Uptown National Bank (Bridgeview Bank)

Although our accounts at Chase and Bank of America are far more convenient with their hundreds of ATM locations, we opened our business accounts at Bridgeview Bank to support a small local bank and to have an excuse to do business in a fabulous vintage Uptown building (which recently starred in Johnny Depp's movie Public Enemies). I even rented my first safety deposit box from them! I love Bridgeview, because they always recognize us when we're there; the service is very, very personal.

The bank has undergone a number of name changes over the years, known as Sheridan Trust to some generations, and Uptown National to others. Here is an old advertisement from when the Uptown Safe Deposit Company was affiliated with the bank. The door to the vault looks the same today.

1920s Advertisement for the Sheridan Trust Bank — Oldest and Largest in Uptown

Sheridan Trust Lobby

Here's an interior scene of the lobby of the Sheridan Trust Bank when it was located in what is now the Borders Building. For an image of the exterior, go to the Cafe Press shop.

Wilson Avenue, 1983

Hey fellow Uptowners--this 1983 image of the Wilson Station is currently available on eBay. Strange to see the bank building without the giant "B".

Sheridan Trust and Savings (Uptown Bank) to Be Designated a City Landmark

Thumbnail image of the Sheridan Trust and Savings Bank, Uptown, Chicago, 1924. If the building looks strange to you, that’s because it’s four stories shorter than its current height. Located at Broadway and Lawrence. Image courtesy University of Minnesota Libraries, Manuscripts Division, Northwest Architectural Archives.

City seeks landmark status for 13 banks: Designation would protect unique building

November 11, 2007

by David Roeder

Chicagoans know them as foursquare dependable anchors of old commercial streets and also the most ambitious architecture in their neighborhoods, except maybe for the churches.

They are the bank buildings, festooned with arches, balustrades, columns or soaring first floors. They were designed to convey security and permanence. Some even placed the bank vaults front and center so the customers could see exactly where the money went.

City officials believe they merit landmark status. Acting on a recommendation from city planners, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks has opened the landmark designation process for 13 bank buildings.

Article continues here.

Historic Bank Featured in Art Exhibit

Saving Grace

October 31, 2007

by Jack Bess

Some may see Chicago buildings as merely the backdrop for an infinite number of human dramas, but to artist Grace Lai, buildings themselves are a cast of characters.

Lai, 80, a Near North resident, loves buildings so much that they take center stage in her works done in pen and ink with a watercolor wash. An exhibit of 25 of her works is on display at Bridgeview Bank Uptown. The one-woman show is part of the bank's Artists Among Us program that showcases the work of Chicago artists.

"Grace has a great energy," said Tim Ryan, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Bridgeview Bank Group. "She goes and parks herself outside of these buildings, pulls out her sketchbook and away she goes. She really makes people see the beauty of the outside of buildings that they must just pass by or drive by."

Lai's images of buildings are intensely detailed and aim to leave nothing out. Her painting of the Bridgeview Bank building, one of Uptown's signature buildings that dates to the 1920s, accounts for every brick and every design element on its facade. In her downtown cityscapes, she gives each skyscraper an allotment of windows, hundreds if not thousands of them, as close as possible to the real thing...

Read complete article at: Pioneer Press