A Building with Many Lives

Built in the late 1910s, the Bond Hotel would have many different lives over the course of the building’s existence. The building would be a hotel (going at one point under the name the Anthony Wayne), a bank, and an influential nightclub known as the Vault. This is according to the words of Thomas Netting, an individual of the Akron community who worked at the building when it was a bank in the summer of 1979, in a personal interview. During the conversation, Netting stated that he worked on the second floor in the charge card area, where he closed out people’s accounts for Bank Ohio. Netting also said that there could have been three sub-basements and that the main basement was for bookkeeping, while the first floor was a full banking area. This little amount of information that was given by Thomas Netting was helpful in having a picture of what it was like in the late 1970s.

Another interview that helped paint a picture of the life that this building had lived comes from Micheal Kurty, a member of the Akron community. Kurty remembers when the Vault, as it was called, was a nightclub of Akron in the 1980s. During the interview, Kurty recalled the looks of the club along with the atmosphere. He stated that the inside of the club had high ceilings, which were a dark color, and walls of a green color. He also remembers tables on the right and the bar on the left. He said that the vault door was left open for people to be able to go inside and that the stage could be used by any person when there was not a scheduled performance. This interview sheds a different light on the stage that was part of the building’s history. It also shows how different people were able to perform here other than some bigger names like Devo, The Dead Boys, and the Waitresses, for example.

Ultimately, according to an Akron Beacon Journal from 2015, the club closed in 2002 and later became the Whiskey Ranch and finally, The Bank. The construction of Canal Park in 1996 eliminated some of the rear part of the building.

Researched and written by Phillip Fischio

1. Derf’s Blog. Accessed November 20, 2019. http://www.derfcity.com/thebank/thebank.html.
2. “Former Bank Building in Downtown Akron Won’t Be Sold at Sheriff’s Sale; Owner Files Bankruptcy.” Akron Beacon Journal. Akron Beacon Journal, March 16, 2015. https://www.beaconjournal.com/article/20150316/NEWS/303169181.
3. Thomas Netting, Interview, October 2019.
4. Michael Kurty, Interview, October 2019.