Creators

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Source Collection

Alan Karchmer collection, Special Collections Department, University of Memphis Libraries

Identifier

17_8.C2

Description

National Bank of Commerce, 2nd & Madison. Memphis, Tennessee. Built in 1929. Photographer: Alan Karchmer. © Alan Karchmer.

Built according to the neo-Classic plans of the Mellon National Bank of Pittsburgh, designed by America's foremost Beaux Arts architects, McKim, Meade & White. Note the graceful relationship to the new Brutalist Commerce Square.

Welcome as they are today for their seemingly handcrafted grandeur, buildings of the Beaux Arts Style were a giant step backward in the evolution of Modern Architecture. Reacting against the severity of early modern and commercial styles, and to industrialized building in general, these structures, with their monumental steps, paired columns, and intricate sculptural adornments were strictly symmetrical with clearly elaborated parts ... a scholarly eclectic assemblage of architectural antiquity.

Date Created

2021

Date

undated

Keywords

Architecture--Tennessee--Memphis.

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