Landscape Information
Originally known as the Irwin Union Bank and Trust, and later First Financial Bank, this Modernist glass pavilion in the city’s core was designed by architect Eero Saarinen in the 1950s. The bank’s simple landscape, designed by Dan Kiley, encircled the structure with a single row of linden trees planted in brick-lined raised beds. Several years after the bank’s completion Kiley designed a drive-through expansion, creating a gridded, shady grove of littleleaf lindens. The lindens were later replaced with honey locust trees, which give the corner site a park-like character that contrasts with its urban context. Approached from an entrance drive on Jackson Street that skirts the northern edge of the lot, asphalt drives weave through the trees, which are planted in three rows, 20 feet on center, across the width of the parcel and set in raised concrete medians with brick accents. West of the drive-through lies a generous open lawn punctuated by square beds planted with Japanese yews, groundcover, and seasonal flowers. Additional rows of honey locusts extend from the bosque to enclose the lawn. In 1973 architects Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates added a glass arcade to the annex on the northern edge of Kiley’s landscape. In 2000 the site was designated a National Historic Landmark while under the ownership of First Financial Bank.
