Astoria #22: Bank of Astoria

1215 Duane Street

This was originally the site of the Scandinavian-American Bank. After the Astoria Fire, some walls & vaults reused in the 1923 construction of the current building, designed by Astoria architect John E. Wicks for the Astoria National Bank and built by Niemi and Company at a cost of $100,000. The Astoria National Bank opened on February 25, 1924, but went into receivership four years later on February 25, 1928 and the bank closed. The building reopened in 1930 as the newly-chartered Bank of Astoria. (Notice that the stone that the words "Bank" and "Astoria" are carved into is a slightly different color than the surrounding trim, including that in which the word "of" is carved.) The bank was purchased by the U.S. Bank of Portland on July 13, 1937. U.S. Bank continued to occupy the building until 1973. It was then used by the Astor Street Opry Company to store costumes. In 2003 the first floor was leased by the Columbia River Day Spa, and a floor was installed to turn the mezzanine level into a full second floor. In 2005 Blue Mars purchased the building and Rickenback Construction renovated and restored the second floor and exterior to create the 4,500 square foot Banker’s Suite. The day spa moved out in 2009 and Blue Mars hired Paul Caruana of Caruana Inc. to renovate the first floor into a grand ballroom. On July 3, 2012 Marie Antoinette's Cupcake & Espresso Parlor opened on the first floor but closed about a year later.

There is an entity known as the Bank of Astoria today, and it has a branch only a block from this building, but this new Bank of Astoria was chartered in 1967, and opened its first branch in 1968.

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