April 24, 2006
Williamsburgh Bank to open for one-day tour
 Still kicking yourself for missing the tour of the top floor of the almost-finished World Trade Center 7 building? In May there will be another rare chance to get near the top of another coveted off-limits space: the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, the tallest building in Brooklyn.
The bank is undergoing renovations and a conversion into luxury condos called One Hanson Place, where the top penthouse is priced at $2.5 million. One of the building's upper floors will be included on the May 7 Fort Greene Association House Tour, a fundraiser for the Fort Greene Association. The tour, scheduled for noon to 5 p.m., will also take in the interiors of several Victorian residences and a trip to the exhibition "Fort Greene Modern" at the Irondale Center.
Here's what Francis Morrone says about the Williamsburgh Savings Bank in his "Architectural Guidebook to New York City":
The building itself is decked out in Byzantine-Romanesque style and does not so much soar as bore its way skyward, culminating first in that clock tower, then in a marvelous quasi-Moorish dome, so unusual for a 512-foot-high skyscraper. ... At the base are high, arched, traceried windows with an undeniable ecclesiastical cast. The building is so finely detailed, so dignified, so self-assured, that it is, in my opinion, one of the ten greatest skyscrapers in New York City." Tickets for the tour are $20 in advance or $25 the day of the event.
For a preview of the view, see Joe's NYC.
Correction: This entry has been modified to make clear that the very top of the building will probably not be open for the tour. "Because of the construction going on as the building is in transition from a public office building to private residences, it looks like access to the very top will not be available. However the views from a few floors below the observation deck, from a balcony up in the building's tower, are stunning. In fact, it's still far enough up the tower that people will need to take two elevators to get there," FGA chair Phillip Kellogg wrote in an e-mail to NewYorkology. The tour is self-guided and an unlimited number of tickets are available, he said.
April 24, 2006 05:10 PM in Architecture, Out of Manhattan, Sightsology, Tours
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