Modern Banking

Modern Banking. Landmark Architecture. The 1958 Perpetual Building Association office at 8700 Georgia Avenue is the finest example of Mid-Century Modern architecture in Silver Spring. The University of Maryland study Modern Movement in Maryland extols Perpetual as a "pristine and superior example of the statewide and national output of the Bank Building and Equipment Corporation of America...one of the best examples of commercial modernism from the 1950s in the Mid- Atlantic region." , Designed by BB and EC and leading Washington, D.C. architect Robert O. Scholz, Perpetual's glass, limestone, and Carnelian granite exterior symbolized permanence and protection of depositors' funds. This landmark building's construction marked the birth of Silver Spring as a suburban financial center. Its presence attracted additional banking establishments to the intersection of Georgia Avenue an Cameron Street, culminating in The Evening Star dubbing the corner in 1961 as "...fast becoming Silver Spring's Little Wall Street..." , Perpetual was founded in 1881 in Washington D.C. by the St. George's Society a group of poker-playing Englishmen who pooled their resources to help members purchase new homes in the nation's capital. Perpetual's long-lived success was pioneered and nurtured by President Edward C. Baltz. , With the motto "Dedicated to Thrift," Perpetual evolved into the Washington area's largest savings and loan, and for nearly two decades the nation's largest. It was the first S&L to provide loans to African-Americans to purchase homes in any neighborhood, and the first (1970) to appoint an African American to its board, William S. Harps.