Italian Savings Bank, East Harlem 1923

East Harlem had about 89,000 Italian residents in the 1890′s, which made it the largest Italian neighborhood in the United States.

From Ephemeral New York:

“In Italian Harlem there was on East 112th Street, a settlement from Bari; on East 107th Street between First Avenue and the East River, people from Sarno near Naples,” writes historian Gerald Meyer.

“On East 100th Street between First and Second Avenues, Sicilians from Santiago; on East 100th Street, many Northern Italians from Piscento; and on East 109th Street, a large settlement of Calabrians.”

Uptown Little Italy’s biggest festival was the feast of the Madonna of Monte Carmelo. Crowds of half a million would attend.

Circa., July  18, 1928.

In 1923 C.P.H. Gilbert’s (Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert) designed the Romanesque Italian Savings Bank, at 204 East 116th Street (Third Avenue). It’s an elegant master piece of symmetry, sliced down the middle with the flag pole a top the bank cutting it perfectly in half. The Italian Savings Banks name clearly engraved on the front facade reading horizontally across the top.

Source

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