200 Carondelet Apartments (National American Bank)

Erected for the Bankers Trust Company, the twenty-three-story, steel-frame building is constructed of concrete and hollow tile. A polished black granite base gives way to a cream-colored limestone skin, interrupted at four levels by shallow setbacks. At each setback, the parapets are emphasized by geometric sculptured panels of cast concrete. A six-story, off-center octagonal tower with fluted buttresses screens a water tower and is topped by an elaborate finned bronze lantern. Goldstein described his design as an “American vertical style” with a “science fiction theme”; it was clearly influenced by contemporary Art Deco skyscrapers in New York City. In a renovation of the 1980s, the double hung windows were replaced by smooth sheets of bronze-tinted reflective glass that upset the balance of solid and void. Interior finishes are sumptuous, mixing traditional with modern. A tall, rather severe entrance leads to a marble-clad lobby, whose bronze elevator doors are decorated with stylized plant designs, and a vast columned banking hall with walnut paneling and an elaborate plaster ceiling. Check-writing stations with bronze grilles cover the steam radiators. The original air-conditioning system of 1929, perhaps the earliest in the state, is still operable.