A Steel and Brass Beauty

 

 

After some technical difficulties yesterday, I finally got things squared away to publish my first post of 2013! For those of you interested, Photoshop, and everything else for that matter, works a little differently on a Mac Platform and for some reason when I saved these photos, after editing, the jpg extension was not there and I couldn’t upload the photos! That possibility occurred to me last night and after correcting it things are back on track. Except to figure out why it didn’t save the photos with the extension?

Well anyway, I was anxious to post these photos! Last Friday I had the opportunity to gain access to the over 100 year old, now closed, Cleveland Trust Bank in downtown Cleveland. The Cleveland Photographic Society, of which I am a member, provided this opportunity and many more to places the general public does not have access to. The architecture of this building could have occupied my 2 hours alone. The building rotunda skylight is a 60 foot in diameter Tiffany stained glass dome! I’ll post photos of it at a later date. I chose to spend all but just a few minutes exploring and photographing the amazingly beautiful details of 4-5 vaults! When we enter a bank today, we often do see the large stainless steel vault door swung open and marvel at its size and mechanical complexity, but as the photo above shows, they don’t make them like this anymore! This vault, put in place during the years 1906-1908 is a thing of beauty! I tried to photograph it from every angle possible and then moved in on some of the details.

Vault detail

The vault timing and locking mechanism looked like the workings of a fine watch or clock but massive in size. Brass and steel, machined precisely and standing the test of time! Even the bolts holding things together, were engraved!

A lone key

Inside the vaults, were hundreds and hundreds of Safety Deposit Boxes of all sized and styles. Some large boxes painted white with combination locks built into them and then the type more common today. All showing the patina of age and use and once again showing beauty in construction that we just don’t see anymore!

Not like all the others

Along with the sheer beauty, I think one thing that struck me most was the signs of age and use. I suppose all of the safety deposit box doors look like this one at some point in time, but this one stood out, with a few others, for its different, newer coloration. As you look at some of these photos, you can see the stains of years of usage, the wear on certain parts of the vault door and box doors. You begin to think of the workers and customers who were in and out of these vaults and boxes over the years and imagine all types of things! Were some tycoons? Well, judging by the sizes of some of the vaults and boxes and the fact that just down the street from the bank was known as Millionaire’s Row, housing the Rockefeller’s and other well known entrepreneurs, I would imagine so!

The sad thing is, this old building will now be raised or renovated and I just wonder what will become of these beautiful remnants of the past glory?