Nineteen stories and 267 feet of Art Deco tower rise above you at 11 North Pearl Street: the Home Savings Bank Building, the city's tallest structure when it was completed in 1927. When it was completed in 1927 it was the city's tallest structure; the Alfred E. Smith Building surpassed it the following year, and the Erastus Corning Tower — since its construction in 1973 — has held the title of Albany's tallest. Even so, this building has remained the tallest private building in Albany since its construction.
Look up and you’ll notice unusual, stylized Art Deco images of Native Americans and colonial settlers near the roof and again at the ground‑floor street entrance — the decorative metal and terra cotta work by Rene Paul Chambellan. Step closer to the street-level banking floor and you’ll see historic seals set into rich marble walls beneath incredibly high ceilings, a space that still holds its original character. In recent years the interior was extensively renovated and the building now serves as a combination downtown central business district office building.
Picture those Chambellan figures at the top, the decorated entrance below, and the original banking floor inside.