Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building
National Register of Historic Places

Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building

Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
Listed
January 27, 1983
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
83003043

About this property

The Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building is an office building located at 612 South Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1907 for the Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company, the building now houses offices for several law firms and financial agencies. The building's facade was constructed with locally quarried marble, and is designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style. In 1983, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance. The Mechanics' National Bank was chartered in 1882, and moved into a building at what is now 612 South Gay that same year. Within a few months of opening, the bank's president, Thomas O'Connor, was killed in a notorious shootout. In 1907, after the bank reorganized as the Mechanics' Bank and Trust, it built the first three floors of the current Mechanics' Bank building. The Union National Bank absorbed Mechanics' Bank in 1922, and added the top two stories the following year. The building later housed a branch of the Hamilton National Bank (headquartered in the nearby Holston building). In the early 1980s, the building was home to the City and County Bank, part of the Butcher banking empire, which collapsed in 1983 due to bank fraud.

Location

612 S. Gay St.
Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
35.96496, -83.91779

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Cowan, McClung and Company Building
Industrial
0 mi
Holston National Bank
Industrial
0 mi
Burwell Building Tennessee Theater
Civil War
0.1 mi
Gay Street Commercial Historic District
Listed
0.1 mi
Market Square Commercial Historic District
Early Republic
0.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Cavett's Station 1793
1793Early Republic
0.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building listed on the National Register?

Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 1983.

What type of historic resource is Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building?

Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building?

The period of significance for Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1907.

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