Renaissance Centre, formerly known as the Erie Trust Company Building and the G. Daniel Baldwin Building, is a

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

located in Erie, Pennsylvania in the United States. Intended to be the headquarters for the largest bank in Erie, the Erie Trust Company Building was designed by the firm Dennison and Hiron in 1925. Completed in 1928 at the climax of the

Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties, sometimes stylized as Roaring '20s, refers to the 1920s decade in music and fashion, as it happened in Western world, Western society and Western culture. It was a period of economic prosperity with a distinctive cultura ...

, the building's namesake bank failed in 1933 after the start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. It was renamed the G. Daniel Baldwin Building in 1943. In 1996, it became Renaissance Centre and was listed on

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000.

Design

Renaissance Centre is located in downtown Erie at the intersection of State Street, the main north–south thoroughfare in Erie, and East 10th Street. It is the city's sole

and dominates the city

skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

. Renaissance Centre has a height of and is the tallest "multi-story building" in Erie, Pennsylvania, but second-tallest overall; the central

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

of St. Peter Cathedral is taller at . The building itself is deep, wide, and has a footprint of . The first three floors on the north and west fronts of Renaissance Centre are faced with Indiana limestone while the remaining floors are clad in "light buff-colored" brick. Its main entrance on State Street consists of multiple, set-back arches that rise one-and-a-half stories up the facade. The building's name is engraved on a faux-limestone sign mounted above the archway. Starting at the 11th floor, the building is setback. Unlike the north and west, the south and east facades are relatively unadorned; the central window bays on the southern side are recessed causing the entire building to take on a "shallow 'U'-shape" when viewed from above. Renaissance Centre has a total floor space of spread across its 14 floors. Originally, the first floor comprised the

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

lobby, but has been divvied up into an atrium and retail spaces for businesses. Six murals by

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

painter Edward A. Turnbull depicting events from Erie history were located on the first floor; five remain, but were hidden by renovations. The 14th floor offers views of

Presque Isle State Park Presque Isle State Park ( ) is a List of Pennsylvania state parks, Pennsylvania State Park on an arching, sandy peninsula jutting into Lake Erie, west of the city of Erie, Pennsylvania, Erie, in Millcreek Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

and, on clear days, Long Point, Canada.

History

Shortly after the passage of the

National Bank Act The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks chartered at the federal level, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged developmen ...

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in 1864, several banks were chartered in Erie. One of these, Dime Savings and Loan, was founded in 1866; it was reorganized as the Erie Trust Company in 1902. The

economic boom An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with ...

following

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

set off a flurry of building activity in downtown Erie, including a ten-story skyscraper at 12th and State Streets. By the mid-1920s, the Erie Trust Company had become the dominant banking institution in the city and needed space to expand. The bank hired the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-architectural firm Dennison and Hirons in 1925 to design its new headquarters—the firm also designed the

Home Savings Bank Building The Home Savings Bank Building is an office building located in downtown Albany, New York, Albany, New York (state), New York, United States at 11 North Pearl Street (New York State Route 32, NY 32). At 19 stories and tall, it is the eleventh ...

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. The Erie Trust Company Building was completed in 1928 at a cost of $2 million. A year later, the stock market crashed sparking the

, and, by 1933, the Erie Trust Company went bankrupt. Its remnants and that of another defunct bank were reorganized into the National Bank and Trust, which continued to occupy its former headquarters now owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The state auctioned off the Erie Trust Company Building in 1943 in a bankruptcy court and was acquired by the Tenth Street Building Corporation, a local real estate company, for $377,000. The building was renamed after company's president at the time, G. Daniel Baldwin, in 1945; Baldwin died the next year. National Bank and Trust continued to lease the first floor, along with offices on the third, until it was taken over by First National Bank in 1951; First National maintained a presence in the Baldwin Building until the 1980s. Despite its owners operating a "large and profitable" business, the occupancy in the building decreased to less than 30 percent in the 1970s and 1980s. The G. Daniel Baldwin Building was, again, put up for auction in June 1996. The Tenth Street Building Corporation donated the building to the Greater Erie Charity Golf Classic where it sold to local developer Tom Kennedy for $315,000 with the proceeds going to charity. Kennedy also owns and oversaw the development of the Palace Hardware Building into apartments and a business center. The Baldwin Building was renamed Renaissance Centre as part of the effort to revitalize the building; a new sign, fashioned to resemble its limestone cladding, was installed over the old name. From its purchase in 1996 to late 1998, Renaissance Centre underwent a $2.2 million restoration. Renaissance Centre was listed on the

on August 10, 2000.

References

Sources

* * * *

External links

Renaissance Centre
* {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Art Deco architecture in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Erie, Pennsylvania Commercial buildings completed in 1928 Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Renaissance Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Skyscraper office buildings in Pennsylvania 1928 establishments in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Erie County, Pennsylvania

Design

History

See also

References

Sources

External links