Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower
Visible from most of the borough, the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower kept the tallest-building-in-Brooklyn crown for half a century — a 512-foot Art Deco shaft whose four-faced clock announced the time to every neighbourhood within sight of its gilded dome.
At a glance
The Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower at 1 Hanson Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, was completed in 1929 as the main office of the Williamsburg Savings Bank, one of the largest savings banks in the United States at the time. Designed by the firm of Halsey, McCormack & Helmer, the 512-foot tower was the tallest building in Brooklyn at its completion and held that distinction for decades. Its most recognizable feature is the four-faced clock near the top of the tower, one of the largest clocks of its kind in the world, whose faces are visible from across the borough. The gilded onion-shaped dome above the clock is a landmark visible from the bridges and elevated rail lines that cross Brooklyn. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a New York City Landmark. It was converted to luxury condominiums in the 2000s and is now known as One Hanson Place.
Key facts
- Address: 1 Hanson Place, Fort Greene, Brooklyn, New York City
- Completed: 1929
- Architects: Halsey, McCormack & Helmer
- Style: Art Deco with Gothic elements
- Height: 512 feet (156 meters)
- Original client: Williamsburg Savings Bank
- Current use: Luxury condominiums (One Hanson Place)
- Historic designation: New York City Landmark; National Register of Historic Places
History
The Williamsburg Savings Bank was founded in 1851 in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, then an independent city and one of the most industrialized districts in the metropolitan area. By the early twentieth century it had grown into one of the largest savings institutions in the country, and its decision to build a major headquarters in Fort Greene — then a commercial crossroads at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue, adjacent to the major Brooklyn rail terminals — reflected both the bank’s prosperity and Brooklyn’s status as a major city in its own right.
The 1929 building replaced an earlier bank structure and was designed to project permanence, civic presence, and financial solidity. Halsey, McCormack & Helmer applied a vocabulary that mixed Art Deco and Gothic Revival elements: the tower’s shaft is geometrically Art Deco in its massing and ornamental program, but the base and the banking hall used Gothic arched windows and ecclesiastical ornamental detail that associated the bank’s premises with the gravitas of institutional architecture. The great banking hall on the ground floor — a vaulted space with mosaic floors, ornamental bronze work, and Gothic arches — was among the most opulent banking interiors in New York.
The Williamsburg Savings Bank operated out of the building for decades before the institution changed hands and the building was eventually sold for conversion. The building was sold and converted to residential use in the 2000s, with the banking hall transformed into a condominium amenity space and the upper floors divided into apartments. The conversion preserved the exterior and many interior public spaces while adapting the building to its new residential use. The name “One Hanson Place” replaced the bank’s name on the building, but the tower’s four-faced clock continues to keep time over the Brooklyn skyline as it has since 1929.
What you see
The tower is best seen from a distance: from the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the elevated subway lines that cross Brooklyn, or from Atlantic Avenue to the east and Flatbush Avenue to the south. At this scale the building presents as a slender vertical shaft rising to the distinctive clock faces and gilded dome — a profile that reads as coherent and distinctive against the lower Brooklyn skyline. The four clock faces, large enough to be read from across the borough, are ringed with luminous material that illuminates them at night, making the tower a Brooklyn timepiece visible for miles.
At street level, the base of the tower and the former banking hall entrance present the Gothic Revival elements of the design: arched windows, carved stonework, bronze metalwork. The building sits at the convergence of several major Brooklyn streets and transit lines, and its mass organizes the surrounding block in the way that good corner buildings do — giving the intersection a focal point and providing a visual anchor for the Fort Greene neighborhood.
Practical information
- Status: Residential condominium building (One Hanson Place); interior accessible only to residents
- Exterior: Freely visible from Hanson Place and surrounding streets at all times
- Best views: From the elevated subway platforms at Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station; from the Manhattan Bridge or Williamsburg Bridge; from Atlantic Avenue looking west
- Historic designation: New York City Landmark; National Register of Historic Places
Getting there
The Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower is at 1 Hanson Place in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, at the intersection of Hanson Place, Atlantic Avenue, and Flatbush Avenue. The nearest subway stations are Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R trains), immediately adjacent to the building — one of the busiest transit hubs in Brooklyn. The Long Island Rail Road Atlantic Terminal is also adjacent. Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets, is directly across Flatbush Avenue. From Downtown Manhattan, the B or D train to Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center takes approximately 20 minutes.
Nearby
- Barclays Center (2012) — the Brooklyn Nets NBA arena and major concert venue, directly across Flatbush Avenue from the tower
- Fort Greene Park — the 30-acre park designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, with the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument at its center, a few blocks north
- Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM, 1908) — New York’s premier performing arts center for avant-garde theater, opera, and dance, a few blocks northeast on Lafayette Avenue
- Brooklyn Botanic Garden — the 52-acre garden in Crown Heights, famous for its Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden and cherry blossom collection, about a mile southeast via Flatbush Avenue
Sources
- Wikipedia: Williamsburg Savings Bank Tower
- New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report
- National Register of Historic Places nomination documentation
- White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot, AIA Guide to New York City (4th edition)
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