Guardian Life Building (7 Hanover Square)

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291-foot, 26-story postmodern office building completed in 1983. Designed by Norman Jaffe with Emery Roth & Sons, it is clad in Georgian red brick, with limestone lintels over each of the squared, smoked-glass windows. There are deeply recessed areas at the ground floor, and a 4-story cutaway corner at the west end of the Water Street facade, with an arcade running through the block to Pearl Street. Most of the surfaces within the cutaway are clad in black glass curtain wall with silver metal framing, including an angled 4-story wall section just west of the main building tower.

The large columns at the ground level are clad in brick, with limestone bases and stylized tops. There is another, shallower cutaway section up to the 4th floor on the north end of the east (Hanover Square) elevation. The top floor is completely clad in limestone, providing a contrasting band of white to the red brick and dark glass of the rest of the building. The west half of the roof is surmounted by a tall parapet wall surrounding and screening mechanical equipment. A parking garage is accessed from Pearl Street.

The building underwent a significant renovation in 2000. The major tenant is Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, which moved its NY headquarters to the building in 1998. The ground floor retail spaces are occupied by Esther's Shoe Repair, Optical Insight, and Fresh Cleaners.