Bankers Trust Company Building

While every bank around it raced for the sky in the 1920s, Bankers Trust commissioned Wirt Rowland — yes, that Rowland — and asked for two stories. The result, opened in December 1925, is the most charming contrarian move in the Financial District: an Italian Romanesque jewel box at Congress and Shelby, dressed in rose and beige terra cotta with a massive arched corner entrance guarded by lions on marble columns, and Corrado Parducci’s carvings — sphinxes, dogs, florals — covering nearly every surface. Rowland designed it the same year as his Buhl skyscraper; together with the Penobscot and Guardian that followed, it completes his Financial District set — the miniature that proves the master worked at any scale.

The bank itself is long gone; it started out, fittingly, inside the State Savings Bank down the block before building this headquarters, and the ground floor has cycled through brokerages, diners, and nightclubs since. Come for the architecture: it’s a five-minute stop that rewards every second of looking up.