Mechanics and Traders Bank
144 Franklin Street | also 77 Greenpoint Avenue | Greenpoint | built 1895
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1867
The Mechanics and Traders Bank of Brooklyn opens in a small brick office on this corner
The Mechanics and Traders Bank of Brooklyn was established in 1867 and first operated from a small brick office on this site, which it had bought from the Sparrow family, local manufacturers and real estate developers. Its directors included a Sparrow and members of the Meserole, Roland and Wyckoff families, longtime names in the Eastern District and in Brooklyn generally. The office stood here until the bank replaced it with a larger building.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1895
The bank erects a Renaissance Revival building meant to be the grandest on its block
In 1895 the bank put up its new building at 144 Franklin Street, on the corner of Greenpoint Avenue. Franklin Street was then a busy turnpike linking Williamsburg with Astoria, and the bank was designed to be the grandest building on its block. It has arched windows and decorative terra-cotta trim. A Brooklyn Daily Eagle postcard taken between 1905 and 1907 shows it with many telephone, electric and cable wires strung across the street.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1895
The bank building combines a rusticated stone base, brick walls and terra-cotta trim
The Landmarks Preservation Commission's 1982 Greenpoint report calls 144 Franklin Street a distinguished neo-Classical building. Its entrance sits on the narrow Franklin Street front, where a rusticated stone ground floor has two round-arched openings. Above an entablature the walls turn to brick, and the two upper floors share one large round-arched bay of triple windows between brick piers. The report dates the bank to about 1895.
- 1902
The bank merges with the Corn Exchange Bank, a forerunner of Chase Manhattan
In 1902 the Mechanics and Traders Bank of Brooklyn merged with the Corn Exchange Bank. Corn Exchange later merged with Chemical Bank, which went on to become Chase Manhattan. Later the Franklin Street building housed several Polish organizations; today it is a private residence.
Source: atlasobscura.com
- 1984
The former bank becomes a co-op in 1984, in a neighborhood that became Little Poland
The old bank building at 144 Franklin Street was turned into a co-op in 1984. After World War II Greenpoint declined, yet its low rents drew Polish immigrants, who filled the streets with their language, customs and cooking. Brownstoner noted in 2016 that a time traveler from 1905 standing at Franklin Street and Greenpoint Avenue would still see a familiar corner.
Source: brownstoner.com
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