Flatbush Trust Company: Who Wants to Start a Bank?!

As they began to sell their land for new development around the turn of the century, the Who’s Who of Flatbush rich dudes had a new idea for making money without actually having to do much: opening a bank! Thus, the Flatbush Trust Company was born. The impressive building was designed by Kirby, Petit, and Green, the same firm that built most of the wow-factor homes on Albemarle Road. The Flatbush Trust Company was eventually bought out by the Irving Trust Company and Bank, which was bought out by Bank of New York in the 19080s. I can’t seem to track down when the building was demolished, but it was probably sometime in the 1930s, when many local banks of this type went under. It’s now the site of a Blink Fitness.

A color postcard of the Flatbush Trust Company after it was bought out by Irving National Bank, which added the striped awnings. (Photo via Columbia University Libraries)

To commemorate the occasion of the bank opening, it published a book called Flatbvsh Past & Present. The “u” was written in the old-fashioned Latin way to make it seem fancy, kind of the equivalent of writing something in a script font today. Inside was a photo of the “Ladies’ Room,” which (I gather) was a room where ladies can hand over their money, and not a place for them to pee.

The interior of the Irving National Bank on Flatbush Ave.

This postcard shows where the Flatbush Trust Company was on Flatbush Avenue in relation to the Flatbush Library, which is still there today.

This ad, which appeared in the promotional book Flatbvsh Past & Present, lists the amount of assets held by the bank in the times before Americans’ money was insured by the FDIC.

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