The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, also known as One Hanson Place, is a skyscraper in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, U.S. Located at the northeast corner of Ashland Place and Hanson Place near Downtown Brooklyn, the tower was designed by Halsey, McCormack & Helmer and constructed from 1927 to 1929 as the new headquarters for the Williamsburgh Savings Bank. At 41 stories and tall, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower was the tallest building in Brooklyn until 2009.
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was originally headquartered in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn; its officers decided to construct a new skyscraper headquarters near Downtown Brooklyn in the mid-1920s. The bank occupied the lowest floors when the building opened on April 1, 1929, while the remaining stories were leased as offices. By the late 20th century, dentists' offices occupied much of the structure. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the tower's exterior as a city landmark in 1977 and designated some of the interior spaces in 1996. Through several mergers, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank became part of HSBC Bank USA, which sold the building in 2004. The building's upper stories were converted to luxury condominium apartments from 2005 to 2007, while the banking hall became an event space.
The building's main entrance is through a large arch on Hanson Place. At ground level, the tower is clad with limestone above a granite dado. Above the sixth story, the building is faced in brick with terracotta decoration, and a series of setbacks taper to a clock tower and a domed roof. Inside is an entrance vestibule and lobby with ornately decorated marble and metalwork. The banking room includes a nave, aisles, and a chancel—spaces similar to those found in a church. A basement lobby leads to Atlantic Terminal and the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station, while a mezzanine-level ladies' lounge overlooks the banking room. When the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower was completed, there was commentary about both the building's architecture and its symbolism as Brooklyn's tallest building. Over the years, local residents have used the building both as a clock and as a landmark for giving out directions, and the tower has been used as a filming location.
Site
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower is at One Hanson Place, in the Fort Greene neighborhood of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, U.S. It occupies the southwestern section of a rectangular city block bounded by Ashland Place to the west, Hanson Place to the south, St. Felix Street to the east, and Lafayette Avenue to the north. The rectangular land lot covers , with a frontage of on Ashland Place and on Hanson Place.
Adjacent to the tower, within the city–designated Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District, are row houses designed in the Italianate style. The Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church is on the same block to the east, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music is just to the north. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station is inside the building. The site is also near the Atlantic Terminal mall, the Atlantic Terminal station of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and the Barclays Center arena. The Alloy Block is located to the west, just across Flatbush Avenue.
The site is near the historic split of Jamaica Road (now Atlantic Avenue) and the Flatbush Turnpike (now Flatbush Avenue). It overlooks Times Plaza at the intersection of Flatbush, Atlantic, and Fourth Avenues in Downtown Brooklyn. A commercial center was being envisioned around Times Plaza by the early 20th century. Prior to the tower's construction, there were "about eight" buildings on the lot. A small part of the site was previously owned by the Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church. Although the tower's site is near the subway and LIRR terminal, most business in Brooklyn was centered around Brooklyn Borough Hall, further to the west, before the tower was built.
History The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was chartered in 1851. The bank was originally housed in the basement of a church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; the bank's first annual report showed that it had 158 depositors and $15,000 in assets. In 1854, it relocated to its own building across the street. After the American Civil War, the bank's holdings grew considerably, and a new headquarters at 175 Broadway was completed in 1875. The bank had 139,000 depositors and $210 million in assets in 1928, making it the fourth-largest savings bank by deposits in the United States during the late 1920s. Despite being expanded in 1906 and 1923, the 175 Broadway headquarters was no longer sufficient for the bank's needs by the 1920s.
Each savings bank in New York had been limited to one location until 1923, when the state legislature passed a law allowing savings banks to construct branches. In March 1926, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank's Building Committee submitted an application to the New York superintendent of banks to build a branch in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Three months later, the bank decided to instead build a headquarters near Downtown Brooklyn's transit hub. The 175 Broadway building was to be retained as a branch.
Development
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank anonymously acquired lots on 1–9 Hanson Place and 135–149 Ashland Place in Downtown Brooklyn over a total of 29 transactions in 1926. The Times Union reported on the acquisitions in October 1926, and the bank announced the same month that it would open a new headquarters at the site. The bank planned to open a temporary branch at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in the meantime. Upon hearing of the plans, the City Savings Bank and the Dime Savings Bank of New York, which operated branches in Downtown Brooklyn, claimed the Williamsburgh Savings Bank was "invading" their territory; they were joined by eight other banks. Despite the opposition from these ten banks, New York's superintendent of banks gave the Williamsburgh permission to open a Downtown Brooklyn branch. The approval was contingent on the closure of the temporary branch once the permanent building was finished.
Bank officials considered several plans, including one without any rentable space. Ultimately, bank officials decided to construct a 16-story building. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank acquired land from the Hanson Place Church in December 1926, and the building was erected in place of a chimney for the church. In January 1927, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank opened the temporary location at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Later that month, Halsey, McCormack & Helmer filed plans for the new edifice with the city's Bureau of Buildings, and the bank announced that it would begin clearing the site. The bureau rejected the original plans, saying that they violated two provisions of the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote that the project could be delayed by six to twelve months if the architects were forced to redesign the building.
By August 1927, the William Kennedy Construction Company was excavating the site to lay the foundation. The same firm was awarded the general contract for the new building that December, at which point the building was planned to cost $3 million. In addition, P. J. Keogan was hired as the electrical contractor, Almirall & Co. received the heating contract, and Alexander Bryant Company was retained to install plumbing. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's cornerstone was laid on April 9, 1928, and the superstructure was topped out by the end of July 1928. Managing agent R. M. Dinsmore began renting out the space that year, and the clock atop the building started operating in December. The tower was completed as other structures nearby were being built, including the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, several office buildings, and apartment buildings on Hanson Place.
Bank and office use 1920s to 1970s Four hundred people attended a reception for the new bank building on March 28, 1929. At the time, 75 percent of the space had been leased. The banking offices opened on April 1, and the building was 85 percent leased when the office stories officially opened the next month. Four major insurance firms had signed leases in the building by June. Despite the Wall Street Crash later that year, ninety-four percent of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's space was leased before the end of 1929. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank's business grew in subsequent years. By the bank's 85th anniversary in 1936, there were 165,000 depositors from across the U.S. and in several other countries, although most depositors were from Brooklyn, Queens, and suburban Long Island. Among the building's tenants in the 1930s were the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the United Personal Loan Corporation, and Catholic newspaper The Tablet.
A life insurance sales department opened within the building's bank branch in 1941. J. J. Roehrig of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank took over as the building's manager in 1943. During World War II, the building's management instituted a policy in which only the first four floors would remain illuminated during citywide blackout orders. A rehabilitation center serving discharged service members opened within the building toward the end of the war. In the 1950s, the tower's tenants included architect Henry V. Murphy. As Brooklyn's tallest building, the tower was also used for Good Friday displays, during which some rooms were lit in the pattern of a cross. The clock faces were cleaned extensively in 1957. By the 1960s, the former ladies' lounge next to the banking room was converted into a mailroom. The banking hall also hosted events such as an American Revolutionary War exhibit by the Long Island Historical Society to celebrate the United States Bicentennial in 1976. The observation deck on the 30th story was shuttered in the late 1970s.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the exterior of the building as a New York City landmark on November 15, 1977. One of the bank's vice presidents said: "We did not seek this landmark status but we're rather proud of our building." The designation had to be approved by the New York City Board of Estimate, but this approval was delayed after U.S. Congressman Fred Richmond accused the Williamsburgh Savings Bank of participating in redlining by refusing to give mortgages to residents of poorer neighborhoods. The Board of Estimate finally approved the landmark designation in March 1978, when the bank pledged to allocate $10 million for loans and mortgages to Brooklyn residents. The LPC's chairperson, Beverly Moss Spatt, said that if the building were designated as a city landmark, it could also be added to the National Register of Historic Places and receive tax abatements as a result. The LPC designated the Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District on September 26, 1978; the district includes the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower.
1980s to early 2000s
By the late 20th century, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower contained many dentists' offices. The building also housed the executive offices for the Green-Wood Cemetery, as well as the production offices of The Tablet and one story for data-processing equipment for various companies. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank started replacing windows in 1983 after finding that some were severely deteriorated. The bank did not seek the required approval from the LPC, saying it did not want to delay the window replacement. Republic National Bank acquired Williamsburgh Savings Bank and its branches in 1986. Republic announced plans to renovate the lobby, banking room, mechanical systems, and facade in 1988, in advance of the building's 60th anniversary. The project was completed by that September. During the late 1980s, the building was known as One Hanson Place, and local residents unofficially called it the Williamsburgh Tower.