May 8, 2006
Last Days of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank
If you missed Sunday's tour of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in Fort Greene, you are shit out of luck. The building is being converted to condos, and it's going to be off-limits for awhile. The best we can do is offer these photo sets by Triborough and JayKayEss. The interiors are the real visual treat, but the view from the roof is also worth checking out-- particularly the shots showing the blocks being knocked down for the Atlantic Yards redevelopment. [Related: a couple of previous Gothamist posts with lots of WSB links.]
Photo above by JayKayEss.
|
Advertisement: Gothamist Continues Below!
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
When I used to bank with HSBC, I had the privilege of withdrawing once from the Williamsburg bank and walked through that incredible hall. It always reminded me of the run on the bank scene in Marry Poppins where banks were institutions rather than their modern storefront counterparts.
"...a wooden leg named Smith"
This place sucks balls cause it's so misleading! First, it's not in Williamsburg and second it's spelled Williamsburgh, it's in Fort Greene. and Fort Greene is fucked up to cause it's spelled with an extra e at the end. Try to find this shit on Google mapes and you are fucked.
America is such a young country, particularly in its architecture, but NYC seems to be an archive of American architecture. It's a d*mn shame that what isn't being demolished in this city is being converted into condos.
To jack dong:
Williamsburgh was the original name.
According to the Encylopedia of New York City the area was "incoprorated as the Village of Williamsburgh in 1827." The encylopedia says later in the same article, "Later its mayro, Abraham J. Berry, proposed that it be consolidated with Brooklyn; in 1855 his plan was enacted and the final "h" was dropped from the name of the neighborhood (it remains in the name of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, which has a building designated a landmark on Broadway)."
As for the Google maps problem, they will all go away if you enter in the actual official postal name for the area that you want - in both cases it would be "Brooklyn, NY".
Thanks for posting my photo!
I forgot to mention that I will be putting more photos up on Flickr when I get the film processed. Such are the disadvantages of shooting film.