The Montgomery Advertiser from Montgomery, Alabama • 12

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1970 -1 rtr.3W Union ii TTT 1 11 a dm Today In Gity Tall 1 pliillii -iff Having dramatically shifted the interest in Montgomery's skyline, the new Union Bank Trust shows itself in its entirety to the public It stands poised 15 stories tall and ready with open house to embark on its function as Central Alabama's newest banking facility. The marble, concrete and steel structure at 60 Commerce Street, in the heart of Downtown Montgomery, contains in its 185,000 square feet the main offices of Union Bank's expanded banking quarters. A number of other business and professional firms have leased offices in the ultramodern tower areas. Representing Montgomery's first major rise construction in over half a century, the new Union Bank Building is connected by ground floor passage way to a five-level garage. This parking and drive-in facility has been designed to offer A LLZ I I II iiiiil, I.

Michael Cody Walton Hill John H. Neill, Jr. Elected President 1954- Grower Keyton President 1938-54 Union Bank's First President President 1932-38 1 villi! Banking customers as well as the building's occupants the most convenient of accesses to meet their, if quirements. The parking area alone contains over 95,000 square feet and will accommodate 265 automobiles. There are entrances on Bibb and exits on Coosa Street.

1 Among other innovations to the Montgomery -business scene are the Union Bank Building's four elevators, which whisk passengers smoothly from the ground floor to the fifteenth in only 30 seconds. Beneath the bank lobby is Montgomery's largest sub-street level business area. This spacious lower, floor houses the bank's money vaults, a cafeteria, executive dining rooms and other bank facilities. Above the lobby, various banking departments are located on the second and third floors, with a portion of the fifteenth floor being used for executive offices and a board of direc- tors' room designed to accommodate large gatherings. Intervening floors, comprising a total area of 90,000 square feet, are leased to business and professional firms who selected these quarters because of their convenience, efficiency and beau-ty.

Of contemporary design, the Union Bank Building. is "constructed primarily of concrete, metal and glass, with the exterior sheathed with marble and cream precast aggregate. The exterior windows, one of the most striking features of the building, are at once architectural assets and sources of light. In addition, from the upper floors, the windows provide magnificent panoramic views of Montgomery and the surrounding countryside. Throughout the building, year-round comfort conditioning is provided by zone temperature and humidity controls, so that personal preferences in temperature are available to occupants of the various offices.

Beauty, comfort, convenience and versatility all are basic elements in the design concept of the entire Union Bank Building, so that the bank's staff, as well as the personnel of the leased offices enjoy an incomparable environment. Freedom from noise is assured by ceiling height solid core doors, tile floors, acoustical ceilings and sound absorbing walls. In addition to the bronze solar glass windows, non-glare recessed ceiling lighting is used throughout the building. Particular emphasis on modular space flexibility, not only in the leased offices but in the II I Mil II Ii i IMIIII ffl-jfl I lllll lllllllllKl lli li lltel'J iV ii i i in 1' i ii mm iii wwi a. 1 I i ril miinirnriiiriMi Mark W.

Johnston John Maples, Jr. Executive Vice President 1964- Thos. B. Hill, Jr. Chairman of the Board 1954- Vice Chairman of the 1964 Board 7 Decades Of Achievement Is Record I Of Union Bank Following Modest Start nience in every banking transaction, the lobby's central section is an island where various tellers handle their business with the general public.

Surrounding the island and providing easy access to the general offices and other bank offices, are spacious corridors paved with an unusual bronze ceramic tile. Main Floor Lobby The central main floor lobby in Union Bank's new building is distinguished by a modern bold look. Travertine walls and black glass trim create a striking color combination. Spacious, well lighted, and designed for the customer's conve presently located. The date was April 1, 1901.

To serve the 30,000 Montgomerians of that day the Union's president, Michael Cody, had, in addition to the paid in stock and deposits, highly valuable intangible assets which derived from his personal integrity and from the reputations of the other organizers. Quickly establishing a record for sound business practices coupled with progress and growth, the Union Bank Trust Co. grew steadily. To accommodate the expansion, the firm moved to the E.B. Joseph building on Commerce Street where It was to remain until 1930.

The third of the Union Bank was to be the Vandiver Building until 1942, when the bank again moved to a new site on Commerce Street. The acquisition of the property at 60 Commerce Street was to be significant, for it is on this same site, 28 years later, that Union has constructed its new fifteen story building. In 1967, however, Union relocated to the Greystone Building in the adjacent block of Commerce when the new building was begun. As the banking offices increased in size with each move, the Union's services to its customers expanded and its resources grew. In 1926, these were listed at $1,278,137.99, multiplying to $16,847,644.99 by 1951.

Currently the bank's statement of June 30, 1979, discloses resources of $109,723,408.82. The Union, for all its modest beginnings, has corns to full maturity and is ready to chart new goals of service and growth. When the age of 70 is ap-Cproached, institutions such as -the Union Bank Trust Cunliie human beings, never -consider retiring from the Tscene. 2 On the contrary, the three "score and ten span reached by the Union Marks a new era of i. accelerated growth, expansion and progress unmatched in its Zhistory.

The bank's new building formally opened today and its 1 present widely diversified resources all grew from a modest $24,667.12 which its founders had put together back in 1901 to form the new "bank. After paying a fee of $100 to vthe State Auditor for a charter and the same amount to the ICity of Montgomery for a business license, the Union X'Bank Trust Co. opened -quietly on Court Square in the building where Klein Son is 'Personal Touch -Is One Unto Ass et various bank departments, allows for planned With the Grand Opening to- whose personnel are the day of its new skyscraper friends, neighbors and business associates of its growth and change as the requirements arise. Design consultants for the building were Patrick McGinn Associates, Atlanta, Georgia. Locatell, of Atlanta, was the architectural firm, assisted by the firm of Pearson, Humphries Jones of Montgomery.

I "1 1'" h.o.dAvis Algernon mair, ot kk. iUJ and friendliness which is an integral part of Union's way of doing business. Members of today's Board of Directors, the bank's various officers and most of personnel are on a first name basis with a majority of the people served by the Union. And according to John Neill, they plan to keep it that way. "Unlike a clothing store, a furniture company, or other businesses dealing in tangible merchandise, the Union Bank Trust has as its stock in trade service, or the fulfilling of its customers' needs and requirements.

The degree to which we meet those needs with personal service, with warmth and friendliness is the degree of our success, and, basically, the reason behind this building which we formally open home, Montgomery's Union Bank Trust Co, literally has its head in the clouds. Its however, remain planted as firmly on the ground as they have been during the bank's 70-year business life. This combination of see-ahead vision and down to earth practicality is perhaps one of Union's chief assets, according to bank officials. "In spile of our growth," commented President John H. Neill, "and because of it, we plan to remain a grass roots type of bank, in close and constant touch with the needs and desires of our customers.

"Since the days of President Michael Cody, one of the Union's unique characteristics has been the fact that it is a 'first name' type of bank customers. Neill noted that the tradition of warmth and friendliness was continued under President Walton Hill who successfully guided the Union through its important years of development as the country emerged from the depression period. Under Grover Keyton, Union president from 1938 to 1954, the bank's policy of friendly personal service was always evident in every employe from Keyton himself and the widely popular vice president Fred A. Duran on down through the ranks of bank 1 officers and associates. Since 1954 when he assumed the Union's presidency, John Neill has recognized, encouraged and personally endorsed this spirit of warmth Building Committee Montgomery, was general con-Chairman tractor and Nagler Engineers, of Dallas, handled the structural engineering.

Mechanical and electrical engineers were Newcomb Boyd, of Atlanta. These firms worked as a team with the management of the bank and its Building Committee, the chairman of which is H. O. Davis. The success of their collaboration is seen today and will be evidenced further as the Union Bank Building fulfills its.

role of a structure designed and i 1 1 for present day use and superbly adaptable to longer range requirements of all its occupants. of their banking chores without ever leaving their automobiles. The windows may be approached from Bibb Street. In addition. Union Bank's new garage provides convenient sheltered parking for its customers.

Drive-In Windows The new Union Bank opening today has two drive-in windows where customers may take care of many 'J VI 1 A itdLJ JiLl IJ fee illllllllSIlH in administering estates, serving as trustee and executor, and in performing many other services for the bank's customers. This corner of the department's law library contains the handsome old oak table shown which was part of the furnishings of the personal law library of the late Walton Hill. Trust Dept. Library Union Bank's Trust Department offers a broad range of essential services to the public. Widely experienced Trust Department officers are assisted by a force of specially trained technicians to aid right, front row are H.

O. Davis, J. H. Neill, B. H.

Klein, Mrs. F. M. Kohn, A. M.

Mead, M. W. Johnston and W. R. Taylor.

On the second row, Secretary to the Board J. V. Walker, J. D. Mclntyre; third row, R.

F. Henry, Thos. B. Hill, W. Tom Jones, R.

S. Hill, and J. Maples, Jr. pertise is the deciding factor in the measure of the bank's growth and success. The far seeing group shown above sees today the fulfillment of the building plans it initiated, for the Union," plans that were successfully implemented by the institution's officers and personnel.

From left to Board of Directors A bank, like other complex institutions, requires the combined experience and judgments of a number of people to set its overall goals and guide its policies. The sum total of that group's acumen and ex.