The S. Jarmulowsky Bank Building was described at the time of its construction as “the first strictly high-class tall bank and office building” on the Lower East Side. It was completed in 1912 as the architectural showpiece of Sender Jarmulowsky, one of the Lower East Side’s most prominent bankers.
Jarmulowsky achieved wealth and fame on the Lower East Side by providing steamship tickets and banking services to the immigrants of the neighborhood, which was then unrivaled as the world’s largest Jewish community. It was executed in the “Modern Renaissance style” and the tripartite configuration that was standard for tall buildings of the time.