Banks Then and Now – 8th Avenue and 14th Street, New York, New York

The New York County National Bank, founded in 1855, erected this small but imposing neoclassical limestone-faced bank with Beaux-Arts motifs in 1906-07 at the corner of 8th Avenue and 14th Street. The building was designed by the architectural firm of De Lemos & Cordes with Rudolph L Daus. The building was occupied by the New York County National Bank until the late 1920s, then became a branch of Manufacturers Trust Co. in the early 1930s. Manufacturers Trust Co. became Manufacturers Hanover Trust in the mid-1960s, and they operated a branch bank here until around 1993/94 when Manufacturers Hanover merged with Chemical Bank. More recently it was the site of the now-closed Nickel, a Spa for Men. The upper floors have been converted to condo apartments for the super rich.

In the foreground id a branch of the Canadian-owned TD bank. It is located in the One Jackson Square building (whose street address is actually 122 Greenwich Avenue). One Jackson Square is a wavy, glassy, 11-story condo completed in 2010 designed by Bill Pederson of Kohn Pedersen Fox. The penthouse sold recently for almost $17 million.