The Bank of Xenia is a historic former

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, 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 m ...

building in downtown

Xenia Xenia may refer to: People * Xenia (name), a feminine given name; includes a list of people with this name Places United States ''listed alphabetically by state'' * Xenia, Illinois, a village in Clay County ** Xenia Township, Clay County, Il ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

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 turn on question ...

in 1885. Built in a heavily

Greek Revival Greek Revival architecture is a architectural style, style that began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe, the United States, and Canada, ...

style of architecture, upon a stone foundation, the bank is a two-

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Narrative, an account of imaginary or real people and events ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting ** News story, an event or topic reported by a news orga ...

structure constructed with a rectangular plan. Located along Detroit Street in downtown Xenia, its

pilaster In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

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

Doric order The Doric order is 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 t ...

. 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 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...

railing; the

frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...

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 typically refers to architecture consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or more specifically, from ''De architectura'' (c. 10 AD) by the Roman architect Vitruvius. Va ...

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

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, 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 A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

.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