Seville Tower, originally called the American National Bank Building, was designed by J.E.R. Carpenter in 1908 in the commercial style, is a product of a "boom" period in Pensacola's economy when local businessmen promoted the city as a potentialimport and export center. The City Hall (1907), the San Carlos Hotel (1910), the Citizen's and People's National Bank building (1908), and the Blount Building (1906), all built during this same period, reflected the growth of the economy and the community leaders' hopes for the city to become the "Gateway to the Panama Canal.

The American National Bank Building is believed to have been the tallest building in Florida when it opened in August, 1909. Newspaper reports refer to construction rivalry between Jacksonville and Pensacola, but no comments appear about which city had the tallest structure.

The American National Bank building was the tallest structure in Pensacola and retained that distinction until 1974 when the Charter National Bank building was completed.

The American National Bank opened in Pensacola in October, 1900, in the Opera House building at Government and Jefferson streets "with a capital stock of $200,000." The Bank pioneered the popular use of safe deposit boxes: initiated one of the earliest night depository services and was one of the earliest users of the Burroughs adding machine.

By 1908, the bank had outgrown its original quarters and began construction of its ten-story building at the corner of Palafox and Government streets. This building, completed in August, 1909, housed the bank on the first two floors and a variety of other offices on the remaining floors, including real estate, insurance, legal, and export firms.

At the time the building opened, the U.S. Weather Bureau and the first Pensacola-based wireless telephone station occupied offices on the tenth floor." In 1944, the DuPont estate purchased the American National Bank and changed its name to the Florida National Bank at Pensacola.

The bank remained in this building until 1964, when it moved to a new office at Garden and Jefferson streets. Between I964 and 1973, the building changed hands several times and stood vacant for a period until Empire Building, Ltd. acquired and renovated it in 1973. The building still stands as a local landmark and currently houses the Escambia County Tax Assessor's office on the first floor and other professional offices on the remaining floors.