The First National Bank Building is a historic building located at 217-233 Central Avenue

Central Avenue (Albuquerque)

Central Avenue is a major east-west street in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which historically served as the city's main thoroughfare and principal axis of development. It runs through many of Albuquerque's oldest neighborhoods, including Downtown, Old Town, Nob Hill, and the University of New Mexico...

 NW in downtown

Downtown Albuquerque

Downtown Albuquerque is the central business district of Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is where a large number of the city's highrise buildings are located, as well as being the center of government and business for the region....

 Albuquerque, New Mexico

New Mexico

New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...

. The nine-story, L-shaped building was the city's first skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

. Built in 1922, the First National Bank Building was designed by Trost & Trost

Trost & Trost

Trost & Trost Architects & Engineers was an architecture firm based in El Paso, Texas. The firm's chief designer was Henry Charles Trost, who was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1860. Trost moved from Chicago to Tucson, Arizona in 1899 and then on to El Paso in 1903...

, an El Paso

El Paso, Texas

El Paso, is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States, and lies in far West Texas. In the 2010 census, the city had a population of 649,121. It is the sixth largest city in Texas and the 19th largest city in the United States...

 architecture firm that was well known in the region. At 43 m (141 ft), it was by far the tallest building in the city until the International Style

International style (architecture)

The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...

 Simms Building

Simms Building

The Simms Building in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico was the city's first modern, International Style skyscraper. It was built in 1954, making it a contemporary of the similar Lever House in New York City. The building is located at 400 Gold Avenue SW, which was originally the location of the old...

was built in 1954. The interior of the first floor is done almost entirely in grey streak marble, and features 28 feet (8.5 m) vault ceilings.

The building was owned by First National Bank (later First Security Bank) until 1999, when it was purchased by a private developer with the intent to convert it into a luxury hotel. Plans later changed, and the building was instead remodeled into a high-end condominium project called The Banque Lofts, which opened in 2006.

External links

• First National Bank Building (Emporis)
• The Banque Lofts