Equitable Building
120 Broadway | Financial District | built 1915
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Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1870
The first Equitable headquarters opens here as one of New York's earliest skyscrapers
Built in 1868-70 to designs by Gilman & Kendall and George B. Post, the first Equitable Life headquarters on this corner rose about 142 feet, twice the height of a typical commercial building of its day. Iron-cage construction, passenger elevators and lightweight fireproof materials made it possible. The Landmarks Commission calls it a major breakthrough in skyscraper history. This entry concerns the earlier building on the lot.
- 1912
Fire destroys the old Equitable Life Building on this site
The first Equitable Life Building on this block burned on January 9, 1912, and six people died. It was so cold that water from the fire engines froze, which kept firefighters from saving the structure. The insurance company soon replaced it with the much larger building that stands here now.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1912
Coleman du Pont buys the burned Equitable site for $13.5 million
In October 1912 General T. Coleman du Pont bought the site of the burned headquarters for $13.5 million, joined in the venture by the builder Louis J. Horowitz and the architect Frank M. Andrews. Equitable financed the sale by taking a mortgage rather than cash. It also lent du Pont much of the construction cost and agreed to lease three floors for twenty years. Equitable's president, Judge William A. Day, chaired the building corporation.
“…buying the site in October 1912 for $13.5 million…”
- 1912
Opponents propose turning the site into a park, and builder Louis Horowitz calls their bluff
Before the plans were filed in December 1912, a group of bankers proposed that the lot become a park. Builder Louis Horowitz later called the idea an act of remarkable nerve, and it died when he suggested the group raise the $13.5 million to buy out du Pont. A second scheme would have extended New Street north to Cedar Street and split the block in two. That plan also went nowhere.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1914
Mayor Mitchel lays the cornerstone and hints it may be the last bulky skyscraper
On April 30, 1914, Mayor John Purroy Mitchel laid the cornerstone of the Equitable Building. It was the first time in New York City that a mayor had attended the cornerstone ceremony of a privately built project. He used the occasion to suggest that the building might be the last bulky skyscraper erected in the city. Two years later, the 1916 zoning law began to make that prediction come true.
“The cornerstone was officially laid on April 30, 1914, at a ceremony attended by mayor John Purroy Mitchel.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1915
Du Pont buys a controlling interest in the Equitable Life company from J. P. Morgan & Co.
The man who built the new Equitable Building soon bought into the company it was named for. Three years after acquiring the site, Thomas Coleman du Pont purchased a controlling interest in the Equitable Life Assurance Society from J. P. Morgan & Co. Du Pont had hired Thompson-Starrett to erect the tower and kept Horowitz as his representative throughout construction.
- 1915
Ernest Graham completes the Equitable Building
Architect Ernest R. Graham of D. H. Burnham & Company designed the 555-foot, 38-story Equitable Building on an H-shaped plan with two light courts, maximizing office space on the narrow site. Completed February 1, 1915, at a cost of about $29 million, it held 1.2 million square feet of space served by 50 elevators.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1916
Anger over the Equitable Building's shadow leads to the city's first zoning law
Completed in 1915 to a design by Ernest R. Graham of D. H. Burnham & Company, the Equitable Building rose straight up from its lot with no setbacks, holding about 1.2 million square feet of space. Critics said it cast a seven-acre shadow and blocked light to neighbors, including the Singer Building up to its 27th floor. The outcry helped bring about the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which required setbacks on tall buildings.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1928
The Equitable Building becomes New York's highest-valued property
By 1928 the Equitable Building was assessed at $31 million, making it the highest-valued piece of real estate in New York City. Major tenants over the following decades included General Electric, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and several railroad companies, though Equitable Life itself occupied only a few floors.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1942
An anti-aircraft shell fired by mistake hits the 37th floor
In March 1942 a seven-inch shell struck the 37th floor of the Equitable Building. It was one of eight fired by mistake from an anti-aircraft battery near the East River; the other seven fell harmlessly into the water. The damage was slight and no one was hurt, but the Equitable became the first building in New York City to suffer war damage in World War II, and it took out an insurance policy afterward.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1979
The Bankers Club, which hosted Churchill, de Gaulle and Khrushchev, closes
The Bankers Club, with about 1,500 members, filled the tower's top three floors from the day the building opened. Its facilities included a lounge, reception rooms, a terrace in the open air and five separate dining rooms, and it drew financiers, socialites and political figures. Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Nikita Khrushchev and Queen Elizabeth II were among its guests. The club closed in 1979 when its lease ended.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1980
Silverstein Properties buys the Equitable Building
Larry Silverstein's company purchased the Equitable Building for $60 million in 1980, decades before it would help rebuild the World Trade Center nearby. A $30 million renovation followed between 1980 and 1990, and a further $50 million restoration updated the building's facade and systems from 2017 to 2019.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1996
Landmarks Commission designates the Equitable Building after a hearing with no opposition
The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Equitable Building a landmark on June 25, 1996. At the September 1995 hearing, fifteen speakers testified in favor, among them Councilmember Kathryn Freed and representatives of the Municipal Art Society and the Downtown Alliance, and no one spoke against. According to the designation report, the building was central to the making of New York's zoning law, which was the nation's first.
Further reading
- Equitable Building (Manhattan)Wikipedia
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