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Boston Five Cents Savings Bank

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1926, Parker, Thomas and Rice; 1972 addition, Kallmann and McKinnell. 24–30 School St.
  • Boston Five Cents Savings Bank (alternate shot) (Peter Vanderwarker or Antonina Smith)
  • (Damie Stillman)

This addition to the older bank—a dignified building typical of the 1920s American Renaissance—made a new concession to the style of that building while contributing a strong urban statement. Following the dictates of the curved corner that sits prominently opposite the Old Corner Bookstore (BD11) and the Old South Meetinghouse (BD12), the addition to the Boston Five Cents Savings Bank reinforces the idiosyncrasies of the site. The colossal colonnade exposes the framework of the building, its beams projecting from the glass-curtain wall that reveals the former banking hall and offices now converted to a bookstore. The sidewalk café tables and seating form a lively public space diminished by the excessively literal Irish Famine Memorial (1998, Robert Shure).

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Old Corner Bookstore (Thomas Creese House) and Andrew Cunningham House and Shop
Old South Meetinghouse
Boston Transcript Building
Boston Post Building (Benjamin Franklin's Birthplace)
Kirstein Business Branch, Boston Public Library

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Boston Five Cents Savings Bank", [Boston, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-BD13.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 61-61.

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