As pointed out by Gray Williams, author of Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County: “At one of the most conspicuous locations in Ossining stands an equally conspicuous building.” He is referring to the Bank for Savings of Ossining, a 1908 Beaux-Arts style building located at the intersection of Highland Avenue and Main Street in the Village of Ossining. Constructed in light gray limestone and possessing two large Ionic columns, the historic structure incorporates symmetrical massing and classical details, including intricately carved reliefs. Once the headquarters of the Bank for Savings of Ossining, the building also served for years as the home of the Ossining National Bank. In 1983, the building closed, and it sat vacant for decades. As of 2023, it is currently experiencing new life as a community building, with financial assistance from the Village of Ossining. The Bank for Savings of Ossining is included in the Downtown Ossining Historic District, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

Named after the Sint Sinck Native Americans who inhabited the land here until 1685, what is today known as Ossining belonged to the large Manor of Philipsburg from 1693 until 1779. In 1693, the land had been “transferred” from the Sint Sinck by royal charter to Frederick Philipse. The Philipse family, who had remained “Loyal” to the British during the American Revolution, had their property seized after war’s end in 1779, and in 1788 Sing Sing became part of the Town of Mount Pleasant. On April 2, 1813, the Village of Sing Sing became its own incorporated village in Westchester County, NY, the first municipality in the county to receive this designation. Eighty-eight years later, in 1901, the Village of Sing Sing changed its name to the Village of Ossining.

Known also as the site of Sing Sing Prison (Mount Pleasant State Prison until 1851) which was constructed upon an abandoned marble quarry on the east bank of the Hudson River. The Village of Ossining evolved to include a concentrated downtown area that became a commercial and social hub with many banks, churches, and thriving storefronts.

One of these banks was the Bank for Savings which was founded in Sing Sing in 1854. Designed by New York City architect Lansing C. Holden, the bank’s edifice was constructed in 1908 in the fashionable Beaux Arts architectural style.. The building exhibits small rectangular windows with triangular pediments, radiating voussoirs (wedge-shaped stones used as arches), and bracketed sills—all of stone. Featuring strong geometric forms, Classical details, Ionic columns, and excellent cartouches (oval decorations), to this day it remains one of the most well preserved Beaux-Arts buildings in Westchester County. 

The Bank for Savings of Ossining is located in the Downtown Ossining Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

1. “Ossining Downtown Historic District #88001827.” National Register of Historic Places. United States Department of the Interior/National Park Service. Aug 9, 1989. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75323005.  
2. The Ossining Historical Society. Images of America: Ossining Remembered. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 1999.
3. Village of Ossining Bicentennial Celebration. The Ossining Story: A Bicentennial Celebration, 1813–2013. 2013.
4. Williams, Gray. Picturing Our Past: National Register Sites in Westchester County. Westchester County Historical Society. 2003.
5. Yasincak, Rob. “Bank for Savings, Ossining, New York.” Hudson Valley Ruins (website). Accessed 18 April 2023. http://www.hudsonvalleyruins.org/yasinsac/ossining/bankforsavings.html