57 S Main St

From the National Register nomination

Romanesque Revival five-story (with an attic story) building of stretcher-bond buff brick with quarry-faced limestone accents. The metal-sheathed mansard roof (presumably flat roof behind) has parapet-gable dormers and a dentil and egg-and-dart cornice. At the northeast corner is a rounded tower that rises to a conical slate roof with a verdigris weather vane. The fifth story has paired round-arch windows under double quarry-faced stone arches (windows are 1/1 sash). Facade piers rise through the second and third stories to large quarry-faced stone arches in the fourth story. The first story is faced with banded quarry-faced stone up to a smooth stone cornice and has large one-pane windows in molded wood frames. At the corner under the round tower are smooth pink granite Doric columns and behind them an angled recess with a replacement plate glass entry. On the east side is a secondary entry under a smooth stone round arch with a quarry-faced keystone. At the southeast corner is a modernistic gray granite facing that continues to the building next door at 61 S. Main St. The more utilitarian west side has segmental-arch windows and steel fire escapes. The First National Bank Building occupies one of Harrisonburg's principal downtown business sites. In the 19th century the Washington House hotel and later the Sibert Building stood on the corner of S. Main St. and Court Square. The First National Bank of Harrisonburg, chartered in 1865, purchased the Sibert Building in 1889 and tore it down in 1903 in preparation for the construction of the present building. William M. Bucher & Son were contractors for the building, which opened on June 9, 1904. Joshua Wilton was bank president from the opening until 1909. In October 1921 the city's first poultry judging contest was held in the bank lobby (it moved to the C&W Railway Station the following year). The interior was remodeled in 1927-28. More remodeling occurred during the second half of the 20th century, although the building retains its original exterior appearance. Now Bank of America. (Loker, "Sovran Bank Building;" Rockingham County: Its Past and Present; Wells and Dalton, Virginia Architects, 53; "First National Bank")