Equitable Building (New York City, New York)
| office building, landmark, skyscraper, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1915_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture), U.S. National Historic Landmark
USA /
New Jersey /
Hoboken /
New York City, New York /
Broadway, 120
World
/ USA
/ New Jersey
/ Hoboken
World / United States / New York
office building, landmark, skyscraper, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, 1915_construction, Beaux-Arts (architecture), U.S. National Historic Landmark
538-foot, 40-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1915. Designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White (Ernest R. Graham) for the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the building casts a 7-acre shadow across the city, which caused public outrage when it was completed. As a result, New York City passed the 1916 Zoning Resolution which aimed at restricting the height and bulk of buildings and assuring the penetration of light and air to the streets below. The building is a massive H-shaped in plan, rising straight up from its lot line with no setbacks, occupying the entire block.
The largest office building until the completion of the Empire State Building in 1931. Although it is now dwarfed by taller buildings in its vicinity, it still retains a distinctive identity in its surroundings on Lower Broadway. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
All four facades have a tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement. The 6-story base is clad in white granite and terra-cotta, while the upper stories, which take the form of an H-shaped superstructure, are faced with buff brick accented by terra-cotta trim. The two shorter facades on Broadway and Nassau Street are virtually identical to each other, as are the two facades on Cedar Street and Pine Street.
The building’s base–seven bays long on the Broadway and Nassau Street facades, eighteen bays long on Cedar and Pine streets–is defined by a triple-height colonnade of fluted Corinthian granite pilasters supporting a fourth story organized as a wide bandcourse. Classically-inspired ornament includes a dentiled cornice above and an egg-and-dart molding below the bandcourse and terra-cotta acanthus-leaf medallions separating the 4th-floor window openings. The 3rd & 4th-story windows are separated by terra-cotta mullions with a Greek-key pattern a nd rise above terra-cotta spandrel panels with a Roman-inspired grid pattern. All
the terra-cotta is pale green. The paired window openings at the 5th and 6th floors are flanked by paneled pilasters with egg-and-dart capitals. Terra-cotta mullions and spandrel panels like those at the 2nd & 3rd floors are used here as well.
The main entrances on Broadway and Nassau Street, almost identical to each other, take the form of double-height triumphal arches with deep paneled reveals, each arch supported on engaged pilasters and flanked by 3-story pilasters, and each with a prominent console bracket placed like a piece of sculpture at its apex. Foliation and roundels are placed in the arch spandrels. The coffers of the arch reveals are ornamented with rosettes. Flagpoles with banners are placed on the 3-story pilasters on the Broadway side. Polished green marble panels surmount a set of revolving doors below a sign band with the address. A stone panel above each arch is inscribed “Equitable Building" in gold lettering. Above the panel at the 4th-story level, terra-cotta eagles flank a foliated scroll. At the 7th floor, a flagpole, marking the entrance, is flanked by four freestanding eagles.
On the Cedar Street and Pine Street facades are centrally-placed entrances, each set in a square-headed arch with a surround below an entablature. Revolving doors below a sign band are set within the arch reveals. Polished green marble panels fill in the arch above the revolving door. The storefront show windows are set in trabeated surrounds above granite bulkheads. All the show window openings have stainless steel reveals, a replacement for the original material (probably bronze).
The H-shape of the building’s shaft creates the illusion of four separate towers. Each is divided into three brick-faced bays of paired windows. The brick facing is subtly molded to create the impression of pilasters, and brick spandrel panels separate the floors. The 7th bay, containing five window openings above the 6th floor, is created by the link between the wings of the H. The inner walls of these wings are faced in brick continuing the pattern of the street facades and are punctuated with window openings. Decorative bands taking the form of vertical panels with medallions, surmounted by cornices, circle the building at the 7th and 31st floors. On Cedar and Pine Street, each facade has 18 brick-faced bays with paired windows. The decorative bands circling the building at the 7th and 31st floors are a continuation of those on the Broadway and Nassau facades.
At the 32nd to 35th floors, an arcade is created by Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature. The windows at these floors are paired and separated by terra-cotta mullions and spandrels, adorned with the same pattern as seen at the base. Cornices circle the building at the 37th and 38th floors, including both the inner walls of the wings and the street walls. The cornice at the 38th floor is adorned with acroteria. Set back slightly from the cornice are 2-story penthouses on each wing which terminate in paneled parapets. Another 2-story penthouse, designed in the form of a small temple with central arched openings, spans the four wings created by the H-shaped superstructure.
The Equitable company remained at 120 Broadway until 1960, when it moved uptown however the full-size safe still remains. Later major tenants of the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway have included the Mellon Bank, Marine Midland Bank, Barclays Bank, and Kidder, Peabody. The Banker's Club of America operated on the 38th through 40th floors of the building from 1915-1979 when it shuttered due to declining membership.
Silverstein Properties bought the building in 1980, and several years later under took a major renovation, planned by the architectural firm of Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Whitelaw. Work included replacing some 10,000 linear feet of terra-cotta ornament and replacing terra-cotta window framing for 5000 windows.
The ground floor is currently occupied by a Citibank branch, an HSBC Bank branch, a Valley National Bank branch, The Capital Grille, and Ashby's restaurant and catering.
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059445117&v...
archive.org/details/sim_architectural-record_1915-07_38...
The largest office building until the completion of the Empire State Building in 1931. Although it is now dwarfed by taller buildings in its vicinity, it still retains a distinctive identity in its surroundings on Lower Broadway. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
All four facades have a tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement. The 6-story base is clad in white granite and terra-cotta, while the upper stories, which take the form of an H-shaped superstructure, are faced with buff brick accented by terra-cotta trim. The two shorter facades on Broadway and Nassau Street are virtually identical to each other, as are the two facades on Cedar Street and Pine Street.
The building’s base–seven bays long on the Broadway and Nassau Street facades, eighteen bays long on Cedar and Pine streets–is defined by a triple-height colonnade of fluted Corinthian granite pilasters supporting a fourth story organized as a wide bandcourse. Classically-inspired ornament includes a dentiled cornice above and an egg-and-dart molding below the bandcourse and terra-cotta acanthus-leaf medallions separating the 4th-floor window openings. The 3rd & 4th-story windows are separated by terra-cotta mullions with a Greek-key pattern a nd rise above terra-cotta spandrel panels with a Roman-inspired grid pattern. All
the terra-cotta is pale green. The paired window openings at the 5th and 6th floors are flanked by paneled pilasters with egg-and-dart capitals. Terra-cotta mullions and spandrel panels like those at the 2nd & 3rd floors are used here as well.
The main entrances on Broadway and Nassau Street, almost identical to each other, take the form of double-height triumphal arches with deep paneled reveals, each arch supported on engaged pilasters and flanked by 3-story pilasters, and each with a prominent console bracket placed like a piece of sculpture at its apex. Foliation and roundels are placed in the arch spandrels. The coffers of the arch reveals are ornamented with rosettes. Flagpoles with banners are placed on the 3-story pilasters on the Broadway side. Polished green marble panels surmount a set of revolving doors below a sign band with the address. A stone panel above each arch is inscribed “Equitable Building" in gold lettering. Above the panel at the 4th-story level, terra-cotta eagles flank a foliated scroll. At the 7th floor, a flagpole, marking the entrance, is flanked by four freestanding eagles.
On the Cedar Street and Pine Street facades are centrally-placed entrances, each set in a square-headed arch with a surround below an entablature. Revolving doors below a sign band are set within the arch reveals. Polished green marble panels fill in the arch above the revolving door. The storefront show windows are set in trabeated surrounds above granite bulkheads. All the show window openings have stainless steel reveals, a replacement for the original material (probably bronze).
The H-shape of the building’s shaft creates the illusion of four separate towers. Each is divided into three brick-faced bays of paired windows. The brick facing is subtly molded to create the impression of pilasters, and brick spandrel panels separate the floors. The 7th bay, containing five window openings above the 6th floor, is created by the link between the wings of the H. The inner walls of these wings are faced in brick continuing the pattern of the street facades and are punctuated with window openings. Decorative bands taking the form of vertical panels with medallions, surmounted by cornices, circle the building at the 7th and 31st floors. On Cedar and Pine Street, each facade has 18 brick-faced bays with paired windows. The decorative bands circling the building at the 7th and 31st floors are a continuation of those on the Broadway and Nassau facades.
At the 32nd to 35th floors, an arcade is created by Corinthian pilasters supporting an entablature. The windows at these floors are paired and separated by terra-cotta mullions and spandrels, adorned with the same pattern as seen at the base. Cornices circle the building at the 37th and 38th floors, including both the inner walls of the wings and the street walls. The cornice at the 38th floor is adorned with acroteria. Set back slightly from the cornice are 2-story penthouses on each wing which terminate in paneled parapets. Another 2-story penthouse, designed in the form of a small temple with central arched openings, spans the four wings created by the H-shaped superstructure.
The Equitable company remained at 120 Broadway until 1960, when it moved uptown however the full-size safe still remains. Later major tenants of the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway have included the Mellon Bank, Marine Midland Bank, Barclays Bank, and Kidder, Peabody. The Banker's Club of America operated on the 38th through 40th floors of the building from 1915-1979 when it shuttered due to declining membership.
Silverstein Properties bought the building in 1980, and several years later under took a major renovation, planned by the architectural firm of Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Whitelaw. Work included replacing some 10,000 linear feet of terra-cotta ornament and replacing terra-cotta window framing for 5000 windows.
The ground floor is currently occupied by a Citibank branch, an HSBC Bank branch, a Valley National Bank branch, The Capital Grille, and Ashby's restaurant and catering.
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015059445117&v...
archive.org/details/sim_architectural-record_1915-07_38...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equitable_Building_(Manhattan)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 40°42'29"N 74°0'37"W
- 55 Water Street 0.5 km
- One Police Plaza - NYPD Headquarters 0.8 km
- Brookfield Place 0.9 km
- Dumbo Heights 2 km
- Buildings 11, 11A, 12 & 12A 2.8 km
- 204 Van Dyke Street 3.5 km
- Brooklyn Wholesale Meat Market 6.6 km
- Bayonne Drydock Headquarters/Machine Shop 7.1 km
- Jerhel Plastics 9 km
- Atlas Terminals 12 km
- New York Stock Exchange Security Zone 0.2 km
- Financial District 0.2 km
- World Trade Center 0.4 km
- Battery Park City 0.6 km
- Lower (Downtown) Manhattan 1.9 km
- Upper New York Bay 5.2 km
- Hudson County, New Jersey 6 km
- Manhattan 8.7 km
- Brooklyn 9 km
- Queens 13 km