Built as a bank
In 1901 the newly-chartered Jefferson National Bank constructed its first building at this site on land recently purchased by C.J. Rixey, one of the bank's founding directors. Constructed of grey, rusticated brick, the Jefferson National Bank was a two-story, Greek Revival structure with five ionic columns of matching brick and terra cotta trim. Two large Romanesque arches provided revolving door access to the lobby and banking rooms. W.T. Vandegrift of Charlottesville was the architect. In 1912, the bank decided to move its headquarters down the street. Kendler-Zimmerman Co. (later Jefferson-Lafayette Theaters, Inc.) purchased the building at auction, extensively remodeled the interior, and built the enormous theater stretching all the way back to Water Street. The architect for all this work was W.W. Keenan of Charlottesville.The Jefferson Theater had its gala opening October 21, 1912 with a New York troupe's performance of The Man from Home, a comedy starring William Hodge. Admission price for the opening night performance was $1.00 - $2.50.

Fire in the theater!!--1915
In the early years, the fare alternated between motion pictures and live theater, but the fun was short-lived. A January 1915 fire gutted the theater &emdash; though the front of the building and the stage were saved. (Remnants of charred beams can still be seen in the attic high above the stage.)

Prominent Richmond architect C.K. Howell (who designed the National and Empire Theaters in Richmond) was summoned in 1915 to rebuild after the fire, and the theater was reopened before the year was over.

A new front
The façade as it's now seen today arrived with another remodeling in the fall of1925. This included building some office spaces and apartments above the lobby. This project included adding an impressive iron marquee and a large vertical