New York City has a small collection of 18th-century buildings, and these two survivors are part of it. They retain Federal features such as their steeply pitched roofs, twin pedimented dormers, Flemish bond, and No. 134 possesses an end chimney. These buildings also share an early wrought-iron fire escape. Sculptor Eva Hesse (1936– 1970\) had a studio in the half story of No. 134.

The Bowery Savings Bank, 130 Bowery,1975. Now a part of Capital One Bank, the Bowery Savings Bank was chartered in 1834. The building at 130 Bowery was designed by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White in a Roman classical style and was constructed between 1893-1895. The classical facade of this early bank building set the style for banking institutions in New York City.

The Bowery north from Grand Street, 1903.

Bowery Savings Bank Interior ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White; Stanford White DATE: 1893-95 STYLE: Roman Revival The interior of the Bowery Savings Bank is an early example of the Roman Revival style which was to become standard for savings bank buildings and was intended to express both simplicity and grandeur. The skylit, eighty-foot square, steel-framed banking room has details that closely follow Roman prototypes and it compares in scale to the grandest buildings of ancient Rome. The banking room is a prime example of a type which evolved in the second half of the nineteenth century characterized by a symmetrical arrangement and a prominent, axially-placed freestanding bank vault in a large centralized space organized with a peninsular layout of the tellers’ area to accommodate male and female depositors. In response to contemporary sanitary concerns, the interior was designed with durable, easily cleaned, surfaces and the building’s form was exploited to provide effective natural ventilation.