Thursday, February 28, 2013

First Federal Savings of Lorain – Avon Branch

I made it a point to go out and snap a few shots of the Avon office of First Federal Savings of Lorain recently. As the Morning Journal reported back here, a new branch office is being built right behind this building. As soon as the new one is completed, the old one will come down.

1957 Lorain City Directory ad
I've always liked this 1950s building. To me, it had sort of a Frank Lloyd Wright flavor to it with its heavy horizontal lines. I'm sorry to see it go, although I'm sure the bank's employees aren't.

I've tried to research the building a little bit. Like the Morning Journal reported, the building started out as a branch office of the Central Bank Company. The first appearance of the 36690 Detroit Road address in the Lorain City Directory was in the 1957 edition. (See ad at left.)

Looking at the Central Trust ad, you have to feel sorry for one of the directors, Frank J. Nardini, whose name was misspelled.

Anyway, I've been in this branch many times. Branch Manager and Loan Officer Michelle Nowlin has cheerfully handled our loan application each time we've (unsuccessfully) put our house up for sale in the last few years.


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2 comments:

  1. -Alan D HopewellFebruary 28, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    Looking at that City Directory page brought back memories for me....my grandfather was the janitor at the Main office of Central Bank (20th and Broadway, and my mother did her banking there; the names of the bank officers were familiar to me as a child, especially the President, who used to bring my Papa a Christmas basket every Christmas night he worked there.

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  2. Dan BradyFebruary 28, 2013 at 3:03 PM

    Thanks for posting that, Alan. It's good to point out that it was people that made Lorain great--its workers and citizens and great civic leaders and businessmen that cared about their employees and the community as a whole--more so than particular buildings and structures. Buildings come and go, but it's the people that worked inside them that were more important to the city.

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