The Biography of Chicago’s Marina City

Closer Look: The Teleview Teller
February 25, 1964

P.J. Hoff at Marina City Bank Teleview Teller. Terry’s Photography (February 1964). P.J. Hoff was a television weatherman on WBBM-TV in Chicago in the 1950s and 1960s. His weather reports made use of cartoons that he drew by hand. He is seen here in February 1964 one week before Marina City Bank opened.

The “Teleview Teller” Hoff is pulled up to (yes, it is February and that is a convertible) allowed customers to bank with a teller on closed-circuit television. Papers and money were sent back and forth through pneumatic tubes.

When Marina City Bank opened on February 25, 1964, on the main floor of the office building, it had $372,575 in deposits. Within a month, it had $12 million in deposits and was, according to American Banker magazine, one of the 2,800 largest banks in the U.S.

350 North State Street through the years...

(Left) In a photo that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times on February 26, 1964, a convertible is pulled up to the Teleview Teller at Marina City Bank. This area was a drive-up lane just off State Street. The east tower parking ramp is partially visible at upper left.

(Middle) By November 28, 2011, this area was no longer accessible to vehicles. One Teleview Teller was approximately where the concrete stairs are at left. Another was just ahead on the left. The upper floor of the building at right was a Chase bank branch from 2006 to 2014 and the southeast corner was an enclosed area for ATMs. The lower portion was a Crunch fitness center from 1999 to 2008.

(Right) It is the outdoor dining area at Tortoise Club on May 21, 2013. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

(Above) A woman identified only as the wife of Albert W. Noonan, who was a former director of the International Association of Assessing Officers, speaks with a teller identified only as Mr. Frankel.

(Right) A teller at right, Jeanne Marie Leenaerts (1931-1990), counts change as Mrs. Noonan waits in the background and Frankel sits at a console filled with television monitors, buttons, switches, papers, keys, and an ashtray.

Last updated 07-Jul-14

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