at 1901 Mt Meigs Road, was built in 1954, when First National and Union Bank were the two bank behemoths downtown, side by side on Commerce Street, vying to see which would open the first branch. Union Bank hired SS&A Architects, who designed this contemporary classic, now standing forlorn and empty. Note the classic pole clock, and the flag pole, both of which were to denote a sense of place. I was 27 that year and I thought the result was awfully cool. The box design just oozed Mies influence. I might be wrong, but I’m thinking my hometown friend, Charles Kelley, who worked at SS&A back then, was the designer. He and Parker Narrows were both AIA national design winners, the only two that ever lived here, before or since (of course, their employers got the credit).

-Charles Humphries