Citizens State Bank Lofts mixes up old and new

An old bank at Lincoln Avenue and Melrose Street is getting the pastiche treatment and will re-emerge as Citizens Bank Lofts. Developer Gary Solomon & Company is retaining the classic marble facade on the Melrose Street entrance, but is replacing the motley assortment of materials that makes up the Lincoln Avenue side of the building with spanking new bricks. “We wanted it to look as pleasing as possible to match the new construction in the neighborhood,” says Jill Solomon, vice president of Gary Solomon & Company. Note our close-up of the nice dollar-sign detail on the facade. Fred Frank Architects designed a triangular-shaped glass tower, which will splice through the corner of the building at Lincoln and Melrose (see rendering). Solomon likens the tower to the addition of the large modernist “spaceship” atop the classical columns of Soldier Field. “The glass tower brings the building up to date,” she says.