The Central National Bank building was completed in 1929 as a 23-story Art Deco skyscraper standing 282 feet tall. It was one of the first skyscrapers in Richmond not located in the heart of the financial district. The building is located in the Grace Street Commercial Historic District and is known for its Art Deco ziggurat-inspired setback.
Architectural historian Richard Guy Wilson notes that the Central National Bank building and the West Hospital building are the only two skyscrapers in Richmond to use this specific setback style. Only a few other buildings in Virginia feature the ziggurat-inspired design. The Central National Bank was founded in 1911 by a coalition of Broad Street and Grace Street business owners and was the sixth largest bank in Richmond by the 1920s.
The building served as a branch bank for Wachovia Corp. until 2000 and sat vacant for nearly fifteen years. In 2016, Douglas Development Corp. completed a conversion of the structure into 200 apartments called Deco at CNB. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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