Proof that age does not bestow any particular merit, the National was a plain old office tower plopped on a retail arcade. Nice little terra-cotta garlands with growling lion’s heads, but not much else for detail.

Just a reminder that boring buildings are not limited to our age.

If nothing else, it's a good period piece. The cars, the hats, the reminder that the man-made world downtown was once entirely made of brick, not glass. While this building may be dead and gone, the structures behind it are familiar to any current resident - the Northwestern Bell Building, and City Hall. The proximity to the latter structures must have meant that the National building was full of lawyers, bondsmen, private dicks, etc. Or so I'd like to think.