The historic East New York Savings Bank is gone, gone, gone.
But a branch in another neighborhood will live on. Or at least it won’t be torn down unless, at some hard-to-imagine moment in the future, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) gives the go-ahead to the wrecking crews.
The building that is now under the the LPC’s protection is the savings bank’s former Parkway Branch at 1117 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights North. On Tuesday, commissioners voted unanimously to designate the building as an individual city landmark.
There was no debate or discussion prior to the vote, which was held at the preservation agency’s Lower Manhattan headquarters. There had been a public hearing about the magnificent building back in 2011.
Before the vote, a staff member from the LPC’s research department spoke about the “fortress-like” 1920s-vintage building, which is neo-Romanesque style with Art Deco details.
The architecture firm was Holmes & Winslow, which designed numerous Brooklyn banks in the early 20th Century. Its stunning bronze doors designed by Rene Paul Chambellan are especially noteworthy.
The building is currently used as a Popular Community Bank branch.
It belongs to Urban-Scape LLC, which purchased it for $3.2 million in 2006 from Banco Popular North America, city Finance Department records indicate. Aslan Bawabeh is the president of an entity that is the LLC’s managing member, the records show.
What happened to the other East New York Savings Bank building?
The East New York Savings Bank building that was actually located in East New York was torn down recently — despite a public protest by neighborhood residents.
That building, which had been located at 91 Pennsylvania Ave., never made it to the LPC’s calendar for landmark designation consideration.
The now-departed Renaissance Revival-style building had been constructed in the late 19th Century. It is being replaced with a seven-story medical building.
