Silver City National Bank
Silver City, New Mexico

Description: Silver City National Bank (1923-1929)
Other Names: The New First National Bank, American National Bank (1929-1983), Silver City Town Hall (1984-to date)
Address: 101 West Broadway at Bullard, Silver City, Grant County, New Mexico
Type: commercial: bank
Original Client: Silver City National Bank
Historic Inventory:
Date: 1923
Condition: extant, in use

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: H. S. Gilbert
Dimensions and Orientation: two stories, 77 feet across x 50 feet 5 inches deep
Budget/Cost: approximately $75,000

Foundation: probably concrete
Wall Materials: buff tapestry pressed brick, with glazed cream and salmon Terra cotta panels
Roofing Materials: flat
Other Materials Used:
Remodeling and Additions: interior converted to office use

Present Owner: Town of Silver City
Location of Drawings: none known to exist
Location of Documentary Photographs: Silver City Museum, Silver City, New Mexico (photograph of bank under construction credited to Silver City Museum by Berry and Russell [see bibliography, below]); authors

Bibliography: (1) Susan Berry and Sharman Apt Russell, Built to Last; an Architectural History of Silver City, New Mexico (Silver City, New Mexico: Silver City Museum Society, 1986), pages 67-69 and 105
(2) El Paso Times, Fifty Years of Progress Number, May 16, 1923, section III, page 21
(3) M. H. Salmon, Silver City Hopes Downtown Will Shine, Albuquerque Journal, and June 19, 1985. Article on downtown renewal with photograph of Town Hall

Remarks: Berry and Russell [see bibliography, above] reported that: The designs for the terra cotta [exterior] elements and the plaster ceiling were reportedly created by Henry Trost specifically for this building They also wrote that: The American National Bank acquired this building in 1929, and continued to occupy it until 1983. It was purchased by the Town of Silver City for use as City Hall in 1984. The outside corner clock has been moved to the new building of the American National Bank.

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990