McDowell County National Bank

A Philadelphia architecture firm and a Chicago contractor designed and built this bank, evidence of Welch's far-flung connections during its early days. Although their inspiration was Renaissance, the designers played with classical canons a bit. The building is angled at both front corners, but the only entrance is at the corner facing the street intersection. The heavily rusticated first floor is faced with coarse, quarry-faced stone with arched fenestration and entrance. Light, smooth stone ashlar and rectangular fenestration mark the two upper stories, which are separated by a broad, decorative belt course with panels that contain the intertwined initials MCDCB. Numerous pediments, each with a garlanded oculus and connected by a balustrade, enliven the roofline. In 1927 the bank again commissioned out-of-state architects, the New York architecture-engineering firm of Morgan, French and Company, for an interior remodeling. Local contractors Greene and Stowe carried out the work.