Eames and Young of St. Louis designed the Walker Center, opened in 1912 as headquarters for Walker Bank. Opened on December 9, 1912 after a little over a year of construction, this was built as the headquarters for Walker Bank, founded here in 1859 by the Walker brothers—Samuel Sharp, Joseph Robinson, David Frederick, and Matthew Walker, Jr. Imagine the basement then: the bank vault sat below along with a barbershop, florist, cigar store and other shops; the main floor held the bank itself while upper floors were busy with offices. The St. Louis firm Eames and Young designed this Chicago school-style tower, a style you can still read in its lines.
Walker Bank remained headquartered here until a 1981 merger with First Interstate Bancorp; First Interstate later merged with Wells Fargo in 1996. Today the Walker Center operates as a multi-use office and business building, with leasing managed by Colliers. One of the building's most notable features is its 64-foot weather tower, which gives a forecast by the color of its lights; a local radio station originally installed the tower.
Colored lights on the 64-foot weather tower still deliver the forecast over the offices and shops of a building Walker Bank left in 1981.