National Park Bank

The bank built a significant Second Empire early skyscraper at 214-18 Broadway – opposite St. Paul's Chapel – designed by New York architect Griffith Thomas and finished in 1868.

This was intended as the site for a future skyscraper but instead was used for a new banking room with a vault designed by Frederick S. Holmes.

Barber designed a T-shaped Beaux-Arts building with a large arched window on each of the three street facades.

Banking business moved into this space in 1904, while the lower three stories of the 1868 building (the stem of the "T") were gutted to create a grand entrance hall.

[1] Artist Albert Herter painted the large lunette murals of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce for the entrance hall and banking room.