Incorporation The original Jamaica Savings Bank was incorporated on April 20, 1866, by 19 local business leaders, including
John Alsop King, governor of New York (1857-1858); Morris Fosdick, and Colonel Aaron A. Degrauw, who met in the Jamaica Town Hall in an effort to "pool their local resources for the purpose of protecting their savings and financing future development" of the Jamaica area. The bank officially opened to the public on July 14, 1866, at 161-02 Jamaica Avenue —a year after the civil war—and operated out of the Queens County Clerk's office with 15 customers depositing a total of $2,675.00. To supplement the ever-expanding community of Jamaica, the bank trustees hired the architectural firm of Hough and Deuell to build the new Beaux-Arts style bank headquarters that became flagship building of the Jamaica Savings Bank in 1898. "This building conveyed the kind of monumentality that is often associated with private social clubs and civic institutions." In 1934, Jamaica Savings Bank had a total of 50,614 accountants and was listed as fifty-seventh among the 100 largest savings banks in the United States. The officers of the Jamaica Savings Bank at that time were George S. Downing, president; Supreme Court Justice Leander B. Faber, Robert W. Higbie and George K. Meynen, vice-presidents; Charles R. Doughty, treasurer; G. Warren Smith, secretary, and Richard W. Reeves, assistant secretary. The Sutphin Boulevard Branch of the
Jamaica Savings Bank officially opened on April 22, 1939, and was designed by Architect Morrell Smith of 475 Fifth Avenue and Builder/General Contractor Theodore L. Rubsamen and Company of Jamaica. This unique art deco building featured striking decorative features; its most notable feature being the American eagle carved in a low relief and placed over the entrance. "Ornamental cast bronze doors grace the entrance which opens upon a semicircular vestibule lined with marble of black and gold...Furnishings in American walnut, bronze lighting fixtures...and carpets of and draperies of harmonious design and hue complete the interior.
Late 20th century The modern Jamaica Savings Bank of 1964 is on the corner of 161st Street in downtown Jamaica just across from its Victorian predecessor. Constructed as the new headquarters, the bank built a modernistic steel blue facade with a curved wall of blue
Venetian glass. The concave entrance continues the accents and it was given an annual architectural award for commercial buildings for innovation by the
Queens Chamber of Commerce. The award cites the fireproofing materials of gray glazed enamel brick, incorporation of stainless steel columns, and the exterior blue mosaic panels. The building interior had a wrap-around interior mural 162 ft x 11 ft depicting themes of historic Jamaica that included
Captain Kidd, the
Muscogee Native American tribe and
Revolutionary War General
Nathaniel Woodhull. The
fourth branch was built during 1966-1968 at a 56th Avenue and
Queens Boulevard in
Elmhurst, next to the
Queens Place Mall. The
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a landmark on June 28, 2005 (designation number LP-2173), but the full council voted the designation down on October 20, 2005. ==Legacy==