Bank of Commerce - Coronado, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 32° 41.110 W 117° 10.809
11S E 483111 N 3616399
The Bank of Commerce used to operate out of this building located at 1100 Orange Avenue in Coronado, California.
Waymark Code: WME46Z
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 04/01/2012
Views: 2
Located at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Park Place, the Bank of Commerce used to operate out of this triangular-shaped building. The building is now occupied by the Coronado Historical Society.
A plaque at the site suggests that another Bank operated at the site before the Bank of Commerce. It reads:
"CORONADO HISTORICAL LANDMARK
FIRST BANK BUILDING - 1911
DEDICATED 1974
CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION"
It's possible that the plaque is referring to the Bank of Commerce being the first bank building in the town...but, more likely, the name of the original bank at the site was "First Bank". Unfortunately, an online search doesn't resolve this question.
See the Coronado Historical Society's webpage at (
visit link) which explains that the Society moved to this location in 1999.
This website (
visit link) discusses the building's architecture:
"The Bank of Commerce & Trust building was built in 1910 of neo-classic design. The front is framed from ground to ceiling, pilasters capped by Corinthian capitals with inset masks, and topped with floral medallions. Just lovely! Harrison Albright was the architect for this lovely building as well as the Hotel Del Coronado. This Beaux Arts structure stands out all along Orange Avenue for 372 feet, but bends another 211 feet on Loma Ave. It was lovingly restored in 2001. I absolutely love the frieze garnished with fleurs-de-lis, lion heads. Yet, the building does not stop there of course. Mr. Speckles around 1916 had Albright design the rest of this massive structure to include a bank, Silver Strand Theatre (opened in 1917), stores, apartments, and office suites. The building also boast many wonderful amenities for its time period a built in vacuum outlets on each floor, and automatic sprinkler system with a capacity 16,000 gallons. A really beautiful structure."