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Greenwich Savings Bank
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Greenwich Savings Bank, York and Sawyer, architects (1922–24); Broadway and Sixth Avenue at 36th Street
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| Location: | 1352-1362 Broadway, New York, New York |
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| Area: | less than one acre |
| Built: | 1922 |
| Architect: | York & Sawyer |
| Architectural style: | Classical Revival |
| Governing body: | Private |
| NRHP Reference#: | 05001286[1] |
| Added to NRHP: | November 16, 2005 |
Greenwich Savings Bank was an American savings bank based in New York City that operated from 1833 to 1981. At the time of its closure in 1981, it was the 16th largest bank in the U.S. by total deposits.[2]
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Greenwich Savings Bank was chartered in 1833 in New York City. At its height, it had branches in New York City, Nassau County and Suffolk County with US$2.1 billion in assets.
In 1922-24, the bank constructed its new headquarters at the intersection of Broadway and W. 36th Street in Midtown Manhattan. The steel-reinforced limestone/sandstone building was designed by York and Sawyer in a Classical Revival style with monumental columns, rusticated walls and a Roman-style dome.
The interior was embellished with ten-foot-tall brass foyer doors, a board room and executive office with rubbed-oak paneling and soapstone fireplaces, and an elliptical banking room with limestone Corinthian columns, granite walls, a marble floor, a bronze tellers' screen with sculptures of Minerva (symbolizing wisdom) and Mercury (representing commerce), and a coffered, domed ceiling with a 3,000-square-foot (280 m2) stained-glass skylight.[3]
By the time of bank deregulation in 1980, the bank started having big losses. In 1981, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the New York State Banking Department sought buyers for the bank. In October of that year, a participant in a meeting about possible buyers left material on the meeting table. This information was given to The New York Times, which printed the story.[4]
In its final three days the bank lost $500 million in deposits out of its total of $1.5 billion due to a run on the bank. At the end of the third day the New York State Banking Department closed the bank, naming the FDIC as receiver. That same day Metropolitan Savings Bank of Brooklyn (now part of HSBC Bank USA) was named the new owner of the bank accounts.
Haier America purchased the Greenwich Savings Bank building in 2000 as its corporate headquarters. In 2002, Haier rechristened it The Haier Building.[3]
An event management company leases several of the Haier Building's large historic rooms, which are operated as the venue Gotham Hall. The old main banking room, board room and executive office are rented out as the "Grand Ballroom", "Oak Room", and "Green Room", for corporate events, private parties such as weddings and receptions, and other functions.[5]