1950s - Mechanic and Norwich streets - 2012.

• Position: LOCAL NEWS

COLUMN: THEN AND NOW

WORCESTER - OK, if you guessed the intersection featured in yesterday's Then and Now photo, then you deserve to be on the staff of the Worcester Historical Museum.

Or at the least, become a volunteer docent.

The intersection pictured is at Mechanic and Norwich streets, just a block from Main Street.

The brick-faced facade of the 70,000-square-foot building was wrapped with reflective glass in the early 1980s, and the structure today is home to loan officers, insurance agents, financial service representatives, lawyers and staff of the Massachusetts attorney general's office.

The $1 million makeover was initiated by the old Home Federal Savings and Loan Association, which bought the three-story building in 1976 for $401,500.

Interestingly, the building's former owner was Yale University.

College and local officials said Friday they didn't know why Yale had owned the building. It's presumed that the school bought it for inclusion in its investment portfolio.

Readers with any information may post an explanation on the comment section of the Then and Now story appearing on telegram.com.

Home Federal's headquarters was almost next door at 419 Main St. That's the building that today houses the offices and studios of WCCA community television.

At the time, bank officials wanted to expand their business enterprises to developing and managing downtown buildings. The venture apparently did not last long, with the bank selling the structure in 1982 for about $4.8 million, a rather hefty profit for the investment it made six years earlier.

An old hand at City Hall said he believed the bank had a tough time selling the business condominium units that had been carved out within the...