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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1927)
SECTION FOUR Pages I-to 8 First Nat iohah Bank Classified CLEAN AND VilGOROUIS SEVENTY-SIXTH YEAR SALEM, pREGONi SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 20, 1927 PRICE FIVE CENTS First National Directors Greet Public at Opening Daniel J. Fry Only Officer Not Present at Formal Presenta tion; Hank's Officers and Directors Have Long Progressive Record Romanesque Type of Skyscraper Symbolic of Progress and Prosperity T. A, LIVESLEY SHOWS FAITH . - -f - -' f ma- a rw-. c. With the First National bank in its new home on State street, the vision of its officers has been realized, and with the exception of its president, Daniel J. Fry, Sr., each officer was in his place at the opening last night. Mr. Fry became a director of the bank at the time of re organization in 1923, and a year later was elected president to succeed George F. Rodgers. Mr. Fry holds the .distinction of being the business man of longest continuity in the city, having operated his drug store for nearly half a century. . Being on a pleasure trip j 'around the World, he was un able to be present at the open- j ing. j E. F. Slade, vice president ; and active manager of the bank, gained his first experi- j ence in the pioneer Canadian j system before coming to the j United States. For several ; years he was with Ladd &! Bush, entering the serviceof j the Federal Reserve system, j with which he stayed 10 years j Salt Lake City and Port- , - - r . - a m Daniel J: Fry land before returning to Sa lem.. Since 1923 he has been with the First National bank. Longest in service with the bank is Joseph H. Albert, cashier, who started as a clerk when the Capitol National was founded in 1885. Mr. Albert has spent most of his life in Salem and is thoroughly ac quainted with every step in the city's banking history. C. V. Paulus and Harold E. Eakin, assistant cashiers, have been with the iaank three months and seven years, re spectively. Mr. Paulus received his first training in Iowa but came to Salem this year from the First National bank of Pilot Rock, in Umatilla county, where he was cashier and later president for eight years. Mr. Eakin has had 12 years of banking experience in Salem, five years with Ladd & Bushand seven with the Capi tal,National and his present connection. Directors of the bank besides Messrs. Fry, Slade and Al bert are T. A. Livesley, mayor of the city, and builder of the j new building; Judge John H. McNary of the Oregon Federal j district court: D. B. Jarman. former manager of the J. C. Penney company in Salem; R. M. Hofer, of E. Hofer & Sons, publishers, and Paul B. Wallace, president of the Salem 'Water,-"Light & Power company. These eight leaders -will direct the policies of the bank in new home with the best wishes of the entire city, v'j'li" New First National Bank Building Stands Finished Eleven Story Structure Wonderful Asset; Attractiveness Owed fo T. A. Livesley's Sympathy With City Beautiful Ideal. With the completion and opening of the banking room on the first floor, the new 11-story First National Bandstands finished. Salem's first skyscraper. Maj'or T. A. Livesley, its owner, objects strenuously to j the term "monument" being applied to his edifice; yet as- j suredly it is as much an asset' to the "Salem Beautiful" pro- ! gram as to the city's commercial and industrial needs. j Its attractiveness is owed, first of all to Livesley's sym- : pathy with the city beautiful ideal, and secondly to the effec- ' tive carrying out of Livesley's wishes by L. L. Dougan, Port- . land architect who prepared the plans. j Factors which contribute to this building's beauty, in-; -elude the Florentine sandstone finish which was used for the entire exterior, a'finish at once beautiful and lasting in con- j trast to the" lighter hues which often are chosen, giving a j building of exceptional attractiveness at first, but soon turn- ing dingy and ugly. The walls of the First National Bank building will remain unblemished longer, and may be re stored to their original color more easily, than those just de scribed. Next are the lines of the first floor, the massive front sec tion, affording a fully merited impression of unlimited strength; the impregnable cast steel door framework set off with pink Florentine sandstone and banked with beautiful cathedral glass; the high arched windows on the Liberty street side and the harmonious proportions of the architec ture which contrasts this part of the building with that above, .iare indescribable in their perfection. ' The second floor is distinct in its design both from the lower floor and from the continuous sweep of cathedral lines which extends for seven stories above it ; yet it is an integral unit of the whole which would be imperfect if it had been left out. The resemblance to European cathedral architecture is most marked in viewing the building from in front ; its side view emphasizes the utilitarian purpose because of the uni form rows of office windows, and yet is no less beautiful. But when the eye encounters the perfectly arranged arches and abutments of the tenth and eleventh stories, all of the previously noted perfection is forgotten. The best of Italian Renaissance architecture is portrayed there,- its use made possible only by the imposing dimensions of the build ing. Ten thousand tons of structural steel and 270,000 pounds of high carbon reinforcing steel were used in construction, as well as 3,500 barrels of cement, 1,150 cubie yards of sand and 2,300 cubic yards of gravel. J The building is 100 feet by 44 feet 5 inches in ground VHoor area, and has 55.000 sauare feet of floor sbace. It is 145 feet from the ground floor to. the 'top. . .Three thousand cuuic yaras ot excavation were made before construction could be begun. , Other materials included 510,000 board feet of lumber, I in makin2 tne concrete forms; 41,000 feet of burnt clay tile, 400 doors, all genuine mahogany; and great quantities of marble and other finishing materials. V1. ,A1 the rooms are outside' rooms, affording adequate jujiu uunng tne day, and semi-indirect lighting scientifically . JCoatiaud oarage 2. - -. m . ... , ... y 1 1 v l . mm ' Mm Drafted by Citizens to Serve, as Mayor of Salem for Two Year Period BUILDS REAL STRUCTURE T. A. Livesley came to Sa lem SO years ago. He was then SI years old. During all the 30 years, Mr. Livesley has been a factor in the industrial 'T.-i-'ht i- .v-:i'.-S':Sn-'' " . , "' .. 77-; ; - T T. A. Uvuslcy THE HANSEK HAMMOND CO. CONTRACTORS Pittock Block Portland - - - Oregon L. L. DOUGAN A r cllttct Portland ... Oregon FIRST NATIONAL BANK AFFORDS QUARTERS COMMENSURATE WITH ITS RAPID GROWTH and, business progress of:.Sa. lem and the surrounding coun try. He has for year been one of the leading, i not tho largest hop dealer in Oregon. Among other of his yards, he owns and operates the best ., equipped hop. farm in the world the Lake Brook farm, seven miles north of Salem. Counting his British Columbia operations, he is perhaps, the largest individual hop grower in the world. But he. is more than a business man and prop erty owner and man of vision in the commercial world. Perhaps this is best illus trated in Jie fact that he was' chosen mayor of Salem at th primary election May 21 last, with a majority of the votes cast then, so that he was not required to run at the Novem ber polls and by. the follow ing lines that appeared in The Statesman a few days before the primary election: It ought to be Raid of T. A. Livesley that he did not seek th office of mayor. He was drafted. Asked to he a candidate by sev--eral hundred business men of Sa lem That he ! a man of large affairs, but withal human and compan ionable; and he has a deep sense of a man's duty to his country, his state, his city and his neigh bors yes, his humble neighbors, as witness the wonderful way he has prepared for 1,000 hop pick ers on his Lake Brook farm - That he gave $15,000 to the new Y. M. C. A. building, much the largest sum; that when the campaign lagged to seeming, fall- (Continued on para 9.) Uhimposing Structure Housed Bank Since 1885 ' ; i. In 1923 T. A. Livesley Announced Plan for. Erecting Home for Bank and Many Business Institutions; Wdnderful , Building Came INTERIOR OF BANKING ROOM ARTISTIC Clothes do not make the man, neither do surroundings determine the character of a business institution except to the uninformed casual observer. A stranger, passing the narrow, unimposing structure which has housed the First National Bank since its inception in 192&, might not have guessed that this was one of the leading financial organizations of this growing and progress ive city. ' ' But such it was, and even many Salem people may not realize how closely connected this bank is with the imposing structure' which now bears its name, and in which it will con duct its affairs beginning ne.xt Monday. It was at the same historic meeting on August 27, 1923, when the First National Bank- was organized, that T. A. Livesley, one of the directors elected at that time, announced that he would erect, as a home for the bank and for other important business institutions of Salem, a modern steel and concrete. building on the corner of State and Liberty, streets; but even at that, time, Livesley's plans did riot contemplate a structure w hich would dwarf Salem's other buildings so com pletely as this one does. , - ' : - When tne First National Bank was organized, George F. Rodgers was elected 'presidents E. P. Slade vice president, Joseph II. Albert cashier, . and f in addition to these men as . , JUV- "ST-.---5BT .--.., . -M. -.k,-JW3'-Jf , - Mr ; , -0-- . -. - i General Idea of Spacious Lobby When Bank Opened A REAL MONUMENT The towering graceful .lines pf the magnificent First National bank buflding typifies the spirit of Salem Beauti ful," which is rnalcinkthi&-the most beautiful city in the west Beatitifurih deisign, personifying strength-and1 endurance in structure, modern in eyery detail, this building stands today as'a real monument, expressing the faith that the builder and owner, T. A. Livesley, has in Salem and this community. Banking Room Original In Design; Attractive Arched Foyer of Spacious Proportions at Main Entrance; All Decorations and, Equipment of Rooms and Lobby Harmonious - The banking room of the new First National Bank, in-" spected last night by crowds of local people for the first .time since .its completion, is distinctly original in its design and one of the. most attractive. and at the same time convenient, to be found 'anywhere west' of the Mississippi. It was .de signed by the P. T. Ainge company of Portland, whieh also had charge of constructing and equipping the interior. Entrance to the banking room is gained through the central feature entrance of the building, which was designed to harmonize with the general exterior design of the building; and is executed in cast and wrought metal and bronze. , ; This doorway leads into the vestibule, finished with gray Tennessee floors and side, walls of beautiful panels of Escal lette marble with black and gold base. The ceiling is ornai mented with grotesque figures, and decorated in old gold and blue, a color scheme which is greatly enhanced by the central lighting fixture of cast bronze. The doors and trimming are of walnut.'-. ' ' w r, r;-.i V1 The main banking room is entered through an arched foyer of spacious proportions', with marble flooring "to match the main banking room and a central mosaic panel. " The side , walls are of black gold marble up to the cornice; and from there to 'th rrculaiTceilmg; of English Bath stone. The ceiling is richly omamentediaitoroanesque color, design. It