The monumental Dollar Savings Bank building with its tower dominates the intersection of Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse. Designed by Adolf L. Muller of the noted firm of bank architects, Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, the building is a major example of classicizing Art Deco architecture. The building’s easternmost bay was constructed as the bank’s Fordham branch office in 1932-33. Five years later the bank was expanded another 100 feet along the Grand Concourse. After World War II, in 1949-50, the bank’s Grand Concourse frontage was extended fifty more feet when the ten-story office block and fifty-foot clock tower were constructed and the building became the bank’s headquarters. Although the design was carried out over some twenty years, there is a consistency in the use of the classicizing Art Deco style and classical proportions. The skeletal frame of steel that supports the original building and each of the extensions is particularly apparent in the ten-story office block and clock tower which added a strong asymmetrical silhouette to the earlier symmetrical design. An important feature was the raised “Liberty Head” logo (some now covered with large disks bearing the logo of Emigrant Savings Bank), echoed by the round clock faces in the tower and over the entrances.
STATUS Designated Individual Landmark
The Neighborhood
The Bronx
The only borough contiguous with the mainland of the United States, the Bronx was named for Jonas Bronck who established a settlement in the area in 1639. The Bronx’s main thoroughfare, the Grand Concourse, was conceived as part of the City Beautiful movement. It was...
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