The day I spent an hour on the executive floor of the Bank One Building in 1994


If you're familiar with whatever happened to Valley National Bank of Arizona, you know that it was purchased by Bank One in 1993. I was there during the transition, and it was a wonderful time. Let's go downtown to what is nowadays the Chase Tower, at Central and Monroe, and go to the very top floor, where the big executives were.

No, I was never a big executive - I had a job in the Marketing Department as a graphic designer. And what that meant was that our department did work for other departments in the bank, in what is known as "in-house". Mostly our clients would come to us, but if we did some work for the executives, we went to them, specifically me. The secretary had to buzz me in, and I would carry the proofs back and forth. OK, enough about that - let's get to the fun part!

You may also know that Valley National Bank had a tremendous art collection, which had been started by VNB President Walter Bimson in the 1940s. Every branch had original paintings and sculptures, every floor of the building downtown had them, and there was so much that some just sat in storage. And the best of the best were in the executive offices, which I had only heard about.

Although I worked for a bank, I really wasn't a banker, I was an artist. Well, a graphic designer. My degree from ASU was in Fine Arts, so you'd better believe that I stopped to look at the artwork anytime I traveled to other floors in the building. Of course, most of the people who worked there were actually doing bank-related work, so all of that wonderful artwork was essentially meaningless to them. If it did mean anything to most of them, it was what it might be worth. But to me, it was like working in an art museum.

If you follow me here, I'd always wanted to take a closer look at the very best paintings and sculptures, which I had only glanced at when I visited the executive floor. And then I made it happen, during Christmastime, when everybody who was anybody was gone, and only people like me were there. By the way, I always worked during the holidays, a single man with no family - it just made sense, and people appreciated it.

That year I asked the executive secretary if could visit the executive floor just to look at the artwork. I think that she understood, and one quiet day she buzzed me in. I'll never forget it, it was the first time (and the only time) I saw an original N.C Wyeth (the one on the cover of the book at the top of this post).

Bimsom was an eclectic collector, but most of what he liked was Western Art. He bought stuff just because he liked it, and most of what he bought really didn't become valuable, but some did. Of course, the collection continued to grow after Bimson retired, so I have no idea how long some of the pieces that I saw that day were collected by him, or collected later, by the company Art Curator (yes, Valley Bank and Bank One had a full-time Art Curator).

There were several Remingtons, I distinctly remember a beautiful little Bierstadt, and I'm sure some Hudson River School stuff. My favorite painting, which was in an office, was a gigantic buffalo (or bison if you prefer), and the N.C. Wyeth (Andrew's dad) was in the conference room.

I'd like to believe that the people who worked there and were surrounded by these works of art saw more than monetary value. It was a privilege for me to see them.

By the way, the art collection is now in Manhattan, owned by Chase.
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