Laramie State Bank Building

Landmark Context

Laramie State Bank Building enters Chicago's public landmark record at 5200 W Chicago Av. Even in summary form, the record keeps together a construction date of 1927-29 and credits Meyer & Cook with Northwestern Terra Cotta Co. It was designated on June 14, 1995. Laramie State Bank Building can be read through bank architecture, neighborhood finance, and commercial corridor change without losing sight of the actual site.

Laramie State Bank Building gains definition in the field when attention concentrates on corner siting, main banking-floor windows, and ornamental emphasis, how the building handles the sidewalk and intersection, and signs of later retail conversion or subdivision. Those clues are often the clearest route into how neighborhood banking remained visible even after the original institution was gone.

Research Starting Points

Laramie State Bank Building is easiest to push beyond designation through bank histories and business directories, permit files and assessor records, and newspaper coverage of openings, failures, and later reuse. Those records make it easier to test what changed, what remained, and how the building fit into a larger local story.

Laramie State Bank Building can keep observation, source work, and interpretation attached to one building.