The Former Agricultural Bank of Brăila (Fosta Bancă Agricolă din Brăila) is a historic bank building dating from 1870 in central Brăila, later converted into the headquarters of the local postal administration. Its richly decorated facades and surviving interior details reflect the commercial prosperity of the city during the nineteenth century.
Brăila’s development as a major grain-trading port encouraged the growth of banking institutions that financed agriculture, commerce, and shipping. The Agricultural Bank was among the institutions serving this expanding economy, and by the early twentieth century it was operating from the building on Danubiului Street. Its presence there is recorded in commercial directories from 1913 through the 1930s, when Brăila supported numerous local banks and branches of national financial institutions.
The substantial two-story building has a rectangular layout, with entrances positioned symmetrically near either end of the main facade. Its upper-floor windows project slightly from the wall and are decorated with wrought-iron grilles, while ornamental bands, garlands, scrollwork, and floral reliefs extend across the facades. The decorative ironwork also incorporates Secession influences, particularly around the entrances, where the initials “R A” can be seen in the metalwork.
After the building became the headquarters of the postal administration, it underwent a major reconstruction and restoration between 1991 and 1994. The work preserved decorative features of the original interiors, including painted ceiling borders, shallow arches, and gilded reliefs. In the council room, a ceiling painting depicting the aurochs’ head from Romania’s first postage stamps was added in reference to the building’s postal function. The restored headquarters was inaugurated on November 15, 1994.
