Located in: Newark, Ohio

The Home Building Association Bank is a historic building in downtown Newark, Ohio. The bank is one of eight small “jewel box” banks in small towns in several midwestern states designed by noted Chicago architect Louis Sullivan between 1908 and 1920, near the end of his career. All of the others are one story structures, but given only a tiny and narrow lot for this bank, he made it seem larger by making it two stories high.

The color scheme chosen deviates from his norm as well. The typical red-brown tapestry brick is replaced with gray-green terracotta, edged with his typical elaborate Sullivanesque border designs. The ornamentation includes a winged lion and mosaic tile that includes his name as architect over the entry.

After the Home Building Association folded in 1942 the building was adapted to serve two other financial institutions, then a butcher shop, a jewelry store, and an ice cream parlor. Its interior, and to a lesser degree, its exterior was modified for each occupant.

The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The building was gifted to the Licking County Foundation in 2013. The Licking County Foundation, with a Capital Campaign Challenge Grant of $750,000 from the Jeffris Family Foundation, restored the exterior.

In 2021, the Foundation was awarded a second Jeffris Challenge grant to focus on interior rehabilitation to serve as the home of Explore Licking County, the area’s convention and visitor’s bureau.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Licking County Foundation