UPDATE: Monday, March 17 at 10 a.m.: A spokesperson from Apple Bank got in touch with West Side Rag over the weekend to give us a variety of updates related to the time and temperature display screen at the West 73rd Street building.
When the display screen was removed on Thursday, the initial plan was to immediately replace it with a new one on the same day, but the installation was delayed due to “an unforeseen issue in placing the special rigging equipment,” according to the spokesperson.
The bank said it was committed to completing the installation as soon as possible, but no specific timeline was given.
Additionally, during the process of replacing the display screen, the bank also discovered that the Apple Bank for Savings sign to the right of the time and temperature display screen also needs replacing. The replacement will look different, though, as the bank will be installing a new sign in the “near future” that will simply read “Apple Bank.” The “for Savings” part of the sign will be no more.
The bank is also planning an event to celebrate the new sign and restored displayed screen, but there is no date decided on this front.
Original Story
By Gus Saltonstall
The time and temperature display screen on the Upper West Side Apple Bank building has disappeared.
Generally, the bank building at West 73rd Street between Broadway and Amsterdam has a clock display screen on the left-hand side of the sign near the top of the building.
As shown below.
At some point on Thursday, though, the portion of the screen that generally displays the time and temperature disappeared from the facade of the Upper West Side building.
But don’t panic! We have some clues.
On Thursday morning, one local armed with a camera snapped a photo of what appears like a construction crew removing the display screen portion of the Apple Bank sign.
A little after 11 a.m. on Thursday, a different eagle-eyed reader emailed the Rag a photo of what looks like the clock display screen on the back of a truck.
While the tipster understandably asked if this was the new replacement screen for the Apple Bank clock, which has been broken for months, it seems more likely that this is the broken display screen getting whisked away in broad daylight.
As West Side Rag reported at the end of last year, the time and temperature function has not been working properly for an extended period of time, and a spokesperson from Apple Bank told us that it had recently received approvals to replace that part of the display screen atop the iconic landmark building.
At the end of December, the spokesperson said the replacement and installation of the new display screen is “expected to be completed within the coming months.”
The broken display screen being taken off the building is hopefully an indicator that a properly functioning clock and temperature screen will soon be on its way to the Upper West Side building.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, the display screen was still missing.
We reached out to Apple Bank for updates.
The investigation is ongoing.
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The Apple Bank clock & temperature display has been an iconic part of Verdi Square for decades! Just like the Verdi statue, the Ansonia beaux arts masterpiece, and yes, even Grays Papaya!
I spoke to the bank manager many months ago about a repair update. Just a vague response.
Has the Apple Bank Residents condo board, the Friends of Verdi Square and Landmarks Preservation been involved in getting the historic bank building to expedite the clock repair and reinstallation?
If not…why not?
Time flies.
Would a digital clock thermometer would be landmarked ?
Attention (and money) must be paid.
Can someone come and remove the clock at the Chase bank on Columbus and 72nd? Haven’t looked at it for awhile, but I’m sure it is displaying the wrong time.
Chase takes forever to update that clock when the time changes. How hard is it to get an employee on a ladder?
They took away the clock at the W 90th ST branch several years back that was there for decades.
Go inside this bank to see the magnificent interior.
This is one of the small number of branches (and building) that Chase owns.
The Apple Bank clock has been a fixture in my life for 50 years and I have missed it every day since it went dark. And I am sure I am not the only person who feels sad that it has disappeared from my life. Yes, I wear a watch and yes, I can use the weather app on my phone to tell me the temperature outside. But they will never take the place of the first view of the time and temperature when I wake up in the morning. Friends at Apple Bank, PLEASE bring it back as soon as possible.
What’s amazing to me is how many times I still look for time and temp on Apple – (sometimes one minute later….)
YES!! Please bring it back. I noticed it was all dark and immediately felt lonely. Thanks we need some cheering up now.
I admit to feeling a pang when I read that the clock has been removed — then enormous relief that it’s coming back! Hopefully soon! They’re so few charming icons left in Manhattan nowadays.
This has been my bank since October 1965 when I first arrived in NYC. I chose it because it was close to my apartment but the interior architectural details nailed it for me. I own a piece of wrought iron that they threw away that I made into a table and book stand.
Bill?
It was then the Central Savings Bank.
I hope the clock comes back. Never realized how much I sed it until it wasn’t operating.
I wonder if it will return in the same style, or if it will get a modern upgrade. If the latter, I can’t wait for the bellyaching on here 😀
There is an old fashioned clock on the same side, just above the doorway. Why don’t they just fix that?
I also have been long term used to seeing it, before it was digital! And I actually am a customer of Apple Bank. I do hope that they don’t take too much time to replace it. Not only is it iconic, but it was always helpful when I got off the train at 72nd.
I’m so happy for this news! I also still appreciate the peace sign in the southern tower of the Ansonia. Both signs, along with the amazing work done to support Verdi Square Park, with its wonderful services surrounding West 72nd street, are why I still call the UWS home.
Take those photos with the current sign now! Then photos again when the new Time/Temp plus new Apple sign. You want them for “throw back Thursdays”. 🙂
I reflexively look up to see the temperature, and sometimes the time, every time I turn the corner on 70th Street and head uptown. And feel the pang of missing it. I’ve been so afraid they weren’t going to replace it because of the cost, which is certainly not inconsequential. What do they really stand to gain from it? Extremely unusual these days to see a business spending money on something that isn’t going to make them more money. Am very grateful they seem to be doing it anyway.