Bank Architecture
The architecture of the National
Banks shows a limitation that defines what it means to be a bank.
In all the banks listed to the left (and in those represented
in the collection here),
there are but three recognizable types (with a couple of
subtypes):
The Monument
The Corner
The Storefront
and that's it.
The three types are illustrated
below.
Back
The Monument
The Monument is a large structure,
prototypically, free standing.
They could vary in size and in the number of columns, from none
to four.
The First National Bank of Claude
The First National Bank of Breckenridge
The First National Bank of Toyah
The Monument might sit aside other
structures, but it always stands magestically independent.
The First National Bank of Meridian
The First National Bank of Refugio
The First National Bank of La Feria
Such built-in Monuments could also
employ columns.
The First National Bank of Trinity
In its most majestic turn, The Monument
became an office building.
The Peoples National Bank of Tyler
The Corner
The Corner is a common structure,
constructed at an intersection so that its entrance is at the
corner.
They vary as to whether the entrance is at a diagonal to the corner
or a right angle.
The First National Bank of Aspermont
(The Financier. Vol. LXXIX. January to July 1902. New
York: The Financier Company, Publishers)
The First National Bank of Henderson
These below demonstrate the right
angle version of The Corner.
The First National Bank of Velasco.
The First National Bank of Electra
The Storefront
The Storefront is the most modest
of National Banks.
It is flanked by similar sized businesses, aligned along a sidewalk.
The First National Bank of Crockett
The First National Bank of Flatonia