First National Bank

National Register Listing

Street Address:

102 S. Main St., Greenville, SC (Greenville County)

Alternate Name:

Carolina First Bank

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817723039

Description and Narrative:

(Carolina First Bank) The First National Bank building is architecturally significant because it is Greenville’s only major Art Deco commercial structure. Constructed in 1938, it was designed by Atlanta architect Silas L. Trowbridge, and built by Morris & McKoy, contractors. It is also important for its association with the old National Bank of Greenville, chartered in 1872, and the first national bank chartered in South Carolina. This two-and-a-half story structure is sheathed in sandstone with a polished black granite door frame and base. The flat-roofed building has a geometric-patterned cornice and a frieze band. Stylized sunburst aluminum grill work covers the transom and sidelights of the main entrance and its flanking windows. Fluted aluminum pilasters topped with stylized aluminum eagles frame the main double doors leading into the bank. “First National Bank” is deeply carved across the central section of the upper façade, over a high-relief eagle with out-stretched wings set within a sandstone niche immediately above the stylized granite keystone. The building was enlarged in 1952 by extending the sandstone and polished granite façade around the adjacent 1917 building. Listed in the National Register December 21, 1989.

Period of Significance:

1938

Level of Significance:

Local

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

December 21 1989

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