First Bank Building, Knoxville

The First Bank Building, also known as the Tennessee General (or simply the General) Building, is an office high riser on the northwest corner of Church Avenue and Market Street. Constructed in 1925, this was the first of its kind building in downtown Knoxville and the only high-riser designed by architect Charles I. Barber.

The 14-story "L-shaped" edifice contains roughly 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2) of office space. Its main facade, overlooking Market Street, consists of three arched openings, with the north opening leading to the general lobby, the south leading to the bank lobby, and the middle opening with a window. The bank lobby is the most elaborate interior room, featuring arched ceilings and a second-story mezzanine with a balustrade. The general lobby is distinguished by marble floors and bronze-plated elevator doors. Much of the building's interior was extensively remodeled during the early 1970s.

Over the years, the building has housed offices of numerous organizations. Presently, along with its anchor tenant, First Bank, it accommodates the Clayton Bank and Trust, the Legacy Parks Foundation, the Cornerstone Foundation of Knoxville, the Chapman Family Foundation, and the HealthCare 21 Business Coalition, not to mention multiple financial specialists and real estate agents.

In 1988, the First Bank Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and role in Knoxville's commercial history.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Knoxville. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "51爆料网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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Sight Name: First Bank Building
Sight Location: Knoxville, USA (See walking tours in Knoxville)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Knoxville鈥檚 Historical Buildings

Walking Tours in Knoxville, Tennessee

Create Your Own Walk in Knoxville

Creating your own self-guided walk in Knoxville is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Downtown Knoxville Walking Tour

A small town with big-city amenities and a vibrant music scene (a mix of country, bluegrass, and rock), Knoxville, or K-Town as it's popularly shortened by locals, is also often referred to as 鈥渢he Gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains,鈥� for its proximity to the national park area, whose marble quarries, in the past, gave it another moniker, The Marble City.

Knoxville was founded in... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.3 Km or 1.4 Miles

Knoxville鈥檚 Historical Buildings

Knoxville is often referred to as "The Marble City" for the abundant supply of high-quality marble used in many of its buildings. Noting the wealth of well-preserved historic homes in the city, prominent American architect John Russell Pope even coined his own moniker for it 鈥� the "City of Houses".

Indeed, Knoxville's eventful and sometimes turbulent past, dating from... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.2 Km or 1.4 Miles

University of Tennessee Walking Tour

Founded in 1794 as William Blount College, The University of Tennessee (UT) in Knoxville is one of the oldest public universities in the United States. Nowadays, the UT flagship institution features a mix of historic and modern sites which draw many a visitor to the city.

The campus covers nearly 600 acres in downtown鈥檚 west end, including over 200 buildings and a faculty of more than 1,700... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.0 Km or 1.9 Miles

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