Save the Pink Bank
Feb 4, 2009 7:45 - 4 Comments
Posted by: Cindy Cotte Griffiths
Department: News
Tags: by Cindy Cotte Griffiths, historic preservation, town center
Department: News
Tags: by Cindy Cotte Griffiths, historic preservation, town center
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As we discussed with Peerless Rockville Historian, Terry Lachin, on last week’s Rockville Central Radio Show, a Design Charrette for the “Pink Bank” (also known as the Suburban Trust/Bank of America building located at 255 North Washington Street) is planned for this Friday through Sunday.
Students and faculty from the University of Maryland School of Architecture will create hypothetical uses for this fine example of modern, streamlined 1960’s architecture. The ideas from this creative process could be incorporated into the future development of Town Center Phase II.
Co-sponsored by Peerless Rockville, the Design Charette will be held in the first floor meeting room at the Rockville Library:
Friday, February 6, 10 AM – 5 PM with a special presentation by Terry Lachin on the history of the building and local Rockville history during the 1960’s at 2 PM.
Saturday, February 7, 10 AM – 5 PM with a special community forum to gather opinions from 11:30 AM – 2 PM.
Sunday, February 8, 12 Noon – 5 PM with student presentations of their finished work from 3 PM – 5 PM.
Although approval was given to demolish the Pink Bank and build 290 residential units, the redevelopment has not occurred. The hope is that this process will produce alternatives to tearing down the building. Older buildings can be adapted for new uses instead of taking them to a landfill. Our City’s sustainability goals support preserving buildings and reusing existing architecture.
The three-day Charette, a creative process to envision innovative uses, could result in alternatives such as a museum or other special destination. The Old Post Office in downtown DC, a tourist attraction, houses restaurants and offices. Our own Rockville Post Office on North Washington Street will soon be the police station.
Saving buildings ma
kes a place special. As Ms. Lachin said on the show, the Pink Bank has an established identity that fits very nicely into the surrounding streetscape. Buildings don’t have to match. Being architecturally distinctive and unique, the Pink Bank has an important place in Rockville history. Buildings from different eras define a real city.
Everyone’s invited to participate. Drop in whenever you can. Call Peerless Rockville with questions: 301-762-0096.
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The only thing the Pink Bank really needs is a demolition team.>
The Pink Bank is a testament to several disgusting American institutions; several of which this country has yet to overcome. First, it’s an excellent example of failed post-modernist architecture. The Pink Bank is a cacaphony of noise (marble, cement grills, brick, fins, glass, and metal 2×4 posts) punctuated with plastic pastel-puke hues.
Next, the bank has — not one … not two, but three(!) drive-thru lanes. It looks like a misplaced toll station looking for an expressway in the middle of a quiet neighborhood. What a great monument to America’s love affair with fossil fuels, air pollution, and urban sprawl.
Finally, the Pink Bank is, well, a bank! Representing the nexus of the current economic crises — mortgages handed out willy-nilly to people without any regard to creditworthiness, this monstrosity will always be there to remind us that corporate profits and executive bonuses come *before* responsible neighborhood contributions.
Please tear the thing down. ASAP.
Save The Pink Bank>
It should house the farmer’s market in the drive through lanes, and be the home of the science center. Green roof with cistern to capture gray water. This would feed a fountain or be available for some nifty hydraulics experiments.
Solar sunscreens to provide shade and energy, with monitors to show what is being captured. An experiment would be to adjust the angle to maximize energy production.
Six story atrium with cupola provided by the smaller top floor. Openable windows up there would provide natural convection cooling. The atrium will provide great space for a Foucault Pendulum that demonstrates the earth’s rotation. Possibilities are numerous.
This space is ideally located, and stimulus package is about to be signed. Let’s obtain it (we have a history of eminent domain abuse) and convert it, rather than allow it to be knocked down.
One thing that Modernism, car culture and the credit-based economy share in common is a disdain for the past. The goal isn’t to preserve the building as is, but to reduce wasted materials and to keep some remnant of Rockville’s recent past in a downtown that was bulldozed into oblivion forty years ago. If redone, the Pink Bank won’t be Modernist, a drive-through, or a bank – it’ll be a symbol of our time and the creed that exemplified it: sustainability.
Interesting point, Dan.>
And, Herb, your post has some really great ideas.