1930 First National Bank Building: An Art Deco Delight
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1930 First National Bank Building.
Corner of Main St. and Court St.
Nearly forty years after moving into the Richardsonian Romanesque building constructed at the corner of Main St. and Kansas St., the First National Bank had this larger and more modern structure built. The bank hired Fred Organ, an architect based in Omaha, Nebraska, to design its new building. Organ, who would also be responsible for the 1940 Municipal Auditorium in Beatrice, Nebraska, designed this building in the popular Art Deco style.
1930 First National Bank Building (south side).
If you look closely at this beautifully decorated building, you will see a wide variety of designs cut into the stone by the Nebraska Stone Company of Omaha. Two bands of stylized floral and geometric patterns were placed along the south and east sides of the building, along with several elaborately carved eagles, floral designs, and ribbon designs. You can also see the name of the bank cut into the stone along the south and east sides as well as the date for the bank's establishment cut into the stone on the east side. When the bank was constructed, the builders placed bronze into the words cut into the stone, and they placed gold foil into the space around the eagles in which lines were cut to imitate sunlight. You might also note the geometric shape of the windows, especially as it contrasts with the rectangles and round arches of the other buildings in the area.
Under the supervision of the general contractor, J. E. (Ed) Young of Augusta, Kansas, the building was constructed of limestone from two different sources. The limestone from the base to the bottom of the windows came from Carthage quarries in southwest Missouri, and the remaining limestone came from the Bedford quarries in Indiana. Additions were built on the north and west sides of the original building in 1979.
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