Madison Square Bank Building, Worth Square NYC

The Madison Square Bank was organized in 1882, under a state charter and opened on May 1st, the same year, at 23 West 23rd Street, west of the Fifth Avenue Hotel. The president was William Wetmore Cryder. In May, 1888, the institution removed to the old Worth House at 1 West 25th Street (202 Fifth Avenue / 1122 Broadway).

The Worth House was a five-story brownstone building, which existed since 1858 or before and was named after the Worth Monument, dedicated in 1857. From 1874 to 1888, the building was the headquarters of the New York Club.

Since taking possession of the old Worth House, the Madison Square Bank occupied the entire lower floor, having separate entrances on Fifth Avenue and Broadway. Later, a large sign "Madison Square Bank Building" was placed in the main façade. The bank also rent rooms for other institutions, like the Cosmopolitan magazine (1887), the National League of Republican Clubs (1888), the New Mausoleum Company (1890) and the Metropolitan Club of New York (1891).

The building stood in an advantageous location, at the junction of Broadway and Fifth Avenue, in the heart of the shopping district. The bank had large clientage among the business establishments and resident people in the vicinity. It was a legal depository for the State of New York.

In the early 1890s, Cryder was replaced Joseph F. Blaut as president of the bank. The Madison Square Bank was insolvent by mid-1893 and collapsed by the end of the same year. On March 2, 1894, "the lease, &c., of the Worth House" was sold under foreclosure on the premises. It was bought by W.E.D. Stokes on May 1, 1894. Later, the Berlitz School of Languages placed its large sign on the facade. About 1918, the old Worth House was replaced by the six-story office building, now Porcelanosa Building.