National Bank of Birmingham building
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The First National Bank Building, commonly called Linn's Folly, was a three-story brick building constructed in 1873 on the northeast corner of 1st Avenue North and 20th Street for Charles Linn's First National Bank of Birmingham. It was the first multi-story commercial building to be built in Birmingham.
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 held a lavish "Calico Ball" to celebrate the opening of the new building on December 31, 1873. The event is marked as a turning point in the fortunes of Birmingham.
The Brown Marx Building now occupies this site.
See also
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.