Your gaze lands on the Fidelity Trust Building in Monument Square, a 135-foot, 10-story Beaux-Arts tower designed by Boston architect George Henri Desmond. Maine's first skyscraper, it opened in 1910 to great fanfare and altered Portland's skyline. You can appreciate the ornate facade that wraps the side and top of the structure, a city-stage flourish that replaced The Portland Theatre — known in turn as Ward's Opera House, the Nickel Theatre, the Adelphia Theatre and the Family Theatre.
The building has worn several names: previously the Maine Bank and Trust Building and the People's United Bank Building; currently the M&T Bank Building. Today it is often called the People's United Bank. Inside are three elevators built by the Portland Company on Munjoy Hill — two electric and a hydraulic freight elevator — small industrial stories visible in the hardware if you look closely.
As of 2019, it ranked as Maine's 11th-tallest building and the state's fourth-largest office building. It sits across Preble Street from the Time and Temperature Building and commands easterly views of downtown Portland and Casco Bay; to the west you can see Back Cove and the White Mountains and Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Notice the ornate facade, then trace the skyline it frames — Casco Bay east, the White Mountains west.