{"nrhp_refnum":"84003553","name":"Virginia Bank and Trust Building","other_names":["Auslew Gallery Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"101 Granby St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Norfolk (Independent City)","county":"Norfolk","state":"VA","lat":36.846268846000044,"lon":-76.29296526199994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-02-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story former bank building at 101 Granby Street, at the corner of Granby and Main streets in downtown Norfolk, Virginia, built in 1908-1909 to designs by Wyatt and Nolting of Baltimore with Taylor and Hepburn of Norfolk as associate architects.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its architecture as a well-preserved example of Beaux-Arts neo-classical bank design from the early 1900s, when banks used classical forms to project stability. It reflects New York bank prototypes, including the Knickerbocker Trust building, as interpreted for a small southern bank, a type rare in the South. It also represents the work of what was then Norfolk's leading architectural firm.","narrative":"Built in 1908-1909 at the corner of Granby and Main streets, this four-story building was designed as the home of the Virginia Bank and Trust Company. Baltimore architects Wyatt and Nolting prepared the plans, working with Norfolk's Taylor and Hepburn. Its facades use engaged Ionic columns and Doric pilasters, with bronze doors, decorative metal window frames and a stone parapet. Inside, the banking lobby keeps its coffered ceiling, and the vault wall with three large vault doors remains intact. The design belongs to the period when banks adopted Greek and Roman forms to suggest permanence and soundness. It closely resembles New York banks by McKim, Mead and White and Joseph Freedlander, and it is one of few such classical bank buildings surviving in the South. Later occupied by several banks, it was left vacant in the early 1970s and then converted in 1977 to an art gallery without changing its exterior. It remains one of the best-preserved buildings of its type in Virginia.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Wyatt & Nolting, Baltimore, Architects; Taylor & Hepburn, Norfolk, Associate","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts neo-classicism","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in commercial use as an art gallery after adaptive reuse beginning in 1977; exterior described as largely unaltered, condition excellent.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:00.817829-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/6821/41682129/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/84003553.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003553/390743a374-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84003553/390743a374-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cathy1763","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Virginia_Bank_and_Trust_Building.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Cathy1763</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:Virginia_Bank_and_Trust_Building.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682129","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Bank_and_Trust_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16902758"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/norfolk/virginia-bank-and-trust-building-84003553/"}