Berks County Trust Company building

The Berks County Trust Company is a historic building in downtown Reading, Pennsylvania. Originally constructed in 1909,[1] the six-story building was home to a bank known as the Berks County Trust Company and was the second largest bank branch in Berks County.[2] The building still contains the original 1909 bank vault from the York Safe and Lock Company used by the building's eponymous bank.[3] The building had additions built onto it in 1923, 1964 and 1984.[2]

Berks County Trust Company
The building in 2019
Location35 N. 6th St. Reading, Pennsylvania 19601
Coordinates40°20′11″N 75°55′33″W
Built1909
Architectural styleNeo-Classical
NRHP reference No.100003455
Added to NRHPFebruary 27, 2019

The building was later used to house the Meridian Bancorp Inc.,[2] which controlled 36 percent of the Berks County banking market and $11.8 billion in assets across the region at the start of the 1990s. However, leading into the turn of the century, the local economy of Reading began to decline and Meridian Bancorp began adding millions of dollars into its bad-debt reserves, in addition to selling its credit card, indirect auto-loan and title-insurance businesses.[4] The building was vacated in the early 2010s,[2] likely due to a greater amount of financial difficulties stemming from the Great Recession which greatly impacted the already economically declining city.[5]

The building was purchased in 2018 by the Shuman Development Group with approval from the Reading City Council.[2] The organization began a major renovation and restoration project that was overseen by the National Park Service.[1] In 2021, the restoration project received a $250,000 tax credit allocation and $11,000,000 in estimated construction expenditures from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.[6] The restoration project seeks to convert the building into an office building with a food court in the main banking hall.[2]

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 27, 2019.[7]

References
  1. "Berks County Trust Building – Shuman Development Group". Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  2. "Old Reading bank building will house offices, food court". Reading Eagle. 2018-02-28. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  3. Vasil, Jim. "Project to revitalize Berks County Trust Building receives state funding". WFMZ.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  4. Hershey, Robert D. Jr.; Times, Special To the New York (1990-12-05). "Day by Day Economics As Seen in Reading, Pa". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  5. Tavernise, Sabrina (2011-09-27). "Reading, Pa., Knew It Was Poor. Now It Knows Just How Poor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  6. "Berks County Trust Co. Building Recipient of $250k Historic Preservation Tax Credit". Berks Weekly - Local News, Entertainment, Traffic, Weather, Sports. 2021-07-19. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  7. "NPGallery Asset Detail". npgallery.nps.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
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