First National Bank Building - Houston, Texas
Posted by: 
JimmyEv
N 29° 45.768 W 095° 21.605
15R E 271803 N 3294836
Early Texas skyscraper architects Sanguinet and Staats designed this block-long bank building, rich with Beaux-Arts detail, in 1905 for Houston's first chartered bank.
Waymark Code: WM3WMM
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/26/2008
Views: 61
First National Bank occupied this corner for 90 years, from 1866 until 1956. Following in the footsteps of
Commercial National Bank down the street, First National razed their first building in 1905, replacing it with this Beaux-Arts skyscraper, the first steel-framed office building in Houston. Sanguinet and Staats also designed the expansions of the building - the addition of two bays to the Main Street facade in 1909 tripling the size of the building; a large rear annex four years later; and an expansion in 1925 filling the entire block along Franklin. The building was recently converted into the Franklin Lofts.
On the ground floor a colonnaded banking hall, with columns reaching 35 feet to the ceiling, extends through the whole block. During the building’s conversion to the Franklin Lofts, the banking hall was restored as an event space, with the addition of a marble double staircase leading to the mezzanine.
Main Street/Market Square Historic District
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Source:
Texas Historical Commission, "Main Street/Market Square Historic District," available at Texas Historical Atlas