Highrise #193: Central National Bank, 2023 by Chris Hytha

20" x 30" Digital print on Hahnemuhle Photorag 305 gsm archival paper. Single edition. Comes with Digital/NFT counterpart
 
Central National Bank
 
Highrise #193
Address: 219 E. Broad St.
Opened: 1930
Height: 282'
Stories: 23
Style: Art Deco
Architect: John Eberson
 
Richmond, VA
 
Merchants on the Broad Street retail strip organized this financial institution in 1911 to serve their particular needs, including late Saturday hours so they could do their banking after the last shoppers departed. Founders included a department store owner, a furrier, and a leather merchant.
 
William Schwarzschild, bank president when the bank opened this new highrise, had grown a watch repair business into a fine jewelry store with his brother, Gus, before taking the reins at Central National. Both he and the bank's first president, Charles Hutzler, were sons of Jewish immigrants who made a living in the retail clothing business. Schwarzschild was succeeded as head of the bank by his son, Harry.
 
Patterns of colored tiles along the building's crown, as well as a splashy multihued coffered ceiling in the main banking hall, are the work of New York architect John Eberson, best known for his movie palaces. He had recently completed one in Richmond that is still used today for theatrical productions when he received this commission.
 
A successor bank eventually sold the building. It stood vacant for more than a decade before being converted into apartments in 2016.