Exterior view from the southeast of the building at 700-710 Walnut Street, built 1868-69, designed by Sloan & Hewitt. Includes partial view of rear addition built 1885-6, designed by Addison Hutton., Title printed on mount., Yellow mount with rounded corners., Gift of Robert M. Vogel., Reproduced in The Print and Photograph Department of the Library Company of Philadelphia's Center City Philadelphia in the 19th century (Portsmouth, N.H.: Arcadia Publishing, 2006), p. 93., Arcadia caption text: Founded in 1816 as the first savings bank in the United States, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS) commissioned several architecturally significant buildings in the city, the most famous of which is the Art Deco skyscraper at Twelfth and Market streets. This photograph shows the granite-faced Italianate structure designed for the bank by Addison Hutton in 1868, which still graces the northwest corner of Washington Square. Savings banks served the needs of “tradesmen, mechanics, laborers, and domestics” rather than wealthy businessmen and investors. In order to serve of a diverse working-class population, PSFS was open for business in the evening and hired multi-lingual tellers., Digitization funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-506-19-10), 2010-2012.
Date
[ca. 1886]
Location
Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department stereo - unidentified - banks [P.9058.171]
