Williamsburgh Savings Bank, One Hanson Place – Exterior and Interior

Designated November 15, 1977

Soaring more than 500 feet above Hanson Place, the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank, with its striking silhouette and famous four-faced clock, is the most prominent feature of the Brooklyn skyline. It was the tallest building on Long Island for many years. The setback and the fine ornamental details and rich carving of the lower two stories are the Byzantine building’s most striking features.

Interior: The interior, a simple and elegant Romanesque Revival space, imagines banking as a quasi-religious act. The great banking room is a basilica-like, three-bay space set on a nave-and-aisles plan. It is characterized by the sumptuousness of its finishes including exotic marbles, Cosmati floor surfaces, golden mosaic vaults, and enamelled steel. The space is enhanced with sculpture by Rene P. Chambellan and mosaics by Angelo Magnanti, including a mural expressing the bank’s prominent role in the Borough of Brooklyn and its future.

*Excerpt from the The Landmarks of New York by Barbaralee Diamonstien-Spielvogel

STATUS Designated Exterior and Interior Landmark

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