Omaha daily bee., 1919-07-06
BANK TO ERECT
STRUCTURE 20
STORIES HIGH
FsW American State Bank
Building to Be Completed
at a Cost Exceeding
100000.

ne HlSneSt OlIlCe DuliQlnR III
Omaha will be erected by the Amer
ican Bank Building company on the
southwest corner OF Nineteenth and
Farnam streets, the site now oc-
cupied by the old Sanford hotel. II
will be 20 stories high. This struc-
ture will be rushed to completion.
John and Alan Mcdonald, the
& architects, have submitted the prin-
Acipal plans which have been ap-
roved, and now the details are be-
& worked out.
4 Actual building operations will
TART during the coming winter, and
\ 1t is hoped by the officers of the
Eompany that the big job of laying
Fhe founda tions on bed rock can
sbe completed before next spring.
u This work can be done as we'll in
zero weather as in the summer
time. The structure will be- called
the American Bank building. and
will have frontage of l33 feet on
Nineteenth street and 90 feet on
Farnam street.
The ground floor will be occupied
by stores and by the banking rooms
of the American State Bank.
The second floor will be occu-
pied by small shops and will also
have show windows facing the
streets.
The other floors will be given
over to offices. Possibly a cafeteria
will be placed on the top floor
There may be a roof garden also.
There will be six high-speed ele-
vato-s.
The building will be constructed
OF steel and the facing will be of
brick with stone trimmings. The
kind and color of brick have not
been decided upon yet.
There will be basement and two
SUB Easements. In the basement
will be large safety deposit vaults.
Possibly trust company in con-
nection with the bank will be
opened there also.
Interior finish is to be of the
highest type. The wainscoting will
be marble, the floors mosaic tile.
The banking room on the ground
floor will be finished in, marble and
will be as fine a banking room as
there is in the west.
The exterior appearance of the
building as shown in the architects
drawing. printed herewith is beau
tiful Corinthian columns extend
ing up to the fifth floor lend grace
and majesty to outlines. An arched
doorway effect extending up to the
fourth floor is another feature of
grace. Baloncies at the 18th floor
and columns extending from there
ITO the cornice also have a very
pleasing effect.
The total cost of the project will
be more than $2,000,000. The build
ing will be ready January /, 1921,
or earlier. .
A plan is under consideration to
work day and night, in three shifts,
on the building, If this is done,
the building will be completed be-
fore the fall of next year.
"We are figuring on doing this
for very good financial reasons
said M. F. Shafer, president of the
company. The investment is very
large and, as the income won't be-
gin to come in until the building is
finished, the quicker we can finish
it the sooner we will begin to get
income from our investment. In
other words, the money put into the
uncompleted building is idle until
the building is occupied. By work
ing three shifts we can complete the
building in one-third the time that
would be required by the ordinary
one-shift system. 4 -
I'VE plan to have the structure
lighted by powerful electric lamps
so that it will be just like day when
the night shift is at work"
The American Bank Building Co.
has been incorporated for the pur-
pose of erecting the building. 1t
has capital of $2,000,0O0. Its Of
ficers are: NJ. F. Shafer. president;
W. E. Shafer, vice president; L. NJ
Swindler, secretary and treasurer.
THESE men are also the principal
officers of the American State bank
Eighteenth and Farnam streets,
established three years ago and al
ready having resources of more
than S1.500,o0O.
The Skaters are also the owners
Of M. F. Shafer & Co., manufac-
turers of calendars and advertising
specialties. one of the largest houses
of its kind. This company recently
completed new six-story building
at Seventeenth and Webster streets
Mr.. Swindler owns several banks
in Iowa besides his Omaha inter-
estS
F. D. Wead is the real estate rep
resentative for the American State
bank. w. T. Graham represents the
former owners of the site at Nine
teenth and Farnam streets.
The old Sanford hotel which will
be razed to make way for the new
sky scraper, has been built only
few years. 1t is three stories high.
The new Sanford. seven stories
high, has been completed recently
just west of the old Sanford.
"The American bank building will
be the finest office building between
Chicago and San Francisco" says
NJ. F. Shafer. "And the demand
for Office space is already large. One
man wanted to take eight floors.
Men in position to know say there
is already need of three new Office
buildings the size of the American
Sank building in Omaha"