The interior features a large banking room with a balcony, Corinthian columns and ornate wall plaster work.

Safe Deposit touted its "Great Vault," whose three fireproof outer doors and two burglar-proof inner ones sat in walls of steel and iron, surrounded by a foot of concrete and 2 feet of brick, according to a company history.

[8] These "spy steps" provided in the center of the south part of the west wall, and on each side of the doorway are about three feet from the ground.

[1] Previously the home of Club Dubai, the building was purchased by Modern Globe LLC for $1.25 million in May 2012 for use by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company.

After improvements estimated to cost about $6 million, there are plans to open the Mercantile building as a new venue for the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in 2014.