描述
**1500 Walnut Street**
**Art by:** Chris Hytha
**Story by:** Mark Houser
Diners savoring the filet mignon at Butcher & Singer may not be aware that the steakhouse takes its name from a brokerage house that for decades occupied the space inside the medieval-style carved limestone entryway. Today’s grandiose dining room, with its 24-foot-high painted beam ceilings and square columns of red marble, was originally made for a bank.
Founded by private financier Jay Cooke, the First National Bank of Philadelphia, as its name attests, was literally the first financial institution in the country chartered to print banknotes backed by the U.S. Treasury. Cooke was a private financier who loaned Pennsylvania $3 million to fund its Civil War efforts. He successfully lobbied President Abraham Lincoln and Congress to replace the country’s chaotic hodgepodge of state-run banks, establishing the banking system that exists to this day.
Livingston Jones, First National president when this office opened, and his wife, Edith, were outdoorsy types who enjoyed canoe trips in Canada. Their daughter Cornelia became a Chestnut Hill sensation, becoming a pilot at 17 and competing in air races and shows.
