Central Hanover Bank and Trust Co., 960 6th Ave., northeast corner 35th St. (2011)

The Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company was established in 1873 as the Central Trust Company of New York. The name changed to Central Union Trust Company of New York in 1918, and then, after a merger with the Hanover Bank of the City of New York, in 1929, the name changed again to Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company.

This building at 960-962 Sixth Ave. was constructed in 1929 to designs by architect George Frederick Pelham (1866-1937). At that time Central Hanover Bank & Trust company had its main office at 70 Broadway and operated 13 other branches in New York City.

In 1951 the bank's name changed to Hanover Bank and then in 1961 they merged with the State Manufacturers Trust Company and became Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. The branch at 960 6th Ave., the "Herald Square" branch, was listed in the New York telephone directory through 1953.

The Office for Metropolitan History lists something on the order of 1100 new building permits filed for Manhattan building by George Fred Pelham between the years 1900 to 1929. This was prolific, indeed. New York City Landmarks (2009) mentions George F. Pelham's 379-382 Edgecombe Ave. (1925-26) in Harlem's Sugar Hill as "one of the first apartment buildings in the area built for African-American tenants." The loft building at 97 Wooster St. is also a George F. Pelham design (1897). Pelham's obituary, New York Times, 9 Feb. 1937, includes, "In forty-three years of practice, Mr. Pelham designed many apartment houses and office buildings in New York, the last before his retirement being that of the Central Hanover Bank and Trust Company at Sixth Avenue and Thirty-sixth [sic] Street."

The building at 335 Greenwich St., southeast corner of Jay St., carries a faded sign Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company above its second floor. Like 960 6th Ave., 335 Greenwich St. was built in 1929, but here the architects were Cross & Cross.

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