Republic Bank Branding — 1955
by Paula Bosse
When the uniforms match the exterior of the building…
by Paula Bosse
Republic National Bank opened its dazzling new building on N. Ervay in December, 1954. It was the tallest building in the city, the interior boasted gold leaf everywhere, and the exterior was covered with thousands of aluminum panels embossed with a distinctive four-pointed “star” shape.
The building’s opening was quite the PR extravaganza — so much so that Life magazine sent photographer Joe Scherschel to take photos for the Feb. 28, 1955 article “Dazzler For Dallas.” Scherschel took a ton of photos, but only a handful made it into the article — one that didn’t make it is the one above which shows five young women on a staircase, all of whom are wearing dresses with those Republic Bank “stars” on them! I have to admit, I was a little more excited than I should have been to have noticed what I assume must have been a (fairly stylish) uniform (hostesses? elevator girls?). Kudos to whomever came up with that clever way to celebrate the bank’s home by incorporating one of the most distinctive elements of one of the city’s most distinctive buildings into something as easily overlooked as an employee’s uniform. That is attention to detail!
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Sources & Notes
All photos were taken by Joe Scherschel for Life magazine, ©Time, Inc. A large collection of the photos Scherschel took while on assignment in Dallas for this article can be viewed here.
I wrote about those fantastic embossed aluminum panels in the Flashback Dallas post “The Republic Bank Building and Spain’s ‘Casa de Los Picos,'” here.
All photos are larger when clicked.
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Copyright © 2019 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
Flashback : Dallas 
When the First National Bank opened (close to the same time as the Republic Bank) my sister’s first job was one of several young ladies hired to be a tour guide for visitors of the sparkling new building. They, however, did not have uniforms like the Republic ladies. My sister was busy and did this job for a year before going to another department of the bank. I guess as time went on they didn’t have the same number of visitors as they did at the opening.
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As an addition to my above comment…the First National Bank would have opened somewhere around 1964.
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In all that opulence the ‘please do not touch the gold leaf’ sign seems a bit out of place.
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/republican-national-bank-city-skyline-dallas-texas/PAEMZ7tAxdAL3A
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[…] The rest I’ll go through chronologically, starting with a 1955 photo by Joe Scherschel which was part of a Life magazine spread on the Republic National Bank Building, with several photos featuring the iconic “star” design seen on the embossed aluminum panels that cover the exterior of the building. The photo of the staff uniforms emblazoned with that design is just great — from the January post “Republic Bank Branding — 1955.” […]
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