St. Tammany Bank Building-The Candy Bank

201 Carroll St. St. Tammany Bank Building, Built in 1907, it has been used as a bank, store, and various other retail establishments.  Built like a bunker, it was common knowledge that the Bank Building was the place to be when the tornado sirens howled.

"St. Tammany Banking Company and Savings Bank" opened its doors Jan. 1, 1907 with $5000 in stock. "It was built in the Beaux Arts style that was so popular in America from 1880 through the 1920s. The two-story building has a gable roof with exposed rafters and decorative cornices, accented by dentils and medallions."

"Although the stretch Girod Street has, of late, evolved into the commercial corridor of Old Mandeville, there was a time, a century ago when Carroll Street was considered the downtown," the 2016 Times-Picayune article said. "Carroll was lined with churches, several businesses such as the David Dry Goods Store, and one a very large bank building."

In 1909, the bank building, in what was the heart of 'downtown' at the turn of the last century, figures prominently as a community gathering place in the 1953 novel 'New Heaven, New Earth' by Mandeville resident Arthemise Goertz.

Most Mandevillians remember a time when the Bank Building was owned by Ms. Dale Gale. Gale had accumulated multiple buildings on Carroll Street and they were all jam packed with treasures as part of her shop, Windhaven Antiques once located in the building at 2143 Lake Street. Shoppers could freely wonder in and out of the buildings, including this one.

But now the building has a sweeter future. Thomas Keiffer and his wife Lisa own and operate "The Candy Bank" -- a play on the building's original identity.