Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building | |
 Gay Street facade | |
| Location | 612 S. Gay St., Knoxville, Tennessee |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°57′53″N 83°55′4″W / 35.96472°N 83.91778°W |
| Area | .5 acres (2,000 m2)[1] |
| Built | 1907, expanded 1923[1] |
| Architectural style | Second Renaissance Revival (influences) |
| NRHP reference No. | 83003043 |
| Added to NRHP | January 27, 1983 |
The Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company Building is an office building located at 612 South Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. Built in 1907 for the Mechanics' Bank and Trust Company, the building now houses offices for several law firms and financial agencies. The building's facade was constructed with locally quarried marble, and is designed in the Second Renaissance Revival style. In 1983, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance.[1]
The Mechanics' National Bank was chartered in 1882, and moved into a building at what is now 612 South Gay that same year. Within a few months of opening, the bank's president, Thomas O'Connor, was killed in a notorious shootout. In 1907, after the bank reorganized as the Mechanics' Bank and Trust, it built the first three floors of the current Mechanics' Bank building. The Union National Bank absorbed Mechanics' Bank in 1922, and added the top two stories the following year. The building later housed a branch of the Hamilton National Bank (headquartered in the nearby Holston building). In the early 1980s, the building was home to the City and County Bank,[1] part of the Butcher banking empire, which collapsed in 1983 due to bank fraud.[2]
