The Bank of Xenia is a historic former

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

building in downtown Xenia,

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Built in 1835, it was the location of Greene County's first bank, which opened on June 1 of that year. For thirty years, the building was used as a bank, becoming the local branch of the State Bank of Ohio in 1846 and changing its name to First National Bank in 1863. After First National moved to a newer building in 1865, it was no longer used as a bank; among its later owners was A.C. Messenger, a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

who used it as his home and office.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 535. In the 1880s, the bank was a party to a lawsuit known as '' Xenia Bank v. Stewart'', which was decided by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1885. Built in a heavily

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style of architecture, upon a stone foundation, the bank is a two- story structure constructed with a rectangular plan. Located along Detroit Street in downtown Xenia, its

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

ed appearance is dominated by the entrance porch, which features two columns built in the

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

. Above the columns is a small second-story balcony, which is protected by a

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...

railing; the frieze on the balcony's side includes both metopes and

triglyph Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...

s that alternate in a

classical style Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...

. In 1973, the Bank of Xenia was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, qualifying because of its historically significant architecture. The second Xenia location to be added to the Register, following the East Second Street Historic District, it survived the devastating tornado of the following year. The building is currently occupied by Byuti 73, a beauty salon.Byuti73 Salon
Byuti 73, n.d. Accessed 2011-06-03.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Commercial buildings completed in 1835 Banks established in 1835 Banks based in Ohio Beauty salons Buildings and structures in Greene County, Ohio Defunct banks of the United States Greek Revival architecture in Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Greene County, Ohio U.S. Route 68 Xenia, Ohio