Glass Bank

One of my earliest memories of midtown Manhattan as a little boy, besides obvious things like the Empire State Building, was the glass bank building at Fifth Avenue and 43rd Street.  I most keenly remembered the safe deposit vault at street level, that used to be opened during business hours.

As I grew up, it remained in my mind as the essential image of what a bank ought to be.  When I was a young man, it was a Manufacturers Hanover, which got swallowed by Chemical, which then got swallowed by Chase.  The ATM lobby was added as the machines came into use.  I don’t remember exactly when they stopped opening the vault during business hours, but it hasn’t been opened in a while.

It was pretty clear that the sleek, modern bank building had become an anachronism: a horrific waste of value to have a four-story building in midtown Manhattan.  It became clear that the end was near when Chase set up a new branch in an office building one block north.

Today was the last business day at the glass bank.  I don’t know what will happen next: perhaps some other bank will set up there, but I rather doubt it.

This entry was posted on 8. October 2010 at 20:10 and is filed under New York City, Life Goes On, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.