11 Penn Plaza (New York City, New York)

 office building, high-rise, 1924_construction, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

391-foot, 24-story Renaissance-revival office building completed in 1924 for the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Designed by Starrett & Van Vleck, the main bulk of the building rises up at the west end of the lot, fronting 7th Avenue, with two not-quite-symmetrical, but similar 18-story wings extends toward the east. The entire building is clad in buff-colored brick above a 3-story limestone base.

The main, west facade is 12 bays wide (11 at the base, where the two center bays are combined into one wider bay). The north elevation spans 18 bays, and the south facade has 16 bays. The west facade is dominated by the central, 2-story grand entrance, framed in rose granite. The wide piers stand on large, squat bases of polished red granite and have gold-outlined panels with a cornice on top. The actual entry is recessed under a round-arch, with brass-and-glass revolving doors. Above the doors the glass of the arch has brass framing. There is a hanging light fixture in the center, and a gold keystone topping the arch. The 3rd-floor bay above the entrance has three windows divided by carved stone pilasters, with a carved shield on either side, above the piers. The four bays on either side of the entrance have double-height openings framed on the sides by rope moldings. They have storefront windows on the ground floor and tripartite windows with transoms at the 2nd floor. The two end bays have single-windows (with decorative cast-iron lintels at the ground floor), with a carved shield above the northern one. The 3rd floor has paired windows in the bays around the entrance (divided by slender Doric columns) and single-windows in the end bays. The base is capped by a patterned band course with dentils, and stone balustrades extending up to the bases of the 4th-floor windows.

On the north facades, some of the bays are narrower, with single-windows on the 2nd & 3rd floors, while the wider ones have the same tripartite windows with transoms on the 2nd floor and paired windows with Doric columns at the 3rd floor. The wider bays have the same double-height openings with rope moldings as the west facade, except for two near the center - they have rope moldings only on the 2nd floor; the ground floor below has a secondary, recessed, brass entrance in one of the bays, and a storefront in the other. Most of the other bays have storefronts as well, with metal roll-down gates. Two of the bays near the western end have metal service doors, and the far western bay has the same single-window with cast-iron lintel as seen on the west facade (also with a carved shield above the ground floor). The cornice and balustrades from the front facade carry onto this elevation.

The south facade is similar. It also has a recessed, brass secondary entrance. The bay to the left is a service door, but is framed in brass and translucent green glass. The west end has the typical single-windows with cast-iron lintel, while the eastern two bays incorporate a vehicle freight entrance flanked by two service doors.

The upper floors have paired windows in each bay, except for the single-window end bays. At the 4th-5th floors, on all three main facades, narrow 2-story stone columns separate the paired windows, and the piers are also edged in stone, with stylized capitals and a narrow dentiled band course above the 5th floor. A thin sill course runs underneath the 6th floor, with additional sill courses every 2nd floor above. A cornice caps the 15th floor, where the first setback occurs. The southern of the two east wings sets back above the 9th floor, while the northern wing has its first setback at the 11th. Additional setbacks occur at the 13th and 15th floors (where the main mass of the tower first sets back). The main, western part of the building also has setbacks at the 18th & 20th floors. The 19th & 20th floors have stone piers, finials above the piers, and small domed towers at the corners.

The side walls facing the interior of the light court between the wings are also clad in brick, with mostly paired windows (the east-facing wall has some bays of three windows). The building was also formerly known as the Montgomery Building, and Matthew Bender Building.

The ground floor is occupied by a Starbucks coffee, Red Wings work boots, MSG Networks, and a PNC Bank branch. The lobby was recently restored by EverGreene Architectural Arts. The 9th-16th floor is now occupied by corporate offices for Apple.

hdc.org/buildings/former-equitable-life-assurance-compa...
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015086591925&v...
archive.org/details/sim_american-architect-and-architec...
untappedcities.com/2021/03/17/landmark-eligible-buildin...
therealdeal.com/2020/11/24/apple-snags-more-space-at-vo...
evergreene.com/projects/eleven-pennsylvania-plaza-lobby...