Building Letterheads XII

Alexandria's Rapides Bank & Trust Company (RBTC), located at 400 Murray Street, was designed by the Bank Building & Equipment Corporation (1954). The company specialized in modernist design-build services, and had a significant affect on banking in both North and South America. In 1969, RBTC used its new bank as a gallery space, hosting an important Rodin exhibition that featured B. Gerald Cantor's collection now housed at Stanford University's Cantor Arts Center.

The Alexandria building is still standing and serves as a branch of Chase Bank. Its predecessor, the Old Rapides Bank & Trust Company building (1898), has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.

The Bank Building & Equipment Company's lead architect Wenceslao A. Sarmiento also designed modernist branches of Hibernia Bank in Gentilly (1956) and Mid-City (1955).  Click here for photos and more information.

Image above: Detail, Robert H. Bolton, letter to Louisiana Landmarks Society, 25 August 1971, Louisiana Landmarks Society Records, Folder 556, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.