Daily News du lieu suivant : New York, New York • 18

1 HIT The new Franklin Savings Bank I above) oh 42d St. replaces the bank's old 'fortress' I below), which is destined for demolition. in 1893, and the Bowery Savings Bank reflects the- great columns and sculpture-bedecked triumphal arches of that exposition. But the old Franklin doesn't enjoy landmark status, and Alan Burnham, research director for the landmarks commission, sees the ra2ing of the structure as "a horror, a loss of a fine building." Burnham and his boss, Beverly Moss Spatt, are jubilant over a new city law that will enable the -commission to preserve the interiors of great public buildings as well as their facades. The first interior space to be considered is the enormous vaulted banking room of the Central Savings Bank at Broadway and 73d St.

Burnham calls the building "a fantastic symbol" of the power of banks, giving customers a feeling of freedom and elevation as they enter. He said he was saddened by business firms that "give up a monumental home" to rent "a few stories in a skyscraper." But a lawyer on the staff of State Attorney General Louis Lefkowitz rose to the support of such move? on the part of banks. "How can you blame the banks for closing down the old central offices?" he asked. "Customers respond to free gifts, ballyhoo and instant cash." If the huge vaulted central banking rooms of the old structures are doomed in this modern day, so too the well-groomed, white-shirted teller seems to be a vestige of a past era. Aufomafion Arrives Late last year Chase Manhattan Bank opened a fully-automated bank on the concourse of Grand -Central Terminal.

Instead of tellers, stainless steel "convenience cash" machines gladly extend, at the touch of a customer's magnetically-coded card, $10 bills in the amount desired A keyboard tied electronically to a central data processor answers the customer's questions about the availability of a loan. Another automaton receives and posts deposits. "Look, no tellers to get sick, no interruptions in service to you," boasted a Chase official, hailing: the tiny room little larger than the average living room as the "bank of the future." A News reporter stopped in at the branch last week for a look, and a preview of the American Bankers Association's electronic funds transfer system, which could end paper checks forever. But the human branch manager, sitting behind a wall where the cash is stored, politely Tefused to usher the reporter around. "You caught us at a bad time," he said.

"We've just had a bank robbery." IBamiks For the AAemmory By RICHARD EDMONDS EARLIER THIS YEAR, a magnificent bank building that had been erected at the turn of the century was declared by its owner "a dump the city would be better off without." So the" once-proud, fortress-like Franklin Savings Bank, sitting solidly at the southeast comer of 42d St. and Eighth is doomed to meet the wrecker's ball. The Associated Wrecking Co. soon will reduce the columned structure to a vacant lot for prospective builders. "Whatever happened to the city's dignified banking institutions?" a reader asked The News.

"Those awesome interiors with thick carpets, well-groomed tellers and real carnations have been replaced with carnival-like gadgetry and gaudy decorations." The answer is two-fold: banks must meet the New Yorker's demand for more and more convenience; 2) the competition for the depositor's dollar is fierce, thus the gimmickry and the freebies. It's a depositor's market, and the customers flock to the bank that is the most convenient and offers the most. Today, the branch bank modern, and usually crowded is the thing. Fortresses are out of style, and, besides, they cost too much to build. Changing Approach "You see, 50 years ago banks had to inspire customers by offering them an impregnable repository for their money," said a spokesman for the American Bankers Association.

"Today, customers don't care about that aspect of a bank. They want fast service and accessibility. That's why you have so many branch banks in shopping centers." Those great stone examples of commercial power are "dismal, forbidding buildings that no longer have a purpose," he added. Nonetheless, some do still exist, and among the 405' public buildings awarded legal designations by the Landmarks Preservation Commission of the City of New York are a few old banks, now preserved by law from even the slightest exterior change. Three of the greatest examples of these institutions can be seen on a walk through lower Manhattan.

One, the First National City Bank at 55 Wall executed in granite on a truly monumental scale, was completed in 1842, with an upper section added in 1907. It was designed by architect Isaiah Rogers, I News pTioTos by Frank Giorandino with the firm of McKim, Mead and White handling the 1907 aerations. The Bouwerie Lane Theater, originally the Bond Street Savings Bank at 330 Bowery, is a 19th century, masterpiece in the style of the French Second Empire. Its elaborate cast iron facade was designed by architect Henry iSnglebert. One of the best examples of the "temple" bank is the Bowery Savings Bank, built in 1894 at 130--Bowery.

A new classicism was brought to America with the Todd's Columbian Exposition at Chicago' San Francisco's BART Makes Our IRT Look A-OK r.ll cbout 1 DART r- By ALBERT BURCHARD NEW. YORK'S subway system is old, noisy, dirty, crowded, cold in winter, stifling in summer, and blighted with graffiti. San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit system BART) 7 is new, quiet, clean, air-conditioned, has -tinted picture windows, is untouched by spray-paint Picassos, and is very fast between stations. Ill take New York's system every New York, a rider buys a token (or several), shoves it into the slot and rides. Forever, if he wants to.

In San Francisco, things are not that simple1. Politeness Counts This visitor from New York walked op to what he thought was the 'change booth in a BART station. First surprise: the attendant was polite. He said: "Go over there to the map on the walL Calculate the fare to the station you want. Put exact change into the ticket1 machine and press the button.

This ticket will come out of the slot to the right of the coin slot. And remember, you need the ticket both to get into the train and to get off." The visitor reflected, as he stood in there is an operator aboard who functions only in emergencies perhaps the dullest job on record, except that emer- Agencies seem to. on BART with" alarming regularity. There are cases on record when doors have flown open as the train cruised at 8(V m.p.h., and other cases when the doors opened on the -wrong side. The.

new cars also have sq-j. many bugs that, about a third of them are in the shop at any given time, and the ones in service fail, one way or iv another, often enough to keep the pairmen busy. No Straphangers tl. The cars are beautiful. They have5 carpeting and upholstered seats, not to mention the tinted glass.

Some of the 5 seats face forward, but in another section they face backward. However, -ad the train became crowded, the visitor norj 1 ticed one design failure: nothing forr standees to, hold on to, no straps, no -nj poles, nothing but small handles on the. -x backs of the seats. The visitor's station was clean and: fv. open.

Nov to get out. The BART booklet puts it this way: Li "Insert your ticket in an exit The Bay Area Rapid Transit sysf em Clean, buV confusing. 0 signs advertising, a which, accord- ing to, the signs? was very Tug4 in alT the stops along 3irie Having been: warned -that -at; lelistvtwo, and possibly three; different trains cam through: the what to da. It takes four pages just to tell how to on and off the trains, but as usual, they have left out a few, details. Tickets popped out "after the visitor had.

pressed the New Ticket" Ticket was biue-firray, and oh. one if your ticket value is (a) the exact' vn station, the visitor; was alert toj the markings on the -strains; Problem-" was fare, the gate will open and keep the line for a ticket, that it had taken 27 years of planning and $1.6" billion tov side there was an arrow with the' make it necessary to stand in this line. "Insert This Side Up" printed on it. Not to mention 10 years of The gates to BART are very solidly Sixty-five cents was deposited. No- built with red barriers, The ticket must thing happened.

Then the visitor spotted be inserted into a slot It pops back there was only one smalt siga on the front JTheri the meaning of the electric signs became parent. As train approached the sta- tion, the bank's slogans were shut off and the destination of the incoming train was flashed '-overhead. Presumably there is an infallible system this, because it is really the only guide a. than exact fare, the gate will open and return your ticket for future rides. If id your ticket is (c) less than exact the gate will not open, your ticket will return and the exit gate will flash a sign saying 'Underpaid.

Go To your ticket, insert it in the Add-oJa fare machine nearby, and pay the addi-i tional fare shown in the lighted window4il; up almost instantly, 7 and in a second -or so the red barriers" withdraw to allow the passenger through. He must take ticket with hint, however or he can't get out agaivi. r--t it the -push-button that would the Thanked heaven he was more thaA 5 feet since everything is at 'evelevel for people about 5 feet -6. -4aybe children are not supposed to ride. passenger nas.

The visitdr had been- told train Your tieket will now open the exit EART as issued a -booklet called The" platform-was weH lighted. The- filer HjirsVI4hiBtkJWBqasrsirtf iiiere Imgtori'Avnue3fiej IieVe yoilasiliii.