National Bank of Birmingham building

Early view of the First National Bank building

The original First National Bank Building, commonly called Linn's Folly, was a three-story brick building constructed in 1872 and 1873 on a $400 lot on the northeast corner of 1st Avenue North and 20th Street for Charles Linn's National Bank of Birmingham. It was the first multi-story commercial building to be built in Birmingham.

Masons for the work were brought in from Louisville, Kentucky. Because the $36,000 structure was erected in the midst of a national economic depression, when the prospects for the new city of Birmingham were anything but sure, the building earned the nickname "Linn's Folly".

Undaunted, Linn completed the building and organized a lavish "Calico Ball" to celebrate its opening on December 31, 1873. The event is marked as a turning point in the fortunes of Birmingham. Later nicknames for the structure, which was a landmark at the city's commercial center, included Linn's Wisdom or Linn's Fame. The Brown Marx Building now occupies this site.

References

• Jackson, Harvey H. (2000) The WPA Guide to 1930s Alabama Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, pp. 168-169. ISBN 0817310282
• Birmingham Area Chamber of Commerce (1976) Century Plus: A Bicentennial Portrait of Birmingham, Alabama 1976 Birmingham: Oxmoor Press, p. 16.
• White, Marjorie Longenecker (1977) Downtown Birmingham: Architectural and Historical Walking Tour Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society.