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Another dispatch from the center of the world's most overblown real estate bubble: apartments in the soon-to-be-converted Williamsburgh Savings Bank building are going for up to THREE MILLION DOLLARS. What do you get for that price? A fairly long elevator ride and a great view of the north wall of Bruce Ratner's new Nets Stadium project. Hot! As if that news wasn't upsetting enough, the New York Post is reporting that beautiful lobby of the bank is going to be converted into a BORDERS BOOK STORE. If you want to see the building before it falls to the rampaging forces of redevelopment, Amy says you can take a tour on May 7th for $25.
The full-sized lobby picture above can be found at Wired New York. We also found the exterior shot on one of their pages.
Related:
Mike's shots from the top of the building
NYC Architecture has a good page on the building
Forgotten NY has the history of the building
Joe's classic panorama shot
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My doctor was in this building and is not in a crappy office on west 49th st in Manhattan. Where the hell are all these people getting $$ for 3 million dollar apartments.
It's amazing how quickly beautiful pubic spaces for people are quickly being co-opted and privatized for personal indulgence. Granted, anyone can walk into a Borders and see that lobby again. But it won't be the same.
Why all the hand-wringing over the WTC site? Let's just turn it into luxury condos and get it over with.
its a crying shame. i'm surprised it hasnt been listed as a landmark to protect it.
The issue with landmark status is while it benefits the public, it's a financial burden to the owners of the property. And in the case of many bank buildings, the bank owns the building itself. And frankly, banks don't spend as much money on themselves nowadays (ironically) as they used to. There's a reason why there are tons of old bank buildings in this city that still have majestic facades, but are cut up and gutted on the inside. The bank on the corner of Broadway and Canal whose interior has a Sbarro's and bootleg bag dealers comes to mind.
Well, for anyone who still wants to see a grand lobby of a Downtown Brooklyn bank, I highly recommend the Washington Mutual Bank (formerly DIME) next to Junior's on Dekalb Avenue. It's an amazing site and very well maintained. You never felt more in awe when using an ATM.
People -- it was a BANK. Not a temple. Now it will be a bookstore. This is not the end of the world.
Jack - that is hilarious! You are so right. Maybe all of Manhattan is destined to become a residential space, and we'll have to commute OUT of here to work...
yeah, no shit. it's not like NYU is buying it.
"People -- it was a BANK. Not a temple."
You obviously have never been in that building. Because it actually was as close to a commercial temple as one can get.
For anyone who needs perspective, go on the tour and look at the lobby of that place. Then walk across Flatbush Avenue and look at the 'new' HSBC bank branch that opened when they got kicked out of the Williamsburg space. There's no comparison.
Oh, and you don't need NYU to ruin buildings either. If you can ever get into Long Island University's downtown Brooklyn building, just look at what they did to the old Paramount theater. They hacked a basketball court onto it! Wonderful! That keeps the memory alive!
This city is really forgetting what it is. As Yogi Berra-ish as that sounds.
Real estate has I think officially gone nuts.
I now know what I will be doing May 7th.
And hopefully the evil Ratner will be stopped.
This is a damn travesty.
It's in Brooklyn, so I don't care.
As much as it sucks that a Borders is going in there, Jack had it right when he said that anyone can go in there. It will remain a space accessible by the public, whereas most buildings these days are zipped up tighter than Fort Knox. Have you recently tried to get a look at the lobby of the Woolworth building?
So are you telling me that if I owned one of these buildings I have to keep it open to public? F*ck off!
I just ordered the tickets online, they are $20, so you save $5. And the tour is not just of the Williamsburgh Bank Building, but of other things in Fort Greene and apparently is held every two years.
All I meant was that people who are calling this a loss of public space are wrong. It is a spectacular lobby and I'm sure at least as many people will be able to appreciate it as a Borders than did as an HSBC.
I don't understand why a bank is better than a bookstore. Personally I'd prefer a bookstore.
"I don't understand why a bank is better than a bookstore. Personally I'd prefer a bookstore."
Because that lobby was designed from day one to be a bank. Shoe-horning a bookstore in there is an odd thought. It will require changes to the interior that will make the space much less of what it is. Heck, I have no inside track as to the plans, but I can imagine large banners/signage hung in a way that blocks views of the walls/cielings/archtecture of the place that make it pretty lame to look at.
Also at some point in its history, the bank building itself opened it's upper floors to visitors. These floors have been closed for years, but in this new "reimagining" of the building these public spaces were closed off and left for nothing and will now be made into luxury condos for private use.
And with that I must say: Thank you Marty Markowitz for doing as much as possible to sell and shill your Brooklyn heritage.
In 1995 I lived in that area of Brooklyn.
I could see that clock tower from my apt. window. It was broken off & on.
There was a beautiful Mamas & the Papas song, I used to listen to. I think it's called "Young Girls are Coming to the Canyon," or something. It was kind of a moody song that resonated with a punk like me.
"I used to live in New York City.
Everything there was dark and dirty.
Outside my widow was a steeple...with a clock that always said 12:30..."
I don't know how I feel about all these rapid conversions. I mean my instinct tells me that we just don't have that reverence & respect for our architecture that way older European cities do.
But on the other hand I feel like "luxury condos" are shooting up all over the world & dominating big cities everywhere. And it's like, there's nothing you can do about it anyways.
And borders?
I mean hey, well isn't there already a Target right around there now as well?
You guys should stop in the Eckerd drugstore on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint (just up Bedford a ways, actually). It was one of those amazing old movie palaces back in the day, and they kept the old domed ceiling intact. Even buying toilet paper is a better-than-usual experience in that setting. I love shopping in there just for that great round room. Give this project a chance. After all, you can't really get into the bank now as it is. At least with Borders you'll get a chance to shop in a great spot.