“Another One Gone”: A Final Farewell to One of Amarillo’s Iconic Buildings

It has always been a bank.

From the final stone put in place until the first stone to fall in the demolition--the old Wells Fargo building at 1838 S. Georgia has always been a bank.

With its rakish and retro charm, the building sat on the corner of Wolflin and Georgia streets for decades. Nearly every Amarillo native subconsciously knows it as "that pretty building next to Taco Villa with the green stone".

"My momma helped open that bank when it was first built," said Jenea Spencer Oakley.

Jack Huddleston was the banker who built the compact, angular structure to house his fledgling company, Panhandle Savings and Loan. At the time, it was considered a shocking, if not bold move. Why? Because, as you can see in the photo above, the spot where Huddleston built his bank was next to....nothing.

"They told Jack he was a fool for building a bank in the middle of nowhere," Oakley quips.

Yet the tiny bank prospered. Oakley's mother, Jeanette Spencer, was the Vice President in the 70s--a position unheard of for a woman to hold at the time.

Years passed and Panhandle Savings and Loan morphed into PlainsCapital Bank. Oakley herself began to follow in her mothers indomitable footsteps as a banker during the time that PlainsCapital occupied the stone bank that Huddleston and her mother built.

Years melted into decades and the final metamorphosis came as a Wells Fargo branch.

But as many things come to a natural end in life, so did Wells Fargo's time in the building, Sometime in 2018, the branches closed and the building went dark. The bank was listed on the market and sat vacant until the first week of February 2022 when the demolition crew arrived.

As the building came undone, the furnishings and interior were ceremoniously gutted and taken to the landfill. As it is, Jack Huddleston's stone bank is no more and soon, a national chain auto shop will be built where the iconic Wolflin Village building once stood.

"[I'm] sad to see it torn down but understandably, the drive through and parking was always an issue," said Oakley,

The unique green coloring of the building came from exposed veins of chryscolla (or turquoise, by at least one old timer's account) within the stone matrix.

The vibrant blue-green stone is said to encourage creativity, confidence, and bring joy. Yet, those who were nimble and quick enough to scoop up the rubble at the demolition site know the true value of the green stones in their possession: the story of Jack Huddleston's little stone bank in Wolflin Village.

Scroll down to view photos of the demolition.