Last updated: September 2, 2022
Place
Omaha National Bank Building
David Calease, NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
1650 Farnam Street
Significance:
Architecture
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private Property Owner
Originally known as the New York Life Insurance Company Building, the Omaha National Bank Building was the first ten-story building in Omaha. Designed by the New York-based firm of McKim, Mead, and White for the New York Life Insurance Company in 1889, an identical office tower in Kansas City, Missouri was completed in 1890, in addition to company offices in New York City.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Omaha National Bank Building is U-shaped in plan with two brick and terra cotta towers on either side of a monumental arched entrance made of rusticated granite. Another tower, capped by an Italian loggia, is situated behind this entrance and rises above it. The building relies on massive masonry bearing walls, one of the last of its kind. This type of skyscraper construction was overtaken by the iron skeleton frame shortly after the Paris Exhibition in 1889, which in turn gave way to the high strength steel construction of today’s skyscrapers. The building was purchased by the Omaha National Bank in 1909. In 1920, an eleventh floor was added to both towers. The inner court behind the entrance was filled in at the second and third floors after World War II to provide more office space.
The Omaha National Bank Building is a privately owned apartment complex and is not open to the public but can be viewed from the street.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the Omaha National Bank Building is U-shaped in plan with two brick and terra cotta towers on either side of a monumental arched entrance made of rusticated granite. Another tower, capped by an Italian loggia, is situated behind this entrance and rises above it. The building relies on massive masonry bearing walls, one of the last of its kind. This type of skyscraper construction was overtaken by the iron skeleton frame shortly after the Paris Exhibition in 1889, which in turn gave way to the high strength steel construction of today’s skyscrapers. The building was purchased by the Omaha National Bank in 1909. In 1920, an eleventh floor was added to both towers. The inner court behind the entrance was filled in at the second and third floors after World War II to provide more office space.
The Omaha National Bank Building is a privately owned apartment complex and is not open to the public but can be viewed from the street.