First Security Bank

For many years I scoffed at the notion that the First Security Bank Building was an important building in Salt Lake city. To me it was just plain Jane international style architecture and quite frankly was looking a bit worse for the wear. After a much needed facelift and grand reopening in 2004 - After learning a bit more about why many local architects considered it historically significant and, after completing my architectural education, I began to see the charm in the structure I once referred to as a giant mobile home due to its faded, battered and dented exterior panels.

Built in 1955, it was one of the earliest uses of curtain wall construction. It was also the first major construction in Salt Lake City in 20 years. Salt Lake City had thrived during the mining boom of the late 19th & early 20th century but, as with many cities, suffered severely under the great depression and WW II. The bank also happens to be one of only three or four large intentional style buildings in Utah.

The bank was designed by Wenceslaus Sarmiento, a Peruvian born American architect who was famous for rethinking the way a financial institution ought to look, (bear in mind his buildings were built in the 40's & 50's). Slack W. Wilburne, a preeminent local architect was his local partner for the project. Born in 1922, Sarmiento is still alive and actively working to restore and preserve many of his old projects. He attended the grand reopening of First Security Bank.

Utah Historical Society Link Here.