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Houston National Bank began as Fox Bank in 1876 and went through several name changes until 1926, when Humble Oil founder Ross S. Sterling bought the bank. Two years after purchasing the bank, Sterling commissioned the firm of his son-in-law, Hedrick and Gottleib, to design the bank’s new building. Hedrick may have been Sterling’s son-in-law, but the firm of Hedrick and Gottleib was the successor to early Texas skyscraper pioneers Saguinet & Staats.
This was to be the last of the new banks on Main Street. In 1929 the Depression hit, and, just three years after the erection of its new home, the bank teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. Jesse H. Jones, one of the most influential and astute politician-businessmen in Houston, engineered a take over of the bank from then-governor Sterling. Jones managed to not only save the bank from insolvency, but to also consolidate his power in Houston with a controlling interest in all of the city’s seven major financial institutions.
The interior of this building, now an Islamic center closed to the public, is said to be one of the most elegant bank interiors in Houston. A five-story rotunda, at a height of 56 feet, is supported by eight columns. The floor is a pattern of Roman travertine and Belgian marbles. A marble stairway, in the center of the rotunda, leads to the mezzanine. A bronze fresco surrounds the domed ceiling. The walls are covered with Sienna marble paneling and bronze chandeliers hang throughout.
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