Bank

One of the early design challenges I had with my Lego city was putting a bank together.  There were several elements I wanted to incorporate, including a service counter, a vault, and an ATM machine.  I might have painted myself into a corner by only using a 32x32 baseplate, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

First Bank of Lego City

Another challenge was determining who would work in the bank.  I chose to staff it with some of the criminals that came with my police sets.  Kind of fitting, if you're only of those that thinks all banks are crooks and screwing their customers out of their hard earned money.  Of course, I couldn't have a bank without a security guard on duty either.

All the Lego people who applied to work at the bank

I have about 8 people who look like criminals, but only needed three of them to work at the bank.  I whittled the choices down to those with a smile (that wasn't too crooked) and were dressed a bit sharper than the rest (overall fans need not apply).  I found my three guys; two to work the counter and one as a loan officer (who has a bit of a crooked smile, but that's to be expected).

Bank employees/former convicts (left) and the security guard (right)

Another requirement for my bank was a vault to hold money and maybe a few personal valuables.  If I had used a larger baseplate, I could have had my ideal vault, with several shelves to hold more stuff.  With the size restriction, I could only fit three treasure chests in here, all sitting directly on the ground.  If I ever big a bigger bank, I'll design the vault first and build everything else around it.

The keypad to enter the vault (left) and some of its contents (right)

Most of the bank's contents are in small zip-lock bags for now.  I've got it split into four piles.  Cash (bills and coins), raw gold, jewels, and personal valuables.  If I ever get a mining operation going, I'll probably take most of the raw gold and jewels out, just leaving the cash and personal items.

Total contents of the bank (from top left, going clockwise): raw gold, cash, jewels, and personal valuables.

I think I got about 4000 worth of Lego money, in 100 bills and coins (10's, 20's 30's, and 40's).  Anytime I get a new Lego set that comes with currency of any type, I put that money in the bank.  Once I feel like I have enough, I'll spread it around town, to all the businesses and their patrons, so everyone can conduct their financial business.  Sure, I could assume everyone's got credit cards, and maybe I should.  If any of them actually need some bills or coins, they can hit the ATM outside the bank.

The ATM outside the bank

Usually, I'd list all the sets I used to build this bank, but it's such a melange of pieces, minifigures, contents, etc.  It might take forever for me to figure out where everything came from, so I'm just saying to heck with it.  If I wanted to start over on a bank (or if you wanted to build your own), I'd just recommend finding all the bricks you need online, from Lego or other third parties.