A monument to excess, toppled

The failure of the Bank of the Commonwealth is no laughing matter. Unless you're standing in front of its Suffolk branch.

For years now - essentially since it opened a few years ago - I've been meaning to write about the newish building at the corner of Constance Road and Western Avenue. But other stuff always came up.

A few years ago, I tried to contact the corporate staff to find out how such a building came to be. But they apparently had no interest in talking about how a modest brick one-story bank branch turned into something else. A metaphor, perhaps.

I lived for a few years at the top of Western Avenue, just up the street. The bank building then was just a sleepy brick outpost of another big outfit. Then Bank of the Commonwealth bought it, and the thing exploded.

Over months, the building grew another story and dozens of feet taller. The color changed to something like taupe. The roof turned a peculiarly vivid shade of blue. Then came awnings and topiary and a portico and columns and a pergola and a turret. There's a porthole. And, I swear, there are dolphins.

It looks like it was designed by a committee of toddlers in which everyone got to choose at least one thing they wanted.

"I really like blue roofs!"

"I love those swirly bushes!"

"You know what would be really cool? Chrome dolphins."

Today, all those things still occupy the corner lot in Suffolk. But now there's something else, too: Hastily erected banners that proclaim the branch is now "Southern Bank."

The Bank of the Commonwealth is gone. One of the largest banks in Hampton Roads is a memory. A vivid, blue-roofed memory in Suffolk. But still a memory.

Thanks to federal insurance - more than $260 million worth - everyone's deposits are safe. All of the bank's 21 branches are open, including the one in Suffolk. But after 40 years, Bank of the Commonwealth is no more. It's the first bank failure in Hampton Roads in nearly 20 years and comes in a recession like we haven't seen in 80.

Yet plenty of other banks have survived these horrible days while Bank of the Commonwealth didn't.

According to the dogged reporting of The Pilot's Tom Shean, Commonwealth was brought low by rapid expansion and troubled loans. It lost $110 million over three years, sapping its capital. "Commonwealth Bankshares disclosed in April," Shean reported, "that a federal grand jury in Norfolk was examining the bank's lending and reporting practices, along with the activities of certain current and former officers and directors."

In other words, it was the economy. But it was also a series of bad decisions, relatively few of which had to do with architecture and decorating.

Back in 2003, the building at the corner of Constance and Western was assessed at $250,000, at a time when you could get almost that much for a doghouse. It was small, nondescript, as notable for the stoplight out front as for its architecture.

The gargantuan branch that exists there now is assessed at $1.3 million. It's hopelessly gaudy, a monument to excess. And while the chrome dolphins still cavort, the only thing anyone notices these days are those cheap Southern Bank banners covering up the expensive signs bought by its previous owner.

Donald Luzzatto is The Pilot's editorial page editor. Email: donald.luzzatto@pilotonline.com.