The National Farmers' Bank contracted Louis Sullivan to design the Owatonna
structure in October 1906. He was selected by bank vice president Carl Bennett
who chose Sullivan after reading his important essay entitled 'What
is Architecture?' in that summer's The Craftsman magazine. Sullivan
visited Owatonna briefly in late September or early October 1906. Immediately
upon returning to his Chicago office, Sullivan and his staff went to work.
It required only three months to design and detail the building. The first
set of plans was dated January 15, 1907. It seems that Sullivan developed
ideas about materials during his first visit. He was also quickly certain
about the basics of the plan. It was to be a three-story embroidered;
box with an office wing.
The most obvious and famous feature of the bank's facades-a single bold
arch-is the product of a collaboration between Sullivan and his draftsman,
George Elmslie. Sullivan initially wanted the bank's facade to have a series
of three-arched windows filled with ornamental stained glass. With Sullivan's
approval, Elmslie modified that initial scheme with his own idea-the magnificent
single arch on the building's south and west sides.
For Details of the Exterior
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