First National Bank Building (Hartford, Connecticut)

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First National Bank Building
50 State House Square, Hartford CT.jpg
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Location 58 State House Sq., Hartford, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°45′59″N72°40′21″W / 41.76639°N 72.67250°W / 41.76639; -72.67250 Coordinates: 41°45′59″N72°40′21″W / 41.76639°N 72.67250°W / 41.76639; -72.67250
Area less than one acre
Built 1899 (1899)
Architect Flagg,Ernest
Architectural style Beaux Arts
MPS Hartford Downtown MRA
NRHP reference # 84000766 [1]
Added to NRHP December 23, 1984

The First National Bank Building is a historic commercial building at 50-58 State House Square in the heart of downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Built in 1899, it is a fine local example of Beaux Arts architecture, and was one of the first of Hartford's commercial buildings to have a steel frame. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. [1]

Hartford, Connecticut capital of Connecticut

Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. The city is nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World", as it hosts many insurance company headquarters and is the region's major industry. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford area of Connecticut. Census estimates since the 2010 United States Census have indicated that Hartford is the fourth-largest city in Connecticut, behind the coastal cities of Bridgeport, New Haven, and Stamford.

National Register of Historic Places federal list of historic sites in the United States

The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.

Contents

Description and history

The First National Bank Building is located on the north side of State House Square, facing Hartford Old State House. It is a seven-story masonry structure, its exterior walls faced in brick and stone on a frame of steel columns with reinforcing brick vaulted arches. The principal facade is one of the city's finest examples of Beaux Arts architecture. It is three bays wide, with the main entrance in the leftmost bay. The bottom and top two floors are each treated distinctively, with generally similar surrounds on the windows or doors on each level. The central three bays are grouped in tall openings topped by rounded arches and an elaborate cornice. [2]

The building was designed by Ernest Flagg, a New York City architect, and was completed in 1899. It was built on the site of a portion of the former United States Hotel, said portion having been occupied by the bank prior to its demolition to make way for this building. Flagg, trained at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, designed the building as a large-scale emulation of a classic column: the two bottom levels representing its base, and the top two its capital, with the intervening levels representing its shaft. [2]

New York City Largest city in the United States

The City of New York, usually called either New York City (NYC) or simply New York (NY), is the most populous city in the United States and in the U.S. state of New York. With an estimated 2017 population of 8,622,698 distributed over a land area of about 302.6 square miles (784 km2), New York is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass and one of the world's most populous megacities, with an estimated 20,320,876 people in its 2017 Metropolitan Statistical Area and 23,876,155 residents in its Combined Statistical Area. A global power city, New York City has been described as the cultural, financial, and media capital of the world, and exerts a significant impact upon commerce, entertainment, research, technology, education, politics, tourism, art, fashion, and sports. The city's fast pace has inspired the term New York minute. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy.

See also

National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut Wikimedia list article

This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Hartford, Connecticut.

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