To understand the evolution of bank design, it is also necessary to grasp the fundamentals of America’s banking and financial history. It goes hand-in-hand with the creation of bank architecture. While the worldwide evolution of architectural styles played a major factor in the way banks look, developments in the financial history of the nation - depressions, panics, government monetary and banking policy - also played a critical role. With more than 200 photographs and illustrations, this work studies the evolution of American bank architecture from 1781 (when America’s first bank was founded) to new banks of the present day. It explores how and why the classically inspired structures that were built in late eighteenth century American, embodying strength and trust, evolved into basically anonymous building types.