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Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast » South Central Texas » San Antonio (Bexar County) » Downtown San Antonio » First National Bank

First National Bank

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1886, Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz. 213 E. Commerce St.

The bank is a real surprise, with its decidedly Moorish architectural character. The bank's president, George Washington Brackenridge, was a Unionist and one of the city's wealthiest men. Designed by New York City architect Eidlitz, the bank's facade with its horseshoe-arched window on the first floor and the triple horseshoe-arched window on the second is an early instance in Texas of an architect turning to the mission churches of the city for a source. Specifically, here, the Moorish-arched entrance of San Francisco de la Espada ( SA87). Thus, it may be one of the first Spanish Colonial Revival buildings in Texas, predating by thirty years the rise of that style.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Gerald Moorhead et al.
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Gerald Moorhead et al., "First National Bank", [San Antonio, Texas], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/TX-01-SA19.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Texas

Buildings of Texas: Central, South, and Gulf Coast, Gerald Moorhead and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013, 150-150.

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