Old San Antonio National Bank Building
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This structure was built to house the San Antonio National Bank, organized by George W. Brackenridge and others in 1866 as the first federally chartered banking institution in the city. Cyrus L.W. Eidlitz, A New York architect, designed the building using limestone mined from area Quarries. Completed in 1886, it served as the fourth structure for the bank. The victorian design features moorish arches, ornate ironwork, and a decorative southeast corner tower. The bank occupied the facility until 1970.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
George W. Brackenridge and his partners organized the San Antonio National Bank in 1866 as the city's first federally chartered bank, part of the new national banking system born of the Civil War. This limestone home for the bank, designed by New York architect Cyrus Eidlitz and completed in 1886, showed off Victorian confidence with Moorish arches, ornate ironwork, and a corner tower. The bank operated here until 1970.
Why it matters
The building marks San Antonio's entry into the modern financial world and stands as a striking example of the ambitious commercial architecture of the Gilded Age.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Briscoe Western Art Museum0.1 mi away · 210 West Market Street
- Buckhorn Saloon and Museum0.2 mi away
- Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks0.2 mi away
- Ripley's Believe It or Not! Odditorium0.2 mi away
- Alamo Vistor Center and Museum (coming 2027)0.2 mi away
- Ralston Family Collections Center0.3 mi away
Attractions
- River boat boardingnearby
- River boat boarding0.2 mi away
- La Villita0.2 mi away
- Sea Life Aquarium0.3 mi away · 849 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX
- River boat boarding0.4 mi away
- Yanaguana Garden0.4 mi away
Food & drink
- Saltgrass Steak House0.1 mi away
- Paesanos Riverwalk0.1 mi away · 111 Crockett Way, San Antonio, TX
- The Original Mexican Restaurant0.1 mi away
- Landry's Seafood House0.1 mi away · 517 North Presa Street, San Antonio, TX
- Rainforest Cafe0.1 mi away · 110 East Crockett Street, San Antonio, TX
- Brenner's Steakhouse0.1 mi away
Places to stay
- Mokara Hotel and Spanearby · 212 West Crockett Street, San Antonio, TX
- The Westin Riverwalk, San Antonionearby · 420 West Market Street, San Antonio
- Omni La Mansión del Rionearby · 112 College Street, San Antonio
- Hotel Contessanearby · 306 West Market Street
- Wyndham Riverside Suites0.1 mi away · 218 College Street, TX
- Holiday Inn Riverwalk0.1 mi away · 217 North Saint Mary's Street, San Antonio, TX
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George W. Brackenridge
- · Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Groos National Bank
San Antonio, TX
Frederick Groos, a German engineer, reached Texas in 1848 and won a government freighting contract during the building of Fort Duncan, sending long trains of ox carts across country plagued by raids. With his brothers he built the mercantile firm F. Groos and Co., where frontier banking meant money hidden in cotton bales and cart axles for safety on the road. In 1879 the family erected San Antonio's first purpose-built bank and took a national charter in 1912.
Staacke Brothers Building
San Antonio, TX
Built in 1894 for German immigrant August Frederick Staacke's thriving carriage business, this building was designed by the prominent Texas architect James Riely Gordon. Its granite Corinthian columns and two-story arcade blend classical and Renaissance Revival elements, an emblem of San Antonio's confident commercial growth in the Gilded Age. The Staacke name marked one of the era's successful immigrant-founded enterprises.
Stevens Building
San Antonio, TX
Completed in 1891, the Stevens Building is among the finest survivors of San Antonio's late-19th-century commercial district, designed in the muscular Richardsonian Romanesque style by architect James Riely Gordon. Its ground floor long held dry goods and furniture stores, while the second story served in turn as the city's scientific society headquarters and as the real estate office of owner John Stevens. The building embodies the confident architecture of a booming Gilded Age city.
Site of the Home of Dr. Ferdinand Ludwig Herff
San Antonio, TX
Ferdinand Ludwig von Herff came to Texas in 1847 as one of Die Vierziger, the idealistic "Forty" who tried to found a utopian commune called Bettina in the Hill Country. When that dream collapsed within a year, he returned to Germany, married, and came back for good, settling in San Antonio in 1850 and building this home in 1855. A German-trained surgeon of real distinction, he helped organize the county medical society, founded the city's first infirmary with the Sisters of Charity, and — though a Confederate surgeon — was quietly known for Union sympathies, practicing until he was nearly ninety.