National Bank of Tacoma | |
National Bank of Tacoma Building in 2009 | |
  | |
| Location | 1123 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, Washington |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 47°15′16″N122°26′17″W / 47.25444°N 122.43806°W Coordinates: 47°15′16″N122°26′17″W / 47.25444°N 122.43806°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1920–1921 |
| Architect | Sutton & Whitney; et al. |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| NRHP reference # | 06000671 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | August 2, 2006 |
The National Bank of Tacoma Building, also known as the National Bank of Washington and as the Tacoma Art Museum, is a former bank building in downtown Tacoma, Washington, United States. It was designed by Sutton & Whitney and built in 1921. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. [1]
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, 32 miles (51 km) southwest of Seattle, 31 miles (50 km) northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and 58 miles (93 km) northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to the 2010 census. Tacoma is the second-largest city in the Puget Sound area and the third largest in the state. Tacoma also serves as the center of business activity for the South Sound region, which has a population of around 1 million.
Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Named for George Washington, the first president of the United States, the state was made out of the western part of the Washington Territory, which was ceded by Britain in 1846 in accordance with the Oregon Treaty in the settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. Olympia is the state capital; the state's largest city is Seattle. Washington is sometimes referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States.
Sutton & Whitney was a notable architecture firm based in Portland, Oregon, United States, operating from 1912 to 1950. Its principal partners were Albert Sutton (1866–1923) and Harrison A. Whitney (1877–1962). In 1934, it became Sutton, Whitney & Aandahl, after full membership was granted to Frederick Aandahl (1887–1950), who had already been working for the firm as chief draftsman since 1919 and as an associate since 1923.
The bank changed its name to the National Bank of Washington in 1937. [2] In 1970, the building ceased to be used for banking and was sold to the Tacoma Art Museum, which converted it in 1970–1971 for use as an art museum. It remained in use as the Tacoma Art Museum until 2003, when the museum moved to a new building. Already in 2002, in anticipation of its move, the art museum sold the former bank building to the Asia Pacific Cultural Center. [2]
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates credit. Lending activities can be performed either directly or indirectly through capital markets. Due to their importance in the financial stability of a country, banks are highly regulated in most countries. Most nations have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, known as the Basel Accords.
The Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) is a museum in Tacoma, Washington emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest and broader western region. Founded in the 1935, the museum has strong roots in the community and anchors Tacoma’s downtown university and museum district.
In 2007, a business named Sound Inpatient Physicians moved into the building. [3] Sound Physicians remained there until 2015, when the company moved to another building in downtown Tacoma. [4] As of October 2017, the building was for sale. [5]
