{"nrhp_refnum":"01000553","name":"Bank of Gowanda","other_names":["Persia Town Hall"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8 W. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Gowanda","county":"Cattaraugus County","state":"NY","lat":42.46261700400004,"lon":-78.93581886999993,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-05-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, five-sided brick bank building at 8 West Main Street in the village of Gowanda, Cattaraugus County, New York, designed by Edvard Moeller and completed in 1914. It now serves as the Persia Town Hall.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a distinctive, representative example of Beaux-Arts inspired Neoclassical bank architecture in a small village, and it also cites commerce as an area of significance. It retains its historic interior layout and many original features. The 1930s limestone parapet in the Art Moderne manner replaced the deteriorated original terra cotta cornice.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of West Main and Jamestown Streets in Gowanda, this two-story brick building was completed in 1914 as the Bank of Gowanda, to designs by Edvard Moeller. Its five-sided plan, red brick walls, limestone base, and terra cotta columns and trim reflect the Neoclassical style, which small-town banks of the period used to suggest stability and permanence. The building went up when Gowanda's business was expanding, driven largely by local glue manufacturing, and it replaced earlier wood-frame commercial structures on the site. Around 1935 the cracked terra cotta cornice and parapet were replaced with a streamlined limestone parapet showing Art Moderne influence. The bank merged with Marine Midland Trust in 1955 and gave the building to the Town of Persia, which converted it to a town hall in 1966. Inside, the open banking lobby, teller partition, glazed supervisor's booth, vault and a mural of early local history survive. The building remains a visual anchor of the downtown.","period_of_significance":"1914-1950","architect_builder":"Moeller, Edvard H.","architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals: Classical Revival; Modern Movement: Moderne","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Used as the Persia Town Hall since 1966; the form describes it as intact on the interior and exterior and maintained by the town.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.6492-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01000553.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000553/138f715a56-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000553/138f715a56-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Pubdog (talk)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_Gowanda_Aug_10.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog (talk)</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bank_of_Gowanda_Aug_10.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75316628","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Gowanda","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4856118"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/cattaraugus-county/bank-of-gowanda-01000553/"}