New Sovereign Bank – Part of West 7th
Fort Worthology reader Mark Rybczyk sends in this photo of the new Sovereign Bank being built on 7th Street as part of the West 7th development by Cypress Equities. The new Sovereign Bank has been designed by local firm Schwarz-Hanson (no relation to David M. Schwarz of Bass Hall/etc. fame), who also designed two other bank buildings on 7th Street: the Citizen National near Montgomery Plaza, and the Whitley Penn building at 7th & Summit.
Both of those buildings had serious urban design flaws. Their sidewalks are too small in both cases. The building near Montgomery Plaza is oriented to face its side parking lot, not the sidewalk. The building at 7th & Summit similarly faces the parking lot rather than the street, and has the other problem of being set back from the 7th & Summit intersection for more parking. Unfortunate suburban touches.
(The firm also recently did an office building on 8th Avenue near Allen that is horribly suburban, with a huge parking lot out front. It is completely inappropriate to the site, and it’s a shame it got approved before the new Near Southside zoning and design guidelines took effect.)
This building, while it looks to be nothing really remarkable, at least does appear to feature a corner entrance facing the sidewalks, rather than an entrance stuck out back. If that’s the case, it will be an improvement over previous works. If S-H intends to continue designing in urban Fort Worth, I do hope they learn more about proper urban design and improve their output from that standpoint.
I agree with your comments regarding all of these recent banks- but also of note is the location of the drive-thru banking which places HUGE curb cuts across 7th (both here at the Sovereign bank as well as the bank under construction across from So7). These are big obstacles for pedestrians to navigate and don’t let drivers transition from a stop at the drive-thru to the pedestrian sidewalk crossing. We will see some pedestrian/ auto conflict in both of these banks once 7th becomes more urban and there are more people out and about.
Rob,
That is also very true. With a Schwarz-Hanson building, I guess I’m just focusing on whatever good things I can find. You are correct – the drive-throughs facing the street are quite bad as well.
The new WaMu on Rosedale near Hemphill gets this right – its drive-throughs are out back. I’m guessing this is a result of the new Near Southside unified zoning and design guidelines. I’m surprised such a thing has never been put together for the Cultural District.
What is the deal with bank branches on every corner? Are they trying to be like Starbucks? I just noticed a very vault like looking concrete box in the middle of the construction going on out on Bryant Irvin (I know that’s way out of your area Kevin but it made me wonder what this trend is all about). It seems like banks, mini warehouse storage and hotels are the latest trend in development.
One thing to keep in mind is that clients have the final say…not architecture firms. I don’t know how much urban planning appreciation banks have.
David,
A good architect ought to be able to balance the client’s wishes with proper design for the location. The new Southwest Bank down the street, designed by Robert W. Kelly, is quite a bit better than either of Schwarz-Hanson’s previous two projects on 7th. Kelly has experience in urban settings, and it shows.
I’m really surprised there hasn’t been more of an effort by Cultural District figureheads to establish a cohesive zoning & design package for the district as was done in the Near Southside, something to prevent suburban-style banks and projects like the back half of Montgomery Plaza. It will be interesting to see if the urban design of SoSeven, West 7th, and Museum Place (which ranges from “pretty good” to “excellent”) can “lift all boats,” as it were, and influence better design in the rest of the CD.
Kevin,
ALL Architects, even the good ones, continue to earn their livings by the good graces of their clients.
I agree that they should do their best to show why doing it “the right way” is the best way and sell it for all they’ve got, but ultimately the client has the power of the purse, and that means there are going to be butt-ugly and dysfunctional buildings built. (And in the case of SOME architects (Frank Gehry, the turd who designed the SWR building, a few others), even when the architect wins everybody loses.)
Obviously, the architect can’t always work miracles on clients – that’s where good zoning and design guidelines should come in. Unfortunately, the CD doesn’t have those. The Near Southside’s new zoning & design guidelines have already started improving things, and have ensured that several new projects that might otherwise have turned into junk have been built in ways that fit into the environment more properly (two new commercial buildings on Rosedale and Travis are prime examples).
Again, Cultural District leaders ought to take the initiative to encourage and ensure proper planning and design. Though I’m not sure the CD has a body like Fort Worth South to do so.
Though again, I’ll point out that the differences between Schwarz-Hanson’s work and Robert Kelly’s Southwest Bank are not great differences and I would imagine S-H could have pulled off better designs had they wanted to/been capable of/cared enough. They have not done much work in urban environments and do not have an urban mindset. Kelly, to go back to a neighboring example, has done several urban projects and clearly has a mindset more in tune with that sort of environment.
Everything else S-H has ever done is very suburban. These three banks are the only remotely urban developments I’ve seen from them. While obviously sometimes clients get in the way, I tend to think S-H’s projects showcase a lack of understanding of urban settings from the design side rather than just the client side.