Poughkeepsie Savings Bank

Poughkeepsie Savings Bank

Company type	Bank
Industry	Banking and financial services
Founded	1831
Founder	William Davies
Fate	Acquired by TD Banknorth
Headquarters	Poughkeepsie, New York , United States

The Poughkeepsie Savings Bank edifice, located at 21-23 Market Street in Poughkeepsie, New York, represents the institution's third premises, initially established in 1831 by William Davies. After operating for twenty years on nearby Main Street, the bank purchased the current property and constructed its building there. In 1870, the bank expanded by acquiring an adjoining parcel, reopening its doors in 1872. By 1911, to accommodate its continued growth, the bank engaged Mowbray and Uffinger, distinguished architects known for their work on Eastern U.S. financial institutions, to design a new facility.

This Classical Revival building is uniquely designed with slightly trapezoidal walls to conform to the lot's shape. The exterior showcases a granite base topped with Pennsylvania marble, featuring two Ionic columns framed by Doric pilasters. The entrance and vestibule are adorned with cast bronze elements and decorative glass.

Within, the principal banking hall spans 40 by 40 feet and boasts lofty ceilings reaching 60 feet. The interior includes Ionic pilasters and a continuous entablature above flooring originally made of white marble (now carpeted) and red marble wainscoting. Natural illumination was provided by a skylight alongside an expansive stained glass window crafted by Philadelphia’s D'Ascenzo Studios, illustrating Henry Hudson’s Half Moon expedition and Robert Fulton’s Clermont steamboat voyage—underscoring the building's role as a commercial temple.

Initially, the teller counter formed a U-shaped configuration along the south wall, facilitating customer service on three sides. In 1931, the successor firm Uffinger, Foster & Bookwalter updated the interior by extending the counter around the northeast corner without significant structural changes. Later modifications in 1948 and 1957 altered the interior layout further and concealed the original skylight and stained glass features; lighting shifted first to chandeliers, which were themselves replaced approximately twenty years later.

Although initially opposing its inclusion in Poughkeepsie’s inaugural Multiple Property Submission (MPS) for the National Register of Historic Places, the bank withdrew its objections after rebranding as Bank of the Hudson and moving its headquarters. The building was officially listed on the Register in 1998 through a subsequent MPS. Eventually, TD Banknorth acquired the bank and maintained operations at this location until the early 2010s.

In 2016, during the New York primary of the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016, this building functioned as a local campaign headquarters. Volunteers symbolically decorated the vault with crime scene tape and displayed Sanders’ statement: "If a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist."

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Poughkeepsie, New York