{"nrhp_refnum":"72001348","name":"First National Bank of San Antonio","other_names":["Old San Antonio National Bank","Brackenridge Bank"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"213 W. Commerce St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Antonio","county":"Bexar County","state":"TX","lat":29.424746240000047,"lon":-98.49030475199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1972-03-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small, long and narrow limestone bank building at 213 West Commerce Street in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, erected in 1885-86 by George W. Brackenridge as the San Antonio National Bank.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the bank as the pioneer national bank in Texas, founded by Brackenridge about 1866 and soon the city's leading bank. Its Saracenic design with Romanesque Revival details departed from the usual classical bank architecture. It was apparently conceived by Brackenridge himself and built with day labor, without a professional architect or contractor.","narrative":"Built in 1885-86 at 213 West Commerce Street in San Antonio, this small limestone building housed the San Antonio National Bank, later taken over by the First National Bank of San Antonio. George W. Brackenridge, the banker who founded the enterprise about 1866, erected it at a cost of more than $47,000. Brackenridge held the first national bank charter issued in Texas, and the bank was considered the city's leading bank the year after the building opened. The long, narrow structure has quarry-faced, random-coursed limestone walls, stilted round-arched windows in the Saracenic style, Romanesque Revival columns and details, and a small corner minaret or bartizan. This fanciful look contrasted with the classical styles usually chosen for banks. Contemporary accounts indicate no professional architect or contractor took part; Brackenridge apparently conceived the design and had it built with day labor. The building remains largely unaltered, and its historic site was later defined as Lots 13 and 14 of New City Block 116.","period_of_significance":"1885-86 (19th Century)","architect_builder":"No professional architect or contractor; apparently designed and built by George W. Brackenridge with day labor","architectural_style":"Victorian-romantic, Saracenic style with Romanesque Revival details","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent and largely unaltered apart from unobtrusive additions. The form marks the present use as vacant, says the bank has relocated and the property is for sale. A later amendment places the boundary on Lots 13 and 14.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.993046-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/71/9711/40971171/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/72001348.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001348/a7feb56d87-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/72001348/a7feb56d87-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Archinia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_National_Bank_of_San_Antonio3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Archinia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_National_Bank_of_San_Antonio3.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"79002914","name":"Main and Military Plazas Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/main-and-military-plazas-historic-district-79002914/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971171","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q107329723"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/bexar-county/first-national-bank-of-san-antonio-72001348/"}