Space Age Bank

Alma, Georgia

According to the plaque in front of the otherworldly Pineland Bank, it opened on April 25, 1966, as the Alma Exchange Bank, and was given its Space Age drive-thru design not by an architect, but by the bank's chairman and president, Valene Bennett. "Mr. Bennett was influenced by architectural designs that he enjoyed when he visited the 1964 World's Fair."

The building's sweeping steel magneto rims and accompanying globe tripod tower might have inspired customers to envision their own near-future, as accounts accrued value and defied gravity.

By early 2020, Bennett was long-dead and the bank had fallen into neglect. His two sons, who had also taken that 1964 trip to the New York World's Fair, and who were now bank executives themselves, decided to spend the money needed to restore it. According to the plaque, the sons had "an appreciation for the unique vision that their father had."