{"nrhp_refnum":"87001293","name":"Second Bank of the United States","other_names":["Old Custom House","See Also:Independence National Historical P"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"420 Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Philadelphia","county":"Philadelphia","state":"PA","lat":39.94856406700006,"lon":-75.14841274381627,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1987-05-04","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1987-05-04","areas_of_significance":["Economics","Law","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Second Bank of the United States is a Greek Revival marble temple-form bank building at 420 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by William Strickland and built between 1819 and 1824.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for constitutional history, tied to the bank's role in stabilizing national finance and the political fight over its charter under President Andrew Jackson, and for architecture, as one of the finest Greek Revival examples in the United States that served as a model for numerous branch banks.","narrative":"Built between 1819 and 1824 at 420 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, the Second Bank of the United States is a marble temple modeled on the Parthenon in Athens. William Strickland designed the three-story building, which has a north portico of eight fluted Doric columns and a banking room whose interior Ionic columns and vaulted ceilings survive largely in their original form. Nicholas Biddle led the bank during its most influential years, when it marketed government bonds, served as a depository for federal funds, and regulated state bank notes. Its Greek Revival design was copied for numerous branch banks across the country. The bank's charter expired in 1836 after a long dispute with President Andrew Jackson over its constitutionality and power. The Port of Philadelphia later used the building as a Custom House until 1934. Its significance rests on its role in early national finance and on its architecture, which the nomination regards as among the finest Greek Revival buildings in the country.","period_of_significance":"1824-1836","architect_builder":"William Strickland","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The building now houses the Independence Park Portrait Collection after restoration work in the 1940s.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:30.914073-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/87001293_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001293/a91e197876-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/87001293/a91e197876-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Ben Franske","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Bank_of_the_United_States_South_side.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ben Franske</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Second_Bank_of_the_United_States_South_side.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000683","name":"Independence National Historical Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/independence-national-historical-park-66000683/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71994299","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Bank_of_the_United_States","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2263849"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/philadelphia/second-bank-of-the-united-states-87001293/"}