The Fayette National Bank commissioned this building in 1913, hiring the New York firm McKim, Mead & White to design what became Lexington’s first skyscraper. When it opened on January 29, 1914, the public was invited to ride the elevators to the roof for a view of the city nobody had seen from that height before.
The 15-story Beaux Arts tower survived the bank’s 1930s consolidation into First National Bank and kept operating as a bank until the century’s end, when it sat vacant for years. 21c Museum Hotels bought it in 2012 for $3.1 million and spent four years restoring it with Deborah Berke Partners, reopening the old banking hall as Lockbox restaurant and turning the rest of the building into 88 guest rooms and gallery space. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been part of Historic Hotels of America since 2019.