Commerce Bank: Interesting Mural/Photo - a rant.

So I am walking down 5th avenue and went by Commerce bank and noticed they have a large mural/ image on the wall of a colorized historic photo of 5th (or 7th) avenue in their space. its over 15 feet tall and you can clearly see it from the street. It is either from the 1940s or earlier and there are still electric street cars in the street. It's a cool photo.

It was interesting that they chose to put such a dumb, suburban looking stip mall building on 5th avenue with shiny mullions, and then decided to place the mural showing the great architecture of the area from "times past".

Wouldn't someone from Commerce have made the executive decision to design a building that fit in more the the architecture, that they so obviously admire, in the FIRST place? I guess 'branding' was more important - god forbid you don't see the bank for 2 seconds when down the street.

I know there are discussions about all the banks in the area, etc. but I can't believe that the residents of the area allowed such a dumb looking and architecturally insignificant building to be built. Even if the whole street becomes banks, cell phone stores and realty offices, isn't their a better standard for the neighborhood architecture? I'm not familiar with that neighborhood specifically, but what areas are historic/ protected in Park Slope? Sad.

It reminds be of the suburbs where developers/ contractors tear down all of the trees for bad, cheap construction and then name all the streets after... trees!!