English: Built in 1914-1915, this Chicago School and Sullivanesque-style building was designed by Louis Sullivan as one of his late-career “jewel box” bank buildings that are largely located in smaller communities throughout the midwest. The building, despite being one of the smallest of the “jewel box” banks constructed by Sullivan late in his career, inspired the construction of the larger Peoples Federal Savings and Loan Association Building in Sidney, Ohio in 1917. In addition to Louis Sullivan, the building had its mosaics designed and created by Louis J. Millet, and terra cotta tiles and ornamentation designed by Kristian Schneider. The building was constructed for Emmett Melvin Baugher of the Home Building Association Company, and housed the bank until 1928, when it merged with the Franklin National Bank to form the Union Trust Company, which needed a larger space to house its operations and moved out of the building. The building was sold to William Camlin in 1942, with the Sanitary Meat Market being located in the building between 1943 and 1946. In 1946, the building became home to Symon’s Best Jewelry Company, the longest tenant to occupy the building during its history, remaining in the building until 1973, with the jewelers having the entrance door significantly altered to make it visible from both Main Street and 3rd Street, the first major modification to the building’s facade, with two Art Moderne-style semi-circular window displays flanking the newly repositioned entrance door. During their time in the building, Symon’s had large signs covering the mosaics on the Main Street and 3rd Street facades, and had large display cases installed in the first floor windows. In 1979, the building became home to the Mutual Federal Savings and Loan Association, which moved out of the building in 1983, but removed the Art Moderne display cases and 1940s-era entry door, replacing them with a modern corner storefront with large sidelights. In 1984, the second-longest tenant, Tiffany’s Ice Cream Parlor, moved into the building, and remained in the building until 2007. During the time that Tiffany’s was in the building, the building was missing several terra cotta tiles from the facade, and a vertical blade sign was mounted on the corner of the building. The building sat empty from 2007 until 2013, when it was donated to the Licking County Foundation by Stephen Jones, with a preservation plan being created and implemented shortly thereafter.

The building, unlike most other “jewel box” banks that feature red brick with terra cotta trim, is more similar to some of Sullivan’s earlier and larger commercial works, being clad almost entirely in terra cotta panels with Sullivanesque geometric and floral motifs, with bands of geometric tiles breaking the 3rd Street facade into four sections, with leaded glass casement windows on the second floor being surrounded by decorative terra cotta trim panels. The 3rd Street facade features a mosaic at the spandrel between the first floor and second floor windows with “The Old Home” spelled out in gold in two different locations, surrounded by green, brown, blue, purple, orange, red, yellow, and cream-colored tiles, with a large triangular panel in the center surrounded by a geometric Sullivanesque pattern. Below the 3rd Street mosaic is a trim piece that appears much like a plant made of delicate moulded terra cotta, with multiple trunks rising from the base of the building and ending at a series of acanthus leaves, with a large shield-shaped cartouche with additional leaves and geometric motifs behind it, an ornament that is present on several other buildings designed by Louis Sullivan. The first floor of this facade is relatively simple by comparison, with subtle geometric motifs on the terra cotta panels, a recently installed pair of oak doors that match the originals, and a modern aluminum storefront that matches the original window. The Main Street facade features two partially overlapping frames organizing the facade into three sections, with the base section, like the first floor facade on the 3rd Street facade, being relatively unadorned, with a single oak door at one end and subtle bands of geometric motifs. Inset partially into this plane of relatively simple terra cotta is a simple terra cotta frame, which contains all the windows on this facade, as well as a mosaic. The windows at the base start with four plate glass storefront windows surrounded by terra cotta trim, with two stained glass transoms above interrupted by a terra cotta lion gargoyle holding a sword, with decorative geometric motifs trimming the transom. Above the transom, at the spandrel between the first and second floor windows, is a mosaic displaying the words “The Home Building Association Company” in gold-colored letters set on a field of green tile, with cartouches featuring leaves at either end, and decorative Sullivanesque trim framing the mosaic. Above this frame are nine leaded glass casement windows, above which the frame that contains all of these building elements runs horizontally. The other frame on the facade features a decorative border with geometric motifs, a recessed section of the facade clad in simple terra cotta panels, with two decorative ornaments at either end, balancing the facade, with a trunk-like structure extending from the ground to the inside border of the trim, with a large cluster of delicate and intricate terra cotta leaves above, with a geometric element rising from the top of this cluster of leaves. The facade of the building that faces west over an adjacent two-story building, but is still very visible from Main Street, is clad in the same terra cotta panels in the same pattern as the rest of the building, giving it no true unadorned rear facade like is present on other buildings from the same time period and earlier in Downtown Newark. To the north of the building is a slightly taller three-story late 19th Century Italianate-style building, which completely obscures the north facade from any angle. The building features a low-slope roof enclosed by a parapet, with a hipped glass skylight at the west end of the building’s roof. The building’s interior was stripped of most of its original features prior to the 1970s, with only a few sections of the original marble flooring and wainscoting, along with some frescoes designed by Sullivan and created by Louis J. Millet, being the only remaining interior finishes, with all the teller cages, entrance vestibule, and most of the original decorative elements having been removed as the building changed use through the decades, being one of the least well-preserved interiors of any of Louis Sullivan’s “jewel box” bank buildings.

After the building was donated to the Licking County Foundation in 2013, work to rehabilitate the building, including modernizing the building systems and restoring the architecturally significant terra cotta exterior, began to be carried out. The first part of the building to be renovated was the basement, which was completed in 2016, and work began on the exterior in 2018, and was completed in 2020. Work on the building’s first and second floors, as well as the adjacent LeFevre Foundation Annex building, has yet to be completed, but is expected to be carried out during the next decade, after which the building will become home to Explore Licking County, the county visitor and convention bureau, will move into the building, with the first floor being slated to become a visitor information center. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and is a contributing structure in the Newark Downtown Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.