Williamsburgh Savings Bank
By
A New York institution passed into history last week. The banking hall in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building on Atlantic Avenue, in Brooklyn, closed its doors for the last time on Friday. Not that you would have noticed.
In case you were wondering why the closure of a banking hall should be at all noteworthy, it’s worth explaining that the banking hall in question is an art deco masterpiece, decorated in marble, adorned with a giant mosaic, lit via 40ft windows and crowned by a 63ft vaulted ceiling. I had been planning on sneaking my camera in last week to take some photos but my camera decided to choose that week to give up the ghost.
As everyone in New York knows, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, which opened in 1929, has been sold to developers who will convert the 512 feet tower into condominiums and the banking hall into a retail area, most likely a restaurant. The former tenant of the building, HSBC bank, has moved to much blander surroundings across the street on Flatbush Avenue.
I tried pitching the closure of the banking hall to a number of my favorite New York newspapers/magazines but no one was interested. They said it had all been written before.
Indeed, many stories have been written about the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building—how it became known as the Mecca of Dentistry because it housed so many dental offices, how the building sold for $73 million this summer and how one of the men behind the new development is Magic Johnson.
But although the banking hall was mentioned in passing it never merited a story in its own right. I can’t even find a photograph of the interior of the hall online. And when it closed its doors after 75 years in business on Friday how many words were written about it? None.
Yesterday, I took my camera down to the bank, which is now closed, and poked it through the locked doors to the banking hall. The photos were very dark, but thanks to the skills of a certain Simon’s Brain I can at least offer this. The next time you see this room, it could be a Barnes and Noble or a swanky restaurant.
Links for today:
Excellent panoramic view of Brooklyn and Manhattan from Williamsburgh Savings Bank building.
Good Williamsburgh Savings Bank info, pics and links
Close-ups of the bank exterior.
Williamsburgh Bank Flickr set.
12 Comments
October 7th, 2005 at 10:35 am
Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building Finally Closes;
An Englishman in New York writes: “A New York institution passed into history last week. The banking hall in the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building on Atlantic Avenue, in Brooklyn, closed its doors for the last time on Friday. Not that…
October 7th, 2005 at 11:04 am
I hang my head in mourning. A smile always graced my chubby mug when I entered the bank and saw the map of old Brooklyn. Is there any way we can petition saving it.
October 7th, 2005 at 11:12 am
I don’t think there is any need. Apparently, the banking hall has been landmarked to the nth degree! Let’s just hope whoever goes in there makes the most of those surroundings.
October 7th, 2005 at 11:29 am
Hasn’t the entire building been landmarked? Any edifice bestowed the honor of the most phallic building in the world by Cabinet magazine deserves to be landmarked.
October 7th, 2005 at 12:40 pm
No one should be suprised that this, and other underutilized landmark properties is passing into transition and making away for modern development. If anyone remembers what the now Metro Tech area looked like in the eighties and what it looks like today, will agree that development is good.
October 8th, 2005 at 5:57 am
Such is the fate
Of all splendid and grand
In this age of money and might…
I shed an unseen tear.
October 8th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
Extra, Extra
– If you wanted to see the interior of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank lobby in person, times up. – Got a lot of extra clothing to get rid of? Looking to get some new (to you) clothing? Check out the Swap-O-Rama tomorrow from 2-7. – Imagine you ran in…
October 10th, 2005 at 8:34 am
Big Apple Blog Festival – October 10, 2005
Welcome to the Big Apple Blog Festival (BABF), a representative roundup of this week’s posts by NYC bloggers. Next week’s BABF will be hosted by Englishman in New York … if you have a NYC blog or you blog about…
October 14th, 2005 at 11:01 am
[...] Following on from my post last week about the closure of the banking hall in the Williamsburg Bank Building, another New York institution that is about to pass into history is the Fulton Fish Market. My former colleague, Robert Jobson, who has spent most of his life living on the Cornish Coast in England, recommended the fish market to me the first time I visited New York. For him it easily outranked the Empire State Building and Central Park as New York’s top attraction. Little did I know you had to be up before the sun to fully appreciate it. [...]
March 26th, 2006 at 1:48 am
I also agree with that point of view. I mean why else would it be that way. Good stuff!
May 16th, 2006 at 8:36 am
[...] Here’s a photo of my favorite Williamsburg Savings Bank from 3rd Avenue, soon to be eclipsed by a multi-million dollar arena complex. I wonder what the good burghers of Brooklyn said when this was being erected? [...]
August 7th, 2010 at 7:28 am
I got my fist bank job in that very hall and I served customers at that very hall. The wonderful photo brought back great memories but it also made me sad because the W