The former First Bank of the United States at 120 S. 3rd Street reopens to the public after decades of closure. | Photo: Michael Bixler
On Wednesday, July 1 the National Park Service will unveil the restoration of the first building ever constructed for the United States government. The grand reopening invites visitors to step inside the building for the first time in many decades. The First Bank of the United States, located at 120 S. 3rd Street, was built in 1795 and embodies the history of the country’s financial system.
No banks were permitted in the American colonies. The currency in use varied greatly from colony to colony, including coinage from foreign countries and paper notes issued by the government of the colony. Loans were secured by the value of land. Land banks were associations of landlords that would print notes and give the associated value to a person based on the value of their land like a mortgage. Britain eventually banned the practice.
In 1789, when the Constitution was ratified, there were three banks in the United States: the Bank of North America (Chartered 1781 and its original location was at 307 Chestnut Street), the Bank of New York (1784), and the Massachusetts Bank (1784).
Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury, advocated for a national bank, writing in the Federalist papers that it was needed to have “enough of the confidence of all parts of the Union.”
The Constitution does not include the creation of a bank or issuing paper money. Thomas Jefferson felt a national bank would be a monopoly. However, Hamilton convinced Congress and President George Washington. When it was chartered in 1797, the First Bank of the United States was set up as a corporation capitalized at $10 million, with 20 percent of its shares owned by the federal government.
In contrast to the three earlier banks which operated locally, the First Bank of the United States was given the authority to open branches in other cities. A year after opening in Philadelphia, branches were established in New York, Boston, Charleston, and Baltimore. Between 1800 and 1805, branches were added in Norfolk, Savannah, Washington DC, and New Orleans.
A hand-colored engraving from 1799 shows the First Bank of the United States and 18th century street life. | Image courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia
The success of the First Bank of the United States encouraged state legislatures to charter their own banks. However, many state bankers chafed at the control and competition the federal bank represented, which was a factor in Congress’ denial of the bank’s charter renewal in 1811.
Prior to the First Bank of the United States, bank buildings were residential style properties in size, with staff living on the upper floors. This arrangement copied the British model, where, before the establishment of the Bank of England, banks there had to be privately owned.
The First Bank of the United States was originally located in Carpenters’ Hall at 320 Chestnut Street during its first six years of operation. After a fire on Third Street in 1793 brought about the sale of several newly vacant lots, the bank purchased the parcel at 116 S. 3rd Street for a new home.
The new building was designed by Samuel Blodgett, Jr., a businessman and gentleman architect. He collaborated on the design with James Hoban, best known as the architect of the White House. Blodgett may have borrowed from the Royal Exchange in Dublin for the design. Hoban had worked on the Royal Exchange and knew Blodgett through a Washington, D.C. hotel he designed for him in 1793.
The Greek Revival building’s marble facade features two-story Corinthian columns, topped by a pediment with a 34-foot sculpted panel depicting an American eagle grasping 13 arrows, echoing the Great Seal of the United States. Although the front facade was marble, the rear and sides were brick, resembling a Georgian mansion. Later banks would be built of marble on all sides.
It was the first building constructed for the nascent federal government. Its size and imposing style were intended to represent the strength and growth of the new country. Additionally, a carved marble allegory above the door depicts the United States as a baby in a winged helmet, surrounded by symbols of global commerce.
116 S. 3rd Street was sold to Stephen Girard in 1812. Pictured is Girard Bank in 1920. | Photo courtesy of the Library Company of Philadelphia
The building was added to the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 1956 and re-designated a year later. A National Register of Historic Places designation followed in 1966. It was included in the Historic American Buildings Survey, and in 1987 it was declared a National Historic Landmark.
After Congress declined to renew the bank’s charter, the building was sold in 1812 to Stephen Girard, who opened his own Girard Bank there. Girard died in 1832, but the bank continued to operate there until 1929.
In 1902, the bank hired architect James Windrim, who had designed the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Masonic Temple, to remodel the interior. He replaced the original barrel vaulted ceiling with a large skylight over a glass-paned dome to furnish more light in the first floor.
After Girard Bank vacated it in 1929, followed by brief occupancies by the American Legion and Philadelphia’s Board of Directors of City Trusts, the building was largely unused until the National Park Service (NPS) purchased it in 1955 as part of Independence National Historical Park. Until this restoration, it was used variously as park offices and storage and has been closed to the public.
NPS restored the exterior in the mid-1970s. In 2020, the carved mahogany sculpture set within the building’s tympanum was preserved by the Philadelphia-based Materials Conservation Company, winning a Grand Jury Award from the Preservation Alliance of Greater Philadelphia the following year.
John Milner Architects was selected for this most recent exterior and interior preservation. The planned work included restoring or replacing some of the exterior’s Pennsylvania blue marble, restoring the interior, and for both, accommodating mechanical systems, an accessible entry, and other contemporary necessities. The copper roof was replaced, including a portion over the portico which appeared to be the original roofing.
The main hall the First Bank of the United States following an extensive restoration. | Photo: Michael Bixler
“The challenge is always the balance between the historical fabric versus what we need to put in for the building to function today,” noted architect Christina Carter, senior associate with John Milner Architects. “We had to deal with the limitations of the space, especially for the mechanicals.”
The exterior restorations went fairly smoothly. “We only replaced around three square feet of Pennsylvania blue marble around the water table and the window heads outside the portico on the east facade,” said Carter. “We used King of Prussia marble, which is a good substitute.” The reliefs on the facade, being under the portico, were in good shape and didn’t require much restoration.
As with many historic structures, renovations can unearth surprises and challenges. “Asbestos had a greater impact than we anticipated. It was a challenge to find a balance between how much to take out without disrupting the renovation,” Carter recalled. “And then when we removed the asbestos in the ceiling of the main hall, it facilitated stringing new wiring.”
Another consideration was the respective ages of the outside and inside of the building. “The interior is essentially 1901, while the exterior is 18th century,” Carter pointed out. “Part of our approach was to make these two periods work together.”
While much of the project’s focus was on the building itself, consideration of the surrounding grounds became an issue. “The construction of the new addition disrupted the landscaping,” explained Rong Chen, project manager for NPS. “To meet current Philadelphia Water Department requirements, we added a stormwater management system surrounding the building.”
The building’s spectacular columned dome. | Photos Michael Bixler
When it was decided to build an addition, chiefly for the modern upgrades, Carter said they approached it “with a light touch.” She explained that only two beams of the addition actually touch the historic building, so if in the future the wing is removed, the original facade would only bear two small, easily remedied scars.
With the renovations completed and the building ready to open to the public, attention has turned to what it will contain. “The main exhibit on the first floor is about the building. This building is an artifact, the oldest federal building in the country. Treating as an artifact allows us to tell the story.” said Rosalind Remer, Drexel University’s senior vice provost for Libraries, Collections & Archives. “We’re going to be able to tell the story of Alexander Hamilton and the creation of our financial system.” The second floor will house a gallery for temporary exhibits.
Items from the Atwater Kent Collection at Drexel are currently on display on the first floor. To commemorate this year’s semiquincentennial, they include artifacts from earlier anniversaries: the 1876 Centennial, the 1926 Sesquicentennial, and 1976 Bicentennial, noted Stacey Swigart, director of the Atwater Kent Collection with Drexel University’s Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships. “They couldn’t have the permanent exhibit done in time for the building’s opening, so the State Department brought in their traveling exhibit and we supplied items from the earlier anniversaries, which all had connections to other countries.” In the race to finish the restoration in time for the 250 celebrations centered around Independence Day, Rosalind Remer stressed, “We’ll begin planning the permanent exhibit after July 4.”
Edifying read. Didn’t know any of this.
For the Bicentennial, Phila native stone carver A Regis Milione hand tooled the stone window heads on the brick sides. He sat on the scaffold, chiseling away answering questions from curious people passing by. He was one of the last stone carvers that would work outside a studio under all sort of conditions.