The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, May 30, 1933, Page 2

TT | TT es UCAS ST LLL = a5 z= =: om -. , iT e TTT : ae A narrow spear of glass, tal and lean and strikingly devoid of ornament. . . . The Philadelphia TTT TT ATCT TTT TTT TTT TTT TTT arene Saving Fund Society's $11,000,000 building. By Madelin Blitzstein PEAKING of banks—as who isn’t, these days?— The most modern, up-to-the-minute building occupied by any bank in the country is the home of the oldest savings bank in the United States. Old-fashioned in that it dates back to the early days of the republic, and that it has glung to conservative old banking practices in a way that has brought it through the depression in first-rate fashion, this bank—the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society—is housed in a dazzling tower of glass and metal which rises with star- tling vividness above the more prosaic buildings surrounding it in downtown Philadelphia. The fact that it is situated in Philadelphia perhaps makes it all the more remarkable. For Philadelphia, blessed with some of the finest colonial architecture on the continent a century ago, went in fcr unromantic and unimaginative formality in its architecture a couple of genera- tions ago, and many of its streets display a sameness that every visitor remarks on. And in the midst of all of this rises the nar- row spear of glass, tall and lean and strikingly | devoid of ornament, which houses the ancient and conservative Saving Fund Society. The building is ultra-modern. It rises for 33 stories without relief, boasts on its roof an enorméus 27-foot neon-tube sign, maintains a May temperature within its rooms all the year around and yet never opens a window, and is equipped with the highest watch-tower in the city. According to its designers, George Howe and William Lescaze, the building expresses in its form the economy and security which bank depositors prize above everything else. Tre history of the bank which has chosen to house itself in this modernistic style goes back to 1816. At that time the young republic had no sav- ings banks, but England and Scotland had al- ready seen the wisdom of encouraging the peo- ple to save. Benjamin Franklin had laid the seeds of thrift and industry by writing and agi- tating about the virtues of spending less than you earned. Everyone remembers his “A penny saved is a penny earned.” 4 Nothing concrete was done about savings banks until one day in the fall of 1816 when a young Philadelphia political economist of French descent, one Condy Raguet by name, met his good friends, Richard Peters, Jr., a former United States district attorney; Clement C. Biddle, another economist, and Thomas Hale, an energetic young business man. DT Now Raguet had studied the English system of banks; he had also written “An Inquiry Into the Causes of the Present State of the Circu- lating Medium in the United States,” a treatise which had brought him more than local fame. When Raguet met his’ three friends on Chestnut street in the budding financial district, he explained to them what scheme he had in mind. The four men all agreed on the wisdom of the British system and on November 29, 1816, they called a few other men to meet with them in the law offices of George Bil- lington. EENeuoy was appointed secretary and treasurer of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Association and for his services and the use of his office—which adjoined Rubicam’s famous tavern, where the only good terrapin in the city was served—they agreed to pay him $250 per annum. Andrew Bayard, a civic leader, was elected first president. On December 2 the very first depositor ar- rived, He was Curtis Roberts, a colored ser- vant in the service of Condy Raguet, and he brought $5 and received a pass book on which was printed: ‘To save is to earn” and “Economy secures independence.” The bank was open on Mondays and Thurs days from 9 to 11 in the mornings, but Mr. Roberts, who later became a waiter, came only on a very few of those days. By 1819, his deposits, together with interest, aggregated only $11. In 1819 the Philadelphia Saving Fund So ciety became incorporated under the Legisla ture of Pennsylvania as a non-profit-making mutual savings institution. Thus it has remained to this day. The board of 25 managers have never received any emolument for their service: from that day to this, At first the society intended to divide the surplus every three years, but this was soon changed and the surplus is now carried over from year to year. Today there is a surplus of $20,000,000 which belongs to all the depos- itors. F course, the employes of the bank receive pay. When a man is hired by the bank, it is practically a life job, for few men have ever been fired. Pay usually increases from year to year, Some few men have been working with the society for more than half a century; a number have been there more than 40 years. The Philadelphia Saving Fund Society was oy BANKS / Ue, yf amin THe Mort Mopern ir THE C\LDert. The first savings it went radical in established to invest small savings from the earnings of tradesmen, mechanics, laborers and servants and give them in return security and interest. The wage levels of the early nineteenth century can be judged from the printed advice which the bank gave citizens in those days. An apprentice who was ambitious and made $1.a week for overtime was told that he could deposit that dollar regularly and have $293 in five years. A male domestic whose wages were from $11 to $15 per month should save $4 a month. In 10 years he would have $614. A female domestic who earned from $1.25 to $2 per week, beside her bed and board, should save $2 a month, for her only expenses were for personal finery. She should have $305 in 10 years! A JOURNEYMAN mechanic could easily save $5 a week and thus ke would ac- cumulate a capital of $1468 in five years. And a master mechanic was advised to put away $8 a week. He could grow rich very quickly, for he would have saved $2349 in five short years. The society grew steadily; it soon moved from Billington’s office to larger quarters; finally in the United States remains strictly conservative in its business but architecturally in building its new home institution windows. . . . a big way All photos on this page by Richard T. Dooner. An enormous rounded corner of glass and stone... . An exterior view of the banking floor with stores on the street level beneath it. it built its own home on the site of the inn where Lafayette stopped on his visit to Phila- delphia. Today it has 468,000 depositors and assets of $340,000,000. ~ But in spite of its completely conservative history, there is nothing more modern than the building it occupies today. No doubt the board of managers themselves weré a bit perturbed when they first saw what they had produced. (Copyright, 1933, by EveryWeek Magazine—Printed in U. S. A) 4 HASUUOLTIULD TTT AACN MU ULL ge CUUEAUUCLTCH MALAL- SITULUTGTECGTOPTTTTTATT _WUTTTOTAGOETanrere rete “Hg et is modern, and the walls are almost entirely ¢ main banking offices of the Philadelphia Saving Fund Society in its modernistic new building. i Where cere! The first depositor was Curtis Roberts, a colored servant, who brgagt in $5 and received a pass book on which was print- ed: ‘To save is to carn.” ‘AMES M. WILLCOX, its president, was convinced of the correctness of Howe and Lescaze’s designs from the very start and he persuaded whatever doubtful members there were to see as he saw. Today the board looks upon the 490-foot pile that stands in complete contrast to the 120-year-old Friends’ Meeting House next door, a last stand of Quakerdom, with complete approval. Mr. Willcox says that the answer to the question of why America’s oldest savings bank should build, own and manage the most, ultra- modern bank building anywhere is simple. Be- cause it pays. And because it expresses in its design the very economy and security which the bank represents. The banking floor is not downstairs, but on the second floor, reached by stairs, escalators and elevators. Here the depositors find them- selves in an enormous room, two sides of which are nothing but enormous windows, letting the sunlight in. The tellers stand, not behind grilled cages, but back of low, unadorned counters. Perhaps the most amazing feature is the manufactured weather, which makes it May inside no matter what it is like outside. No windows are ever raised, for the machinery provides air that is cleaner, more comfortable, and more correctly humid than it is outside. Wnt ~ UCHEADAEA GALORE UUNLAOUO}ANLANAUAAAALLAH- LL mmc ALLOA RAL AH LLU ome HUATALASOAUNO4AD AUN EMAC AA ’ yd Pe A . QUIVER A fi ‘eal thee a vided wetae na