1. Lexington Avenue and East 25th Street

Provident Loan Society location at Park Avenue South and East 25th Street. Image via Museum of City of New York.

This handsome building at Park Avenue South and East 25th Street still exists and operates as the main office of the Provident Loan Society, offering 24% loan rates vs. the 48% legally allowed. Metal letters proclaiming the name of the organization are still on both facades. Christopher Gray writes of this building, “Although [the] main office, at the northwest corner of 25th Street and Park Avenue South, has the elegant air of a private bank, the early branch offices all affected a civic sense,” with an architectural style “equal parts small-town library and neighborhood bank.”