1924

7 West Main Street

Narrator: Frank Beyrodt, member of the Riverhead Town Board

Hi, this is Frank Beyrodt, member of the Riverhead Town Board. Welcome to historic downtown Riverhead.

This grand building was built by the Riverhead Savings Bank in 1924. The institution was already more than fifty years old. The prosperity of local potato farmers helped it attract the largest per-capita deposits in the state. When it outgrew its quarters in the old Bank Building across the street, its directors – all of the town’s leading men – decided they needed an even more impressive building.

They acquired this parcel on the southwest corner of Peconic Avenue and Main Street (where you are standing) – this is the most important intersection right in the center of town. They demolished the existing buildings and hired well-known New York bank architects Winslow & Holmes to design their new home. The firm just happened to employ John Terrill, son of a prominent Riverhead family. (Wonder if that is how they got the job!)

Holmes & Winslow designed this Beaux Art structure to look like a classical Greek or Roman building. Just look at those highly-stylized Corinthian capitals on the top of the pilasters in the front with their carved acanthus leaves. Above that is a classic temple pediment – just like at the Parthenon in Athens. Take a look at the Renaissance spiral molding details next to the door. There is also a Roman wave motif displayed in the lintel under the arch of the window. The bank’s directors chose to build the entire building out of marble and granite to symbolize the bank’s status as one of the soundest financial institutions in the state.

Work started in 1924. The cost was about $250,000 – a lot of money back then. When completed, the County Review described this as “one of the finest and most modern bank buildings that any rural community in the State can boast.”

Those bank directors were so proud of it that they commissioned this special postcard with an idealized artist’s conception of the building.

We are proud to have this century-old building here in our historic downtown Riverhead. What do you think?