FIRST NATIONAL BANK
503-7 King Street, Alexandria
Built 1908-9; demolished 1968
Photograph: Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress
Until it was demolished by the Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority in one of the typically misguided
urban renewal projects of the 1960s, this austere Neoclassical Revival bank was a prominent component of the
streetscape of Alexandria. The First National Bank was designed in 1908 by the Washington, D.C. architects Vogt
and Morrill. It was constructed of brick and concrete, with the King Street front sheathed in marble. This handsome
facade was remarkably bold and simple in design; a broken Doric pediment with full architrave, frieze, and cornice
framed a massive recessed arch and window, penetrated by the entrance to the bank. Inside was an equally impressive
space, a large, 40 by 70 foot, banking room, finished with white brick, and covered by a vaulted ceiling punctuated
by skylights. The arched window of the facade was repeated at the rear of the building above the bank vault.
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