Peoples National Bank & Trust Company Building

The Peoples National Bank & Trust Company had opened a small office at the White Plains Depot Plaza in 1924 with $125,000. It started as a small commercial bank, but quickly prospered under its president Edwin B. Day. Day was an experienced banker from New York City, who worked to grow the bank together with vice-president William J. Goble. Within five years the bank was operating with over ten times the capital and erected a nine-story building costing about $700,000.

Vice-president William J. Goble was born in Canada and immigrated to the United States in 1900. His original purpose for coming to the U.S. was to help his brother Frank N. Goble in the construction of the general heating plant for the University of Chicago. After the project, both brothers relocated to White Plains, secured their American citizenship, and in 1922 established a partnership. William J. Goble had another connection to the bank because his construction company, Frank N. Goble, Inc. erected the building.

On November 23, 1929 to celebrate the opening of the Peoples National Bank & Trust Co. Building, there was a special section published in the White Plains Daily Reporter. Ironically, the architect Harold B. Zoller wasn’t mentioned once in any of the contemporary articles; only in a caption beneath the photograph of the architect’s rendering of the building. Once the building opened in 1929, most of the office spaces were quickly rented. 

In 2001 The New York Times reported that the Westchester Arts Council (now Arts Westchester) would be the new owner of the Peoples National Bank and Trust Company Building. The vote to purchase the bank for $1.35 million took place two years earlier as the Westchester Arts Council’s board of trustees decided it was a good investment. Approximately seventy percent of the office and studio space in the arts council headquarters is rented out to artists, musicians, and filmmakers. Because the building recently was placed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places the building was eligible for restoration grants with the guarantee that all changes must be in keeping with the character of the building.

1. Larson, Neil. Peoples National Bank & Trust Company Building. National Register of Historic Places. Published August 25th 1999.
2. Brenner, Elsa. "In the Region/Westchester; Ex-Bank Tower Thriving as White Plains Arts Hub." The New York Times (New York) March 25th 2001. .
3. "Concrete Mat Laid To Hold Big Building ." The Daily Press (White Plains) November 23rd 1929. .