corner of 2nd Avenue at 18th Street.
Its publisher has carefully removed the surrounding buildings from the
picture and has depicted the building as white. Ladies in long skirts and
fancy hats chat on the corner, while the gents stand in the middle of the
street, their carriages tethered nearby. The upper portion of the building
looks like it does today, although the street level has been changed a great
deal.
Over the years, both the use and appearance of this historic building have
changed and indeed are changing as you read this. It was built about 1876
as a three-story building with round-topped windows in the Italianate style
and looked similar to the Star Block located a block east. The street floor
on the east side was the home of the First National Bank from 1876 until
1890, when it went out of business, while the west side of the first story
was used for retail purposes. After the demise of First National, its space
was rented to People's National Bank who later purchased the entire
building. The second floor was originally used for offices while the third
story held the International Order of Odd Fellows lodge and meeting rooms.
Entrances to the upper floors were, as they are now, from 18th Street.
People's National Bank had been organized in 1874 with Bailey Davenport as
its president. Its board of directors included many local gentlemen of
wealth and prominence whose names are still familiar to us - George Wagner,
F. C. A. Denkmann, August Huesing, Peter Fries, and Ignatz Huber among them.
People's was a very successful bank. Although reports vary, in either 1904
or 1911 the bank purchased the building it had rented. Early in the
nineteenth century, the building underwent its first major renovation and
reconstruction.
A fourth story was added, probably designed by local architectural firm of
Drack and Kerns. At the same time, the windows were enlarged and squared
off. Huge plate glass windows were installed on both 18th Street and Second
Avenue and the bank entrance was moved to the corner. The interior was
reconfigured as well, an elevator was added and the stairway to the upper
floors was modified. Massive vaults (safes) were added on each floor as
well. This is the appearance we see portrayed on our postcard.
In 1911, the bank retained local architect George Stauduhar for another
extensive remodeling project which included a complete reconstruction of
their Second Avenue storefront. The entrance was centered in the Second
Avenue to permit the bank to use the entire first floor of the building.
Columns framed the new doorway, giving it a much more "bankish" appearance.
Plans for this remodeling are in the University of Illinois Archives.
Shortly after the 1911 remodeling, People's formed another bank, the German
Trust & Savings Bank, which shared space with People's. During World War I,
German Bank changed its name to American Trust & Savings. The 1920s saw
many mergers and consolidations throughout the banking industry and these
banks were not immune. In 1927, both People's and American became part of
the newly organized Manufacturer's Trust & Savings Bank, and our building
became known as the Manufacturer's Building. Finally, in 1931, Manufacturer's
consolidated with the Rock Island Savings Bank (an earlier postcard
article), and Central Trust & Savings to form the Rock Island Bank & Trust
Company. Offices for the new bank were on Third Avenue and 18th Street.
Although still called the Manufacturer's building after the bank left, the
street level was continuously used for retail - McCabe's, David's, New York
Store, and Walgreens among them. And as the retailers flourished, they
needed more space. To gain space, the walls separating this building from
the Fries building to the west were opened, effectively joining the two
buildings. As a result, although People's and the Fries Building appear on
the exterior as two separate structures, they are actually considered as a
single building. Historically, the upper floors on the east were used for
professional offices - doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. - until the mid
1970s when the last office tenant left. Department stores had long before
vacated the western portions of the upper stories.
Fifteen years later, the last retail tenant, Walgreens, left. For several
years, the entire building was vacant and its future was uncertain. In
1992, the Development Association of Rock Island stepped in to purchase the
building and once again give it a new life. Their first goal was to
rejuvenate, restore, and rent the street level storefronts. This project
was completed in 1995. But that still left lots of empty space in the
upper floors of the building.
Recently, in a leap of faith and construction that preservationists call
"adaptive reuse" the former department store and office space has been
converted to loft apartments. Adaptive reuse simply means using a historic
building for a purpose other than what was originally intended. No longer
offices and department stores, this wonderful old building has been
reinvented as 23 loft apartments. The project, a cooperative effort of Rock
Island Economic Growth and Brinshore Development of Chicago, has created
dramatic loft spaces of many sizes on the upper floors of the Renaissance
Building, as the joined People's National Bank Building and the Fries
Building is now known.
Since 1999, the Renaissance Building has been listed on the National
Register of Historic Places. Therefore, the developers decided to
incorporate important original building materials into the innovative floor
plans of these apartments. They designed living spaces that project the
warmth of the vintage - tall wood doors and woodwork, tile flooring, an
impressive central stair tower - while being outfitted with the latest in
modern and high tech amenities. Even the old bank vaults are still there.
Check out these apartments in The District - Rock Island's next great
neighborhood!
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