First Bank and Trust Tower

The First Bank and Trust Tower is a Postmodernist skyscraper designed by Welton Becket & Associates, and built between 1985 and 1987 in New Orleans, LA.

First Bank and Trust Tower is not the only name you might know this building by though. It is common for companies to want to attach their names to iconic buildings when they move in, or for the general public to come up with nicknames, and this one is no exception. The building has changed names several times over the years, and is also known as:

• LL&E Tower between 1987 and 0.
• BankPlus Tower between 2022 and 0.
• 909 Poydras Tower.

Its precise street address is 909 Poydras Street, New Orleans, LA. You can also find it on the map here.

The building underwent a major restoration in 2005.

Welton Becket & Associates was the architecture firm in charge of the architectural design.

That being said, architecture is a complex discipline involving many professionals from different fields, without whom this building would have not been possible. We will surely be leaving out a lot of names here, but here is a list of the people we do know also played their part in making the First Bank and Trust Tower a reality:

• Joseph C. Canizaro as the Main Developer
• Enrique Alférez as the collaborating Artist

The First Bank and Trust Tower can be categorized as a Postmodernist building.

The First Bank and Trust Tower was completed in 1987. At that time Postmodernism was the prevailing style. Fresh, bold and daring, architects were exploring the freedom of designing without having to follow the strict, sometimes arbitrary rules of a specific architectural movement (which ironically became a movement itself). The First Bank and Trust Tower was therefore every much in line with what the architecture community, and the people liked and wanted at the time.

The First Bank and Trust Tower uses a frame structure made of steel columns and concrete and steel slabs.

A frame structure uses a combination of beams and columns to sustain the building's weight. The walls in this case are non-load bearing, which allows for more flexibility when distributing the interior spaces.

From an aesthetic point of view, the facade features vertical bands of Dakota mahogany-colored granite, interspersed with vertical bands of bronze-tinted glass.

On floors 10, 31, and 35, three setbacks lead up to the distinctive truncated pyramidal rooftop that crowns the building.

Another material found at the First Bank and Trust Tower is gold leaf trim, used on the moldings and coffered ceilings in the lobby.