Williamsburg

Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh wins landmark designation

South Williamsburg icon will be incorporated into mixed-use development

March 27, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The building with the columns is the former Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, which was just designated as a city landmark. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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All hail the dandy Dime, South Williamsburg’s newly designated landmark.

On Tuesday, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously to grant protected status to the Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh. The vote took place at the LPC’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan.

The neo-Classical Indiana limestone building at 209 Havemeyer St. was designed by a preeminent architectural firm of yesteryear, Helmle & Huberty.

It was constructed between 1906 and 1908 as the headquarters of the bank, which served a mostly immigrant and low-income community, a LPC staffer said during a public meeting prior to the vote.

The Dime headquarters was built during a period of neighborhood growth that was brought on by the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge, the staffer said.
It was one of numerous financial institutions that established a presence in Williamsburg Bridge Plaza at that time.

Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, which was founded in 1864, continues to exist. It is now called Dime Community Bank.

 

A 23-story tower will stand beside the bank

But the venerable financial institution no longer occupies the column-covered building on the corner of Havemeyer and South 5th streets, having sold it last year to developers for $12.3 million, city Finance Department records indicate.

The branch that operated at 209 Havemeyer St. has moved to nearby 281 Broadway.

The former Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh will be incorporated into a mixed-use development.

Tavros Development Partners and Charney Construction & Development, who bought the Havemeyer Street Dime building, are incorporating it into a residential, office and retail development with a 23-story tower.

They bought the adjacent site on which the tower is being constructed from Dime for $80 million in 2016, Finance Department records show.

The LPC held a hearing on March 6 about landmarking the distinguished Dime building but didn’t make a decision about the matter that day. As the Brooklyn Eagle previously reported, at that hearing project co-developer Sam Charney testified in support of landmarking the former Dime headquarters.

Three other former South Williamsburg banks in Dime’s vicinity are already designated city landmarks.

One of them, the Williamsburgh Trust Company Building at 177 South 5th St., is now Holy Trinity Cathedral-Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The second one is the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank at 175 Broadway. It is now an events venue that was called Weylin B. Seymour’s when it opened a few years ago and is now known as Weylin.

The third nearby landmark is the former Kings County Savings Bank at 135 Broadway. It is now the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, which is also known as the WAH Center.

 

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