Society for Savings (1893)

The former Society for Savings building, at 31 Pratt Street in Hartford, was that bank’s third sucessive building on the same site. Organized in 1819, Society for Savings was the state’s first mutual savings bank. Its first building was constructed in 1834, the second in 1860, and the present structure in 1893. It has since been altered: the ground floor during an interior renovation in 1927 and the upper floors in 1957, when architect Sherwood F. Jeter departed drastically from the Renaissance Revival style of the first floor. Society for Savings merged with Bank of Boston Connecticut in 1993 and the old building remained closed for over a decade. More recently, it has become the Society Room of Hartford, which takes advantage of the grand 1926 interior, an ornate space designed by Denison & Hirons with ornamental plaster work by Anthony DiLorenzo and murals by H.T. Schladermundt.

Bristol Trust Company (1907)

Walter Percival Crabtree designed the Bristol Trust Company building, now a branch of Webster Bank, which is located at 150 Main Street, on the northeast corner of Main and Riverside Avenue in Bristol. The company was incorporated in 1907, the same year the marble Neoclassical building with monumental brass doors was built. Outside, the building was surrounded by landscaped grounds, while the interior was designed by Mortensen and Holdensen, a Boston firm that created many interiors of public buildings and theaters at the time. The bank was later expanded to the north with the addition of space for a drive-in teller window.

Chelsea Savings Bank (1911)

The Chelsea Savings Bank in Norwich was incorporated in 1858. According to A Modern History of New London County, Connecticut, Volume 2 (1922):

The home of the bank was in the Merchants Hotel building until April, 1864, when quarters were secured on Shetuckct street, which were occupied until 1909, when the bank building was so badly damaged by fire that the erection of a new modern building, large and imposing, was decided upon. The present building, most splendidly located and planned, was finished and occupied in November, 1911.

The building has a monumental character due to its location at the angle formed by the intersection of Cliff and Main Streets. A Universalist Church at the site was demolished to make way for the new building. The Chelsea Savings Bank was designed by the firm of Cudworth & Woodworth, who also designed the Norwich State Hospital.

Bristol Bank and Trust Company (1922)

In downtown Bristol there are two buildings which once housed the Bristol National Bank (established in 1875). The first building is at 245 Main Street and was succeeded by the second building, at 200 Main Street. Built in 1920-1923, the second building later became the Bristol Bank and Trust Company, and still bears that name. It was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White, although McKim and White had died by that time. The building was probably the work of Stanford White‘s son, Lawrence White.

Waterbury National Bank (1921)

At the intersection of Field and Grand Streets in Waterbury is the former Waterbury National Bank Building, now the headquarters for Junior Achievement of Southwestern New England. Built in 1919-1922, the building is one of several notable structures along Grand Street designed by Cass Gilbert. The Chase family had a long association with the Waterbury National Bank, which was founded in 1848 and was Waterbury’s first bank. Augustus Savin Chase, who became the Bank‘s Cashier in 1852 and President in 1865, controlled it until his death in 1896. The Bank’s original building was located at Grand and Bank Streets, giving the latter thoroughfare its name. Henry S. Chase intended the new bank building to be part of his plan for an impressive Waterbury municipal center. Henry died in 1918 and his brother Irving Chase assumed management of construction, utilizing Cass Gilbert, the same architect who had designed the Chase Brass and Copper Company’s headquarters, also located on Grand Street.

Gates Building (1906)

Established in 1860, the New Britain National Bank constructed a building at the corner of West Main and Main Streets in 1906. It was designed in the Beaux Arts style by the firm of Davis & Brooks and was used by the bank into the 1930s. Now called the Gates Building, it was acquired by Florence Judd Gates, whose family had become wealthy making barbed wire. Used as retail and office space through the late 1980s, the Gates Building was later restored and now contains the New Britain Board of Education.