From Tellers to Cockettes

— 330 Bowery —

The Bond Street Savings Bank, completed in 1874, became known as the German Exchange Bank by 1879, catering to a growing German population in this area, which became known as Kleinedeutschland (Little Germany). Although the facades of this Italianate style building are all cast iron, the intended impression is of a great stone structure with Ionic columns, ornamental pediments, corners braced by quoining and cornices on every floor.
In 1963, Honey Waldman and Bruce Becker converted the bank into the Bouwerie Lane Theatre, opening with Frank Langella in Andre Gide's The Immortalist. Later productions included The Palm Casino Review, with members of the Cockettes, and Dames at Sea, which made Bernadette Peters a star.
From 1974 to 2006, this was home to the Obie Award-winning Jean Cocteau Repertory Company, whose over 200 productions included premieres of the Bentley/Milhaud version of Brecht's Mother Courage and Something Cloudy, Something Clear, Tennessee Williams' last play to premiere in NYC during his lifetime.
A NYC landmark, in 2007 it was converted to retail spaces and condominiums.
-Mitchell Grubler, Landmarks Committee Chair, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors

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