For many people, the SunTrust Bank building at Eighth and Market streets is thought of as the tall, 1960s-era white building housing SunTrust and other offices.
But Russell Donegan over the years knew it more intimately. Working for a contractor to help keep the phone system operating and updated there, he worked behind the scenes – and walls -- but was still out front some enjoying camaraderie.
“It was a fun job,” he said of his time there in the 1980s and ‘90s.
“The people who worked there at the time were a second family to me. I knew many, admired many and watched a few pass away while there.”
After a story appeared several weeks ago in chattanoogan.com on the 50th anniversary of the building that originally opened as the American National Bank Building amid festive ceremonies on Oct. 14, 1968, Mr. Donegan sent an email.
He hinted that he would love to go back and see the once-tallest building in town again after being gone for more than 20 years, so a tour was arranged with the help of SunTrust and the building’s owner, The Simpson Group of Atlanta.
As property manager Kathryn Menchetti and a member of the building staff kindly showed us around, Mr. Donegan was obviously full of reminiscing. He found a cabinet box with wires and cables that he thinks had his old handwriting on tags, and we went up and observed the upper-level service area that had numerous worn and steep steps leading to storage rooms he used to frequent.
One storage room now has other materials rather than the old American National Bank notes and letters from 100 years ago that he remembered being kept there. And a concrete block wall has been installed for safety in one place where a life was once lost after a fire there related to a heating system accident roughly three decades ago.
And one or two of the rooms that he hoped to visit were not accessible due to security reasons. But the tour was still rewarding for him.
“It looks completely different,” he said with a smile. “But the bank has done a wonderful job remodeling it. I’m sure it’s ready for the future, but the memories it brings back make me feel good.”
Although it has changed in parts, it still looks much as it did when it opened in 1968. An ornate eagle corbel from the former American Bank building at the site hangs just off the lobby, and a mid-century spiral staircase that looks like it could have been used in a 1960s sit-com leads down from the lobby to the vault room.
And a number of other understated but nicely done mid-century features are still around 50 years later. That includes some nice ceiling-to-floor rows of cabinets in Ms. Menchetti’s office and the mail-drop chute on all the floors.
Some of the elevator doors also still have nice trim to help give what many might describe as an overall aesthetically pleasing mid-century look.
“This bank has absolutely gorgeous rooms with luscious moldings and beautiful woodwork,” said Ms. Menchetti, whose firm also owns the adjacent and newer Market City Center residential building. “Nowadays they don’t want that.”
For Mr. Donegan, the less-tangible memories are as rich in quality as the architectural elements.
He said that he moved to Bradley County in 1988 and began working for a now-defunct communications company called Centel, later Wiltel. One of its big customers was American National Bank, before it later became part of SunTrust.
“Chattanooga at that time was a small city, steeped in values,” he said as he reminisced after the tour. “It had local folk and a local feel.”
One of the local folk he observed turned out to be a key bank official, but he did not realize that when he first saw him. Mr. Donegan said that during his first visit to the bank, he was in the lobby working, and a gentleman walked through holding a double-barrel shotgun.
Not only was that an unexpected sight at a bank, but Mr. Donegan also learned somewhat unexpectedly that no one seemed to care.
“The tellers and workers were greeting him, as he was them,” Mr. Donegan remembered.
As it turned out, the man was none other than longtime bank executive Scotty Probasco, whose family had helped start the bank. He was simply taking the gun to store in the bank vault.
“I knew then I would love this area,” Mr. Donegan recalled with a laugh.
Another American National Bank employee he became acquainted with was Charlie Green, who was the head security guard at the time. He was a big man and ruggedly handsome with white hair, he recalled, but unfortunately later died after suffering a heart attack while working.
Mr. Donegan said that one of Mr. Green’s duties was helping with the loading and unloading of armored trucks that pulled up to the bank. Mr. Donegan’s office was just above that, and because his work was sometimes busy but often quite slow, a friend had given him a cardboard cutout of the old Maytag repairman. It was based on the TV ad about the repairman never having to work because the washing machines worked so well.
Mr. Donegan cut the character in half and taped the waving man’s picture to a window looking out toward the dock. He never thought much about it, but Mr. Donegan later learned from Mr. Green that his cutout unintentionally provided a feeling of security for the drivers.
“It seems that over the months the armored car drivers and crew would look up while in their duties and see my cardboard cutout,” Mr. Donegan said. “One happened to tell Charlie to ‘say thank you to the guard up there in the office window. We feel safe with him there; he’s always watching us when we’re here.’
Mr. Donegan added that they both laughed at that one.
He also remembered working with Mr. Green to help an elderly woman unload a box from her car and take it toward the vault. They noticed it was a lot heavier than expected, but they continued to try and move it slowly. Only a few minutes later after not moving it far did they learn from the woman that it was actually gold she was taking from her home to the bank.
“The rest of the security team was called in to finish,” he recalled with a smile.
On another occasion, Mr. Donegan was core drilling through a floor to be able to put lines through it, but some of the grounded concrete material fell into the small break room below. And because some water had to be pumped into the hole to cool the drill bit, the liquid landed on some of the ground concrete and began to harden several items.
That included someone’s purse, causing her to have the equivalent of a purse statue. By unfortunate luck, she had her car keys in the purse, too!
Needless to say, some of the women were not happy, including the one with the purse, who had to call her husband to bring her some spare keys.
“They were now entombed in the purse,” he recalled.
There was another time when Mr. Donegan and a work partner spent a whole morning moving items out of an office to get ready to run cable lines into it, only to find out later they had the wrong office.
But despite the gaffes, the overall memories of working in the building until 1995 for him are, like items found in the bank’s vault, treasures worth keeping.
“The folks there were wonderful, constantly bringing food for lunches, which myself and coworkers got to enjoy. It was family and we were close,” he said.
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To hear Kathryn Menchetti’s thoughts on the architecture of the SunTrust Building, click
here.