Exchange Bank Building
344 Third Street
The Exchange Bank Building is a product of the Late Victorian period design vocabulary and shows the influence of the Romanesque and Italianate styles. It was designed by master builder Augustus F. Gauger (1852-1929) of St. Paul and was built as a business block, intended to be the most prominent commercial building in downtown Farmington. It was built in 1880, after the Great Fire of 1879 destroyed much of the downtown.
This new masonry building housed the Bank of Farmington, a post office and a large hall on the second floor. The Exchange Bank acquired the property from the failed Bank of Farmington in 1896.
The Exchange Bank was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 31, 1979 because of its architectural qualities, reflecting the standards and tastes of the Late Victorian period in small-town Minnesota. It was acquired by the city and rehabilitated in 1996. It is historically significant not only as a notable specimen of high-style commercial architecture, but as an enduring, tangible link to the city’s business heritage. The building is now privately owned and in commercial use. This visual and historical anchor for Farmington’s downtown was designated as a Heritage Landmark on Oct. 6, 2003.
Designated on 10/06/03
