National Bank of Birmingham 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. 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.