Equitable Building (Manhattan)

The building occupies the entire block bounded by Broadway to the west, Cedar Street to the north, Nassau Street to the east, and Pine Street to the south. The dimensions of the block are irregular. The building has a frontage of approximately on Broadway, on Cedar Street, on Nassau Street, and on Pine Street. The plot is shaped like a trapezoid, with the Nassau Street and Broadway frontages being almost parallel. The plot covers about ; The building is assigned its own ZIP Code, 10271; it was one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that had their own ZIP Codes . There are numerous buildings and structures immediately adjacent to the Equitable Building. Zuccotti Park is located to the northwest, while 140 Broadway is to the north and 28 Liberty Street is to the northeast. Federal Hall National Memorial is to the southeast and 14 Wall Street and the American Surety Building are to the south. Across Broadway to the west and southwest are the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings. ==Architecture==

The Equitable Building, an early skyscraper, was designed by Ernest R. Graham of D. H. Burnham & Company (later Graham, Anderson, Probst & White), with Peirce Anderson as the architect-in-charge. In contrast to the contemporary Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, Singer Building, and Woolworth Building, the Equitable Building was designed as a bulky mass, rather than a "slender, romantic tower". This was affected by the fact that the other three buildings were corporate symbols from renowned architects, while the Equitable Building was a speculative development whose designer had little experience in New York City. The ultimate design was distinct from corporate structures such as the Met Life Tower or restrained office buildings such as the Flatiron Building, The articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital. The exterior is inspired from Greek and Roman architecture. In total, it is tall when the penthouse's center tower is included; a separate measurement of is given when measured to the top of the other penthouses, and the height excluding any of the penthouses is . Form Although the Equitable Building is 40 stories tall with , this includes two stories in the building's penthouses as well as two "interior stories" that are not visible from the facade. and there are three basement levels. Originally, the structure was proposed as a 42-story skyscraper, but this was reduced to 36 effective stories to maximize elevator safety and speed, given the assumption that 50,000 people visited the building each day and that there were 48 elevators that could each serve 1,200 people an hour. The Equitable Building has no setback from the street beyond the depth of the sidewalk. This is because Graham wanted the building to have the latest technological systems, such as elevators, heating, ventilation, and fireproofing, while also maximizing usable office space. Two light courts (recesses), one each to the east and west, bisect the facades above the seventh floor. As a result, the Equitable Building appears in the shape of the letter H when viewed from above. The design of the Equitable Building is similar to that of the now-demolished Hudson Terminal office buildings and the 49 Chambers building. Anderson designed the facade with a base, shaft, and capital, similar to the Broadway–Chambers Building by Cass Gilbert, but with facades on all sides. The building contains eighteen vertical window bays each on the Pine and Cedar Street facades, and seven bays each on the Broadway and Nassau Street facades, three on each wing of the "H". as well as an ornamented terracotta frieze at the fourth story, which is wide. The remaining windows on the first floor are stainless-steel show windows, which illuminate the commercial spaces inside. Though most of the commercial space is accessed from the lobby, there is also a service entrance and a shop entrance from the Cedar Street side. On the Broadway and Nassau Street facades, the light court divides the primary facades into two wings, each with three window bays. The portions of the facade facing these light courts are faced with brick. and each of the upper stories has due to the H-shaped footprints. The ceiling is designed in patterns of octagons and squares. At opening, half of the basement was occupied by the Cafe Savarin, a 1,000-seat eatery with three rooms fitted with bright blue tiled walls and floors. On the upper floors, a staircase, restrooms, and utilities are clustered into the core of the "H". The light courts within the "H" ensured that all offices could receive natural light. Floors were arranged so that they could be divided into suites facing outward, so that all suites faced windows, though it was also possible for lessees to rent entire floors. Also in the building was the library of the New York Law Institute, which remains in the building . The Equitable Building housed the 1,500-member Bankers Club on its top three floors when it opened. The club had five dining rooms, a lounge, reception rooms, and an open-air terrace. At the time of completion, the Equitable Building was said to have more telephones than did all of Greece. The building contains 50 elevators; the 48 elevators serving the above ground levels are clustered in six groups of eight, while an additional two elevators serve the basements. ==History==

Context During the 19th century, life insurance firms were some of the first companies to build high-profile skyscrapers. The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, founded by Henry Baldwin Hyde in 1859, had built the Equitable Life Building on 120 Broadway in 1870. The Equitable Life Building was the first office building to feature passenger elevators, and at a record upon construction, was among the world's first skyscrapers. and in 1887. Equitable assumed control of all properties on the block by 1906. By the 1890s, the Equitable Life Building was architecturally outdated, and George B. Post prepared plans for a 40-story structure in 1897, which did not proceed. In 1907, Daniel H. Burnham's company had proposed replacing the Equitable Life Building with a 33-story structure. Burnham's firm filed plans for a 62-story building in 1908, to top the Singer Building and Metropolitan Life Tower. This new building would have had a 34-story base and a 28-story tower, being tall, with of floor area and 3,600 offices. Although bidding for the proposed structure began in December 1908, The plan was ultimately dropped, possibly due to opposition over the building's sheer bulk. Fire engines could not save the structure because the water from the engines had frozen in the cold weather. Equitable quickly set up temporary quarters at the City Investing Building. Given that the previous building had been worth very little, the land was actually worth more after the fire than beforehand. Planning and construction Planning After the fire, Thompson–Starrett was hired to clear the site, and the plot was chosen as the location for Equitable's new headquarters building. and finalized the sale that October for $13.5 million. and Andrews sued du Pont in July 1913, leading du Pont to pay Andrews $100,000 for his involvement. Horowitz then corresponded with Ernest Graham, the other major partner at D. H. Burnham & Company after Burnham's June 1912 death, One group of bankers planned to build a park on the site, a suggestion that Horowitz said "outranks, for nerve, anything of which I ever heard", and was dropped when Horowitz suggested that the group raise $13.5 million to buy out du Pont's ownership share. This plan also failed, On April 12, 1913, du Pont formed the Equitable Office Building Corporation to take title to the building site, and gave Equitable a $20.5 million mortgage loan to run for 60 years. Equitable would lease three floors in exchange for 9% dividends in the building corporation, to be paid in perpetuity. Equitable president William A. Day was appointed as chairman of the board of the building corporation. Since there were no nearby material-storage areas, it was imperative that work be completed as quickly as possible. Excavation for the building started in June 1913. The cofferdam around the foundation was initially reinforced with timber cross-bracing until the steel frame underground had been sufficiently completed to support the cofferdam. By January 1914, crews had excavated the foundation and dug to the bedrock below street level. The steel work was built to the second floor using six derricks; the steel frame above that point was erected using lighter derricks with longer masts and booms. while another died when a crane dropped a girder onto a platform where six men were working. The steel frame reached street level in February 1914. The cornerstone was officially laid on April 30, 1914, at a ceremony attended by mayor John Purroy Mitchel. The Equitable Building was the first private construction project in New York City where the mayor attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony. Work on the superstructure officially began on June 10, 1914. Work on the building was completed on February 1, 1915. Use The Equitable Building was completed on May 1, 1915, The Equitable Society itself occupied , a little more than 10% of the total floor area, on the sixth through eighth floors. Other early lessees included tenants as diverse as General Electric, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Fidelity Trust Company, and American Smelting & Refining. The Equitable Building was also occupied by industrial concerns such as the American Can Company, Kennecott Copper Company, E. I. du Pont de Nemours, Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, and Aluminum Company of America, as well as railroads such as Missouri Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, and Southern Railway. Equitable Life itself only had its home office in the Equitable Building until 1924, when it moved to 393 Seventh Avenue (now 11 Penn Plaza). 1910s through 1930s At the time of its completion, the Equitable Building had 20,000 employees working inside it, and 50,000 additional daily visitors. During the first year of operation, du Pont made $3 million in profit. The building's valuation was increased from $20.5 million to $25 million that year, because of a prosperous realty market at the time. The following year, the Equitable Office Building Corporation applied for a reduction in the building's valuation from $25 million to $18 million, due to foreclosures on other large buildings in New York City. Further devaluation occurred in 1921, when the building was estimated to be worth $11.5 million, but by the next year, the building was re-valued at $30 million, making it among the city's most valuable properties. The edifice was first placed for sale in 1923, with du Pont offering the building for $40 million. In 1925, du Pont sold the Equitable Building for $38.5 million to the New York Empire Company, a subsidiary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The next year, the Brotherhood sold the building to a syndicate composed of William Henry Vanderbilt, Harry C. Cushing III, and Leroy W. Baldwin for $40 million. By 1928, the Equitable Building was assessed at $31 million, making it the highest-valued building in New York City. 1940s through 1960s By the 1940s, the Equitable Office Building Corporation was in poor financial shape. Bankruptcy proceedings started in 1940, but were delayed due to World War II; three potential investors submitted dueling proposals in 1946. The building was refinanced in 1947, receiving a first-mortgage loan of $14.5 million, among the largest ever in New York City's history. At this time, Equitable Life sold the mortgage on the tower. Lawrence Wien bought the lease for the land in 1956, though Webb and Knapp retained ownership of the building as well as its operating sublease. By then, Equitable was planning to build the new 1285 Avenue of the Americas on Sixth Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets in Midtown Manhattan. Two years later, the Equitable Life Assurance Company bought the building outright, as part of a $25 million exchange wherein Webb and Knapp bought the Sixth Avenue plot. In addition, Wien assumed the building's operating sublease the same year. Equitable moved to 1285 Avenue of the Americas in 1961 from its previous home office at 393 Seventh Avenue. 1970s to present The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978. Silverstein Properties purchased the Equitable Building in 1980 for $60 million, in partnership with five pension funds whose mortgage nearly covered the purchase price. After buying the building, Larry Silverstein renovated and restored it at a cost of $30 million, The renovation was completed in 1990. As a result of the project, occupancy rates increased from 60% in 1991 to 80% in 1993. Following the early 1990s recession, Silverstein sold his ownership stake and leased the Equitable Building, though Silverstein Properties bought it back in 1999. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Equitable Building a New York City landmark in 1996. In 2017, Silverstein announced another round of renovations, which cost $50 million and were undertaken by Beyer Blinder Belle. The renovation was completed in July 2019. Several murals resembling street art were installed on the third floor in November 2019. Tenants include the New York City Department of City Planning, Macmillan Publishers, architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, the New York City Housing Development Corporation, and Tower Research Capital. == Notable incidents ==

There were numerous incidents where parts of the building were damaged. For instance, lightning caused part of the cornice to break off during 1925. In March 1942, a seven-inch (17 cm) shell struck the 37th floor of the building but caused little damage and no injuries. The shell was one of eight fired by an anti-aircraft battery near the East River by mistake; the other rounds fell harmlessly into the river. The 1942 incident made the Equitable Building the first in New York City to suffer war damage during World War II, and it subsequently took out an insurance policy. In February 1953, a broken water main flooded the basements with of water, temporarily disabling the elevators. Throughout the Equitable Building's history, several people have died after they fell or jumped from the building. In the building's early years, such incidents included a clerk who landed on a taxi in 1925; a woman who jumped from the roof after losing money in the Wall Street Crash of 1929; a broker who jumped in 1937; and an incident in 1930 where a jumper killed both himself and a truck driver on the ground. There were also several people who killed themselves inside the building, such as the shooting suicide of a politician in 1933 and another one in 1937. == Impact ==

Reception Many architectural critics had negative comments about the Equitable Building. Francisco Mujica stated in 1927 that "its intelligent interior arrangement and the central location of its 50 elevators" was the only appealing part of the Equitable Building. Another critic called it a "monstrous parasite on the veins and arteries of New York". Even during the cornerstone laying, Mayor Mitchel had alluded to the possibility that the Equitable Building might be the last bulky skyscraper to be erected in New York City. Zoning law skyscrapers when seen from the sidewalk The Equitable Building's construction was one of the influences behind the passage of zoning reform in New York City. although the Equitable Building was only one of the several catalysts of such reform. Opposition to super-tall buildings dated as far back as 1894. The Committee on Congestion of Population in New York, as well as the Fifth Avenue Association, were among the groups that advocated for such legislation to limit building heights. The New York City Board of Aldermen's Building Commission had published preliminary reports for zoning controls in 1913, when the Equitable Building was barely under construction. Nevertheless, in the following years, opponents of super-tall skyscrapers frequently cited the Equitable Building's bulk. The subsequent 1961 Zoning Resolution allowed the construction of bulky towers if they contained plazas. ==See also==