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Skyscraper in Brooklyn, New York

Adjacent to the tower, within the city–designated Brooklyn Academy of Music Historic District, are row houses designed in the Italianate style. The Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church is on the same block to the east, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music is just to the north. An entrance to the New York City Subway's Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station is inside the building. The site is also near the Atlantic Terminal mall, the Atlantic Terminal station of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), and the Barclays Center arena. The Alloy Block is located to the west, just across Flatbush Avenue. Prior to the tower's construction, there were "about eight" buildings on the lot. A small part of the site was previously owned by the Hanson Place Central United Methodist Church. Although the tower's site is near the subway and LIRR terminal, most business in Brooklyn was centered around Brooklyn Borough Hall, further to the west, before the tower was built.

The Williamsburgh Savings Bank was chartered in 1851. The bank was originally housed in the basement of a church in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; the bank's first annual report showed that it had 158 depositors and $15,000 in assets. After the American Civil War, the bank's holdings grew considerably, and a new headquarters at 175 Broadway was completed in 1875. The bank had 139,000 depositors and $210 million in assets in 1928, the 175 Broadway headquarters was no longer sufficient for the bank's needs by the 1920s. Each savings bank in New York had been limited to one location until 1923, when the state legislature passed a law allowing savings banks to construct branches. In March 1926, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank's Building Committee submitted an application to the New York superintendent of banks to build a branch in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Three months later, the bank decided to instead build a headquarters near Downtown Brooklyn's transit hub. The Times Union reported on the acquisitions in October 1926, The bank planned to open a temporary branch at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in the meantime. they were joined by eight other banks. Despite the opposition from these ten banks, New York's superintendent of banks gave the Williamsburgh permission to open a Downtown Brooklyn branch. The approval was contingent on the closure of the temporary branch once the permanent building was finished. Bank officials considered several plans, including one without any rentable space. and the building was erected in place of a chimney for the church. In January 1927, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank opened the temporary location at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues. Later that month, Halsey, McCormack & Helmer filed plans for the new edifice with the city's Bureau of Buildings, and the bank announced that it would begin clearing the site. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote that the project could be delayed by six to twelve months if the architects were forced to redesign the building. By August 1927, the William Kennedy Construction Company was excavating the site to lay the foundation. The same firm was awarded the general contract for the new building that December, at which point the building was planned to cost $3 million. In addition, P. J. Keogan was hired as the electrical contractor, Almirall & Co. received the heating contract, and Alexander Bryant Company was retained to install plumbing. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's cornerstone was laid on April 9, 1928, and the superstructure was topped out by the end of July 1928. Managing agent R. M. Dinsmore began renting out the space that year, and the clock atop the building started operating in December. The tower was completed as other structures nearby were being built, including the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, several office buildings,

Four hundred people attended a reception for the new bank building on March 28, 1929. At the time, 75 percent of the space had been leased. and the building was 85 percent leased when the office stories officially opened the next month. Four major insurance firms had signed leases in the building by June. Despite the Wall Street Crash later that year, ninety four percent of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's space was leased before the end of 1929. Among the building's tenants in the 1930s were the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the United Personal Loan Corporation, and Catholic newspaper The Tablet. A life insurance sales department opened within the building's bank branch in 1941. J. J. Roehrig of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank took over as the building's manager in 1943. During World War II, the building's management instituted a policy in which only the first four floors would remain illuminated during citywide blackout orders. A rehabilitation center serving discharged service members opened within the building toward the end of the war. In the 1950s, the tower's tenants included architect Henry V. Murphy. As Brooklyn's tallest building, the tower was also used for Good Friday displays, during which some rooms were lit in the pattern of a cross. The clock faces were cleaned extensively in 1957. By the 1960s, the former ladies' lounge next to the banking room was converted into a mailroom. The observation deck on the 30th story was shuttered in the late 1970s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the exterior of the building as a New York City landmark on November 15, 1977. One of the bank's vice presidents said: "We did not seek this landmark status but we're rather proud of our building." The designation had to be approved by the New York City Board of Estimate, but this approval was delayed after U. S. Congressman Fred Richmond accused the Williamsburgh Savings Bank of participating in redlining by refusing to give mortgages to residents of poorer neighborhoods. The Board of Estimate finally approved the landmark designation in March 1978, when the bank pledged to allocate $10 million for loans and mortgages to Brooklyn residents. The LPC's chairperson, Beverly Moss Spatt, said that if the building were designated as a city landmark, it could also be added to the National Register of Historic Places and receive tax abatements as a result.

By the late 20th century, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower contained many dentists' offices. as well as the production offices of The Tablet and one story for data processing equipment for various companies. Republic National Bank acquired Williamsburgh Savings Bank and its branches in 1986. Republic announced plans to renovate the lobby, banking room, mechanical systems, and facade in 1988, in advance of the building's 60th anniversary. During the late 1980s, the building was known as One Hanson Place, and local residents unofficially called it the Williamsburgh Tower. At the end of 1989, the Republic Savings Bank merged with the Manhattan Savings Bank, but the building's name was not changed. Over 100 dentists took up about seven tenths of the office space by the early 1990s; the dental office on floor 29 was the highest accessible point in Brooklyn. The New York Times said the building had "one attraction that even the World Trade Center and the Empire State Building can't match: as you inhale the scenery, you can get a root canal too". The LPC hosted public hearings in June 1993 to determine whether to designate the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's interior as a city landmark, along with the interiors of five other banks citywide. Republic and its branches were acquired by HSBC Bank USA three years later. HSBC moved into floors 7–11, while the remaining space was 96 percent occupied in 2002. However, the relatively small dimensions of the tower were not attractive to larger tenants, which preferred buildings with higher ceilings and more widely spaced columns. An executive of a local dental society estimated in 2004 that two dozen dentists remained in the tower.

HSBC Bank USA had placed the building for sale by mid 2004; the New York Daily News reported that the building could be sold for as much as $95 million. That November, the Dermot Company agreed to buy the building. Retired basketball player Magic Johnson and Canyon Capital Realty Advisers were also partners in the sale, which was finalized in May 2005. The sale price was variously reported as $71 million and the building's remaining dentists had to find new offices. The new owners planned to convert the building to stores and residential condominium apartments while preserving the facade and part of the interior. H. Thomas O'Hara was hired to design the renovation. Before the residential conversion could begin, mercury vapors had to be removed from the former dentists' offices. The clock faces, which had become unsynchronized not only with the actual time but with each other, were also temporarily disassembled for repairs. Johnson did not plan to include affordable housing in the converted building, prompting criticism from community groups. Corcoran Group, which was hired to market the building, tried to lease the banking room to a Borders bookstore in 2006. The first residents finalized their purchases in 2007,

Seventy percent of the condominiums had been sold by January 2008, when the first residents moved into the building and the clock's hands started operating again. Residential sales peaked in early 2008 before stalling for about six months. The commercial owners held talks with Apple Inc. and Microsoft to open an Apple Store or a Microsoft Store in the space. They had difficulty securing a tenant for the banking room, which was a city landmark and could not be extensively modified. Furthermore, the commercial owners wanted to wait for a suitable tenant, such as a "museum store" or other cultural institution that would preserve the banking hall. Events venue Skylight One Hanson agreed to operate the banking room in July 2009. Skylight One Hanson opened that September, renting the banking room for events at rates of at least $15,000 per night. The venue was used by such events as VH1 Divas and MTV's Hip Hop Honors, The space also hosted holiday parties. Though the building's apartments were heavily marketed, some units remained unsold, leading the developers to reduce prices several times. The remaining unsold units, consisting of six penthouses, The clock was repaired again and relit in 2013. In June 2015, Madison Realty Capital bought the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's retail space, including the banking room, for $20.4 million. Madison Realty intended to convert the space into a flagship store. At the end of that year, Madison Realty hired Chris DeCrosta to market the space. Further alterations to the banking room's furniture were approved in 2019. Robert Helmer, the building's lead architect, had intended for the tower "to be regarded as a cathedral dedicated to the furtherance of thrift and prosperity". Efn|The building has been described as having as few as 34 stories. This made it the tallest building in Brooklyn when it was finished, a 597 feet (182 m) transmitter built atop the nearby Brooklyn Technical High School surpassed the building as Brooklyn's tallest structure in 1938. The tower remained New York City's tallest building outside Manhattan until 1989, when One Court Square in Queens was completed,

According to a 1989 New York Times article, there were 935 windows. For most of the 20th century, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower was the only high rise in the surrounding area. This, along with the fact that the building was near the intersection of five streets, often resulted in the intensification of wind gusts around the building. Throughout the exterior are carved depictions of objects such as flowers, animals, and a thief.

On the lower stories, each elevation of the tower's facade is arranged symmetrically around the axes of the ground story banking room. At the ground level is a highly polished dado veneered with veined and colored Minnesota granite. The cornerstone has a dedication inscribed into it. The first six stories of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower are clad with limestone. The frames of the large windows are ornately decorated, with half round mullions. The windows contain tinted cast glass panes made by the Thomas Jones Decorative Glass Company. Other carved details represent values of thrift. These include beehives; squirrels that store nuts; the head of Mercury, god of commerce; wise owls; and seated lions whose paws protect the bank's lockbox, with the bank's monogram on the lock shaft.

Above floor 2, each elevation of the building's facade is articulated by vertical piers that rise ten stories. Contrasting limestone trim is used to distinguish each setback. In the mid 20th century, visitors could access the deck by obtaining a card from the building's security guards, which had to be returned when the visitor departed. As late as the 1970s, the observation deck was open to the public during the middle of the day on weekdays, and visitors did not need to pay admission. The observation deck was closed by the late 1970s. Bank officials in 1989 could not recall anyone having ever jumped to their death from the observatory. This made the clock, at one point, the largest in New York City and among the largest in the world. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's Renaissance style dome was inspired by that atop the bank's 175 Broadway building, which had been designed by George B. Post. At the time of the building's opening, these lights illuminated in a pattern that repeated every four minutes. efn|The basement and ground floor each have , while the mezzanine has including brass, bronze, copper, silver, and both cast and wrought steel. Cox, Nostrand & Gunnison manufactured the banking interiors' lighting fixtures.

The entrance vestibule connects the Hanson Place entrance to the south with the lobby to the north. At the center of the Hanson Place elevation is an entrance vestibule that connects with the lobby. Segmental arches divide the lobby's ceiling into 11 saucer vaults, which are covered with blue hued mosaic tiles that represent the sky. There are five sets of elevator doors. The original elevator doors were decorated with representations of seasons, types of arts, classical elements, and skilled workers. Within the room are tellers' windows, which include metal grilles decorated with animals and zodiac figures. efn|The Wall Street Journal gives a different figure of 189 condominiums. One example of a larger unit is a three bedroom apartment with beamed ceilings, wooden floors, and nine windows on two elevations. Some of the penthouse apartments cover a full story, and there is a duplex unit adjacent to the former observation deck. When the tower was completed, the Brooklyn Citizen said that the tower was not only a monument to the Williamsburgh Savings Bank but also one of several major commercial developments near Atlantic Terminal. Christopher Gray of the Times wrote that the designs of the lobby and banking hall were "designed to make every depositor feel like a millionaire". Some observers compared the massing to a phallus: the 2010 edition of the AIA Guide to New York City called the dome "New York's most exuberant phallic symbol",

The tower was supposed to have been the first of a series of skyscrapers near Downtown Brooklyn. Eric Nash wrote in 2005 that the building was supposed to compete with Manhattan's skyline both financially and aesthetically. and another Times writer described the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower in 2001 as one of the few structures in Brooklyn's skyline that could be recognized from afar. It was only in the 2010s that several taller skyscrapers in Brooklyn were built. The largest of these, the 1066 feet (325 m) Brooklyn Tower, is over twice the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower's height. Through the late 20th century, local residents used the building both as a clock and as a landmark for giving out directions. The high concentration of dentists as tenants led the Daily News to call the building "the mecca of dentistry" in the 2000s. and the film Going in Style. It was also the fictional setting of a romantic sequence in the film Spider Man: Across the Spider Verse.