File:Former Falls National Bank building, Niagara Falls, New York - 20221220.jpg

English: Seen in December 2022 is the long-vacant former Falls National Bank building at 302 Portage Road (corner Falls Street) in Niagara Falls, New York, built in 1925 to an architectural design by the New York firm of Morgan, French & Co. With a freewheeling panoply of eclectically applied, Greco-Roman-inspired decorative elements - paired Doric pilaster strips dividing columns of large windows on both façades, a pedimented corner entrance adorned with dentils and scroll brackets, paired wreath reliefs on the entablature underneath a projecting dentillated cornice - this is a fine example of the Neoclassical architectural style as typically applied to bank buildings of its era. Falls National Bank was founded in November 1919, and by the time the construction of this building came underway, it had a capitalization of over $125,000 and a client base drawing heavily from the Polish-American community gathered around the nearby Holy Trinity Catholic Church. However, these incipient glory days were abruptly cut short by the Great Depression: the bank failed in 1933, and its assets were purchased by the Buffalo-based Manufacturers & Traders Trust Company, which continued operating a branch office in the building until "a steady decline in [customer] traffic over a number of years" forced its closure in October 1999.