The First National Bank Building was built in 1922–23, replacing an older building at Second and Gold Streets as the headquarters of the First National Bank. The bank commissioned the
El Paso firm of
Trost & Trost to design the building, with Henry C. Trost as the lead architect. The bank's president John M. Raynolds wrote in a letter that Trost "seemed to catch our ideas of what kind of a building we wanted and what kind of a banking room we wanted, and put them on paper immediately. ...We are especially pleased with the design Mr. Trost made of the exterior of the building and believe that it requires an artist like Mr. Trost to give a building distinction and individuality." At , the nine-story building was the tallest in the city and was often referred to as Albuquerque's first skyscraper. An
Albuquerque Journal writer described the view from the roof of the building in 1923: In addition to the bank, the building housed offices for many of the city's most prominent doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. Most of the third floor was occupied by the
Lovelace Clinic until it moved to its own building in 1950. The First National Bank Building remained the tallest building in Albuquerque until the
Simms Building was completed in 1954. First National Bank sold the building after moving its headquarters to First Plaza in 1975, but reacquired it in 1990 and moved some of its departments back in. Plans later changed, and the building was instead remodeled into a high-end condominium project called The Banque Lofts, which opened in 2006. ==Architecture==