Peoples Bank

Customers and tenants will enter the Peoples Bank through true-to-the-period brass and glass doors with triple push bars. The lobby will be adorned with a framed tile commemoration of the building’s history. A tile mural will repeat the Mediterranean Revival pattern from the front of the building, unifying the interior and exterior.

For more than a century, the Peoples Bank has played a significant role in shaping downtown Clearwater. So it remains today, with a world-class restoration that will secure its place of honor in the future history of downtown Clearwater. 

Additional interior details include period-correct signage designs, a fully updated internal wood stair and historically replicated bathrooms in the style of the 1920s. Guests will be transported back in time while visiting or working in the newly restored Peoples Bank.

With restoration work nearing completion, the building is set toonce again anchorone of downtown Clearwater’s most prominent intersections.

Over the past century, the Peoples Bank building has evolved alongside the growth of downtown Clearwater. From its early construction following the 1910 fire to its transformation during the Mediterranean Revival era and the changes that followed, the building has remained a prominent landmark at the corner of Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Avenue.

Replacing a building lost in the 1910 Clearwater fire, the Peoples Bank building was constructed on this corner soon afterward as a two-story brick structure. It was 24 feet from ground level to the roof. One part of the building was a grocery store and the other, a bank separated by an interior wall. There was an exterior balcony added to the front of the building that wrapped around the corner as seen above.

In the 1920s, the building was further upgraded with a plaster façade and a green barrel tile roof—similar tothe historic Clearwater Post Office just down the street.

In 1932, the Peoples Bank and the First National Bank merged and retained the name of “First National Bank.” Additional upgrades to the façade included the addition of elaborate Mediterranean tile, a large awning over Cleveland Street and integrated signage on the exterior. The McClintock-Loomis clock was added during this era and became a downtown Clearwater focal point, both for telling time and as a place to meet. 

W.F. Rehbaum was President and Taver Bayly was Vice President of the Peoples Bank during this time. Bayly started working at the Peoples Bank in 1912 as a teller. He was one of the founders of the Clearwater Public Library, the first President of the Clearwater Rotary Club and a past President of the Greater Clearwater Chamber of Commerce. In 1965, he was named “Mr. Clearwater” by the Chamber and was also named as one of the first Pinellas County Gold Star Pioneers. 

The Cleveland Street Alliance worked closely with Ferrell Development, a Florida-based historic consultant, to identify this 1930s era as the historic look for this restoration, as this was truly the heyday of this iconic bank building. 

The City of Clearwater Planning and Eligibility Study of May 2005 gave additional insight on the restoration of the Peoples Bank, writing, “Some of these alterations (since 1930) may still be reversible. With the proper rehabilitation, this resource could be considered a contributing resource to a historic district within the Downtown Core.” 

In later years during the 1960s, the highly decorative Mediterranean details had been removed or plastered over to make downtown look more modern as seen above. This appearance remained through the 1980s.