139 East Bay Street, a

139 East Bay Street, a

c. 1956-1957

11/21/2016 (date digital)

1st National Bank, Formerly the Planter's and Mechanic's Bank

Back of photograph: "(c) Henry P. Staats / 1st Nat. Bank / 139 East Bay / Chas." The First National Bank, and prior to that the Planter's and Mechanic's Bank was designed by Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee in 1853. Jones and Lee were two significant contributers to the architecture of 19th century South Carolina. The Bank was chartered to respond to the growing needs and demands of planters and mechanics, specifically in a port city. Nearly all of the transactions through the Planter's and Mechanic's Bank were commerically based. Mechanics, in 19th century vernacular were artisans, craftsmen, and any one else who worked with their hands, this also involved workers who operated machinery and used machines to produce something. In fact prior to the construction of the Planter's and Mechanic's Bank, a planter's home stood in this space. It was one of a handful banks in Charleston that tried to continued operations during the Civil War. The bank buildling is considered a mixed model architectural as it contains Neoclassical and Roman Revival elements. The Bank was not considered attractive when it was constructed, William Gilmore Simms was no admirer, but it continued to be considered an eye sore. In 1922 W.A. Clark went so far as to call it "an imposing deformity...a miserable abuse of the mixed model--which has always seemed without grace, or symmetry, or beauty." The building was demolished in 1957 and is now a parking lot in the South Carolina National Bank Complex. This photograph was taken only the year before or the same year as the demolition of this interesting looking antebellum bank.

visible image 12 x 12 cm

Donated to CLS by Henry P. Staats.

Vories, Dylan (digital assistant)

This item is in copyright but can be used for educational purposes. Please contact Charleston Library Society for more information for any use not qualifying as educational use.

image/jpeg

StillImage

Hinson Audio/Visual Collection

chls:388

staats_049