The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was a financial institution in Brooklyn, New York, from 1851 to 1986. The bank was incorporated in 1851 under legislation passed by the New York State Assembly.[1] The bank continued to operate until a series of mergers brought the bank into the HSBC group late in the 20th century.
The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was chartered in 1851.[11][12] The bank was originally housed in the basement of a church at Bedford Avenue and South 3rd Street;[11][13] it had 158 depositors and $15,000 in assets.[14][13] In 1854, it relocated to its own building across the street.[11][15][16] The bank served the City of Williamsburg, which lost the "h" on Jan. 1, 1852, when the Town of Williamsburgh became the City of Williamsburg;[17] the bank retained the old spelling.[18] The bank had earned enough to cover the cost of the second building and its underlying land in its first seven years.[16] In the aftermath of the American Civil War, the bank's holdings grew considerably.[11][19] By 1867, the bank had 16,000 clients who had deposited a combined $5 million.[11] To accommodate the growth of the bank, the domed 175 Broadway headquarters was constructed from 1870 to 1875.[20]
Despite expansions in 1906 and 1923,[21][22] the 175 Broadway headquarters was no longer sufficient for the bank's needs by the 1920s.[21] The bank had 139,000 depositors and $212 million in assets in 1928,[14][13] making it the fourth-largest in the U.S.[11] 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. Following this, in mid-1926, the bank decided to build a headquarters at One Hanson Place, near Downtown Brooklyn's transit hub.[11] The 175 Broadway building was to be retained as a branch.[14][13] A temporary branch at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues opened in January 1927,[23] and the permanent Hanson Place headquarters opened two years later on April 1, 1929.[24] A life-insurance sales department opened at both of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank's branches in 1941.[25]
^Miele, Alfred (November 16, 1977). "Landmarks in 3 Varieties". New York Daily News. p. 232. Archived from the original on March 24, 2022. Retrieved March 24, 2022 – via newspapers.com.
^ abcd"Brooklyn's Highest Skyscraper Soon To Be Completed: Cornerstone of Williamsburg Bank Building Will Be Laid To-morrow". New York Herald Tribune. April 8, 1928. p. D1. ProQuest1113362388.
^Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1999). New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age. Monacelli Press. p. 954. ISBN978-1-58093-027-7. OCLC40698653.
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