Part 1 of 2: Once grand, now bland

Banks used to be about ritual and permanence. They resembled Greek or Roman temples, with the banker playing the secular priest, dispensing loans instead of benedictions. Banks inspired awe, though their built-for- the-ages classicism was salesmanship, designed to convince depositors that their money would be safer in the vault than stuffed in a mattress.

By Blair Kamin

February 23, 2005