S. Jarmulowsky Bank Building at 54 Canal Street in Manhattan. Photo: LPC.

Lower East Side building exemplifies the City’s early skyscraper architecture. On October 13, 2009, Landmarks designated the S. Jarmulowsky Bank building at 54 Canal Street as an individual City landmark. Completed in 1912, the neo- Renaissance style bank was built for Sender Jarmulowsky, a Russian immigrant who rose to prominence and wealth as a banker on the Lower East Side. In addition to providing banking services to the Lower East Side’s immigrant community, Jarmulowsky helped create the Eldridge Street Synagogue and served as its first president.

The firm of Rouse and Goldstone constructed the twelve-story building in a tripartite configuration with a three-story Indiana limestone base, an ornate terra-cotta crown, and an unadorned brick section in between. At the time of its completion the building towered over the Lower East Side’s tenements. Landmarks staff described the building as a “pioneer in introducing the prevailing skyscraper aesthetic of New York’s major office districts to the neighborhood.”

LPC: Jarmulowsky Bank, 54 Canal Street, Manhattan (LP-2363) (Oct. 13, 2009).