Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower

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The Williamsburgh Savings Bank or One Hanson Place is the tallest building in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City and a familiar Brooklyn landmark.

At 34 stories and 512 feet (156 m) tall, it is also the second tallest building on Long Island, and is among the tallest four-sided clock towers in the world. Built in 1927 by the architectural firm Halsey, McCormack and Helmer, it is located at 1 Hanson Place, at the corner of Ashland place, near the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenues, across from Atlantic Terminal Mall. Despite the name it stands in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn rather than Williamsburg.

Originally the building was owned by the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, then later its parent, Republic National Bank, then, via a merger, HSBC. For years the building contained offices, notably dentists' offices; the Daily News once called it 'The Mecca of Dentistry'. Now HSBC has relocated across the street to 118 Flatbush Avenue. As of early 2006, the building is being converted to luxury condominiums by Magic Johnson.

The building is sometimes called "Willie" or "the Willie", short for its bank namesake. As a 1920s skyscraper comparable to those in Manhattan, but standing alone, it's been the subject of speculation and urban legends. It features a gilded copper dome; a (now closed) public observation deck with breathtaking, unobstructed views; carved lions, turtles and birds on the exterior; and a marble banking hall on the ground floor with 63-foot vaulted ceilings, 40-foot windows and elaborate mosaics.

It was noticed in early 2006 that all four faces of the clock tower showed four different times. At 10:31p.m., the clock’s southern face read 11:55, its eastern face read 9:30, its north face read 2:10. The western face couldn’t be read because the lightbulbs on one hand were burnt out (when peering hard enough it appeared to read 7:35). There have been no plans made to fix the clocktower to the correct time.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] External links

• Robert Goldstrom, who lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, has produced about 50 paintings of the building.
• Jeff Vandam For Brooklyn's Beacon, the Luxe Life NY Times June 11, 2006 – NY T-Link
• Forgotten NY web page on the building
• Collection of images of the building