703 Race Street has some nautical designs around its entrances. Anybody know why?

 

Here's a streetview:

http://goo.gl/maps/lJuv

I believe at some point it was a bank building. From the 7th street side, you can see the depository and an old entrance that was blocked over. http://goo.gl/maps/7GbS

The tower of this building was built in 1909 by Jefferson Livingston, sole owner of the TA Snider Preserve Company. It was originally planned to have 16 stories but only 8 were built.

 

In 1921, it was sold to Pearl Market Bank and they added the shorter portion to the west. Pearl Market Bank was taken over by Central Trust in 1930. The building was owned by Central Trust until 1996.

Interesting. Thanks!

My question is not about a building but about a space..

 

Madison Park at the corner of Erie and Madison Road in Hyde Park has always struck me as strange because there is nothing really there besides one bench in the back..

 

does anyone have more info on this area? was it always a greenspace?  And why is it not utilized more than just trees at the corner of two roads?

Is a little patch of trees so bad?  It's pretty and easy to maintain, so it doesn't cost the city much.

 

It was called out as a park 100 years ago.  http://historicalcharts.noaa.gov/historicals/preview/image/cinci16  My guess is part of it has to do with the ravine that runs along Stettinius was something that someone wanted to preserve at some point.  At the very least, I figure it was probably cordoned off around the time Hyde Park was incorporated as a village to protect some land from development in that part of town.