5. Mercantile Trust & Deposit Company
200 East Redwood Street 
(1884-6, Wyatt & Sperry, architects)

A notable survivor of the Great Fire of 1904, the Mercantile Trust lived up to its promise to keep its customer's valuables and assets safe from any disaster. Its architects drew on a variety of European models for its massive, heavily ornamented Romanesque revival design.   While the massiveness of the structure recalls the contemporary work of H.H. Richardson, the use of materials and ornament suggest the architects' familiarity with the English Queen Anne and German Rundbogenstil ("round arched style") as well.  Mercury, the Roman God of Commerce and an appropriate symbol for the district, dominates the exterior ornamental program. For more information download the Mercantile Trust & Deposit Company .PDF file. (226 KB)

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