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Photos: The Illicit View From Williamsburgh Savings Bank Clock Tower
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2013
Modified Oct 5, 2013
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Hannah Frishberg
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 5, 2013
Modified Oct 5, 2013
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It's a rare pleasure to get a peek inside the landmark Williamsburgh Savings Bank, which was closed in the mid-00s and converted into luxury condos. We got a taste of the interior in 2009, when photographer Nathan Kensinger shot it while still under construction, but the building is now completely closed to the public. Thankfully, photographer Hannah Frishberg didn't let that stand in her way—she snuck past a guard to get onto the roof of the building and take the above photos this summer.
She was able to shoot photos from the observation deck, a construction deck, and then from inside and just below the clock dome on various occasions. Frishberg wrote of the experiences:
Climbing the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Clock Tower makes you feel like you're king of Kings County. The borough just flattens out at a certain point, you're so high up. From one level it's an overwhelming sea of brownstones dotted by high rises, but then a few floors higher and it's just an endless sea of light, and you're on top of New York.
I managed to sneak in...by walking past the security guard. It was late, and he hardly looked up from whatever he was watching. I tried going during the day a few weeks later though, and either they had a new guy or they'd changed the policy or something, but they asked me to call whomever I was going up to visit.
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Williamsburgh Savings Bank Clock Tower
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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