The historic 31-story tower was built for Mercantile National Bank by its founder R. L. Thornton (1880-1964), a banker, civic leader and mayor of Dallas. Site was prepared in 1939, construction started in 1940 and finished in 1942. It was the tallest west of the Mississippi River and had finally taken over the title from the Magnolia Building in height supremacy for Downtown Dallas. Due to a high demand of construction materials for the war, this skyscraper was the only one built of its size in the U.S. during World War II.
Modern in architectural style it was the last such skyscraper to be constructed of masonry in Dallas. The building has a series of setbacks and the most famous features are the neon lighted four-sided clock atop the building. This was done to keep the tradition that regulated the life of downtown Dallas by the old historic Dallas Post Office clock tower, which occupied the site 40 years before. The other feature is the ornamental tower to top off the building.
The building went through a number of exterior makeovers in the early years that included the ornamental tower and the four-sided clock. Despite the exterior change, much of the interior remains in tack even today such as the elaborate marble lobby, art deco murals and decorative metal work.
Additional phases followed with more buildings in 1949 the 14-story Securities Building, 1958 the 22-story Mercantile Dallas Building and the 5-story Securities Annex Building in 1972. All buildings connected to include the entire city block bounded by Ervay, Main, St. Paul and Commerce Streets.
The bank experienced rapid growth through the early eighties that included other buildings across Commerce Street. The Bank then constructed a 60-story skyscraper across Main Street in 1987 (Bank One Center) then known as Momentum Place; their Dallas headquarters for Mercantile Texas Corp. and Mercantile Bank (M-Bank). Unfortunately Mercantile Bank dissolved in a series of bank mergers.At one time, the "Merc" was the center of activity and downtown's most exclusive address for business. Sadly, today the Mercantile Complex still sits empty since the early 90s. Several redevelopment proposals have been announced in the last few years such as converting the building to high-rise apartments with retail.
Finally by mid 2005 a deal has been made by the city and Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises on the Mercantile property and will begin work in late 2005 on a $250 million redevelopment that ultimately will transform three city blocks. With respect to the city and the Mercantile Building Forest City has agreed to save most of it's original art work within the building.
As of March 15th 2008 the tower is nearing completion on the conversion to
apartments and the famous clocks and spire atop are now illuminated at
night. The spire lights corresponds to weather information as it did in
its glory days. Click on image below for further info.
Some interesting facts:
