Old Equitable Building
The Old Equitable Building was an early skyscraper in New York, built between 1868 and 1870. Located at 120 Broadway, between Cedar Street and Pine Street, in the Financial District of Manhattan.
The Equitable Life Assurance Society was organized in 1859. It was then a small company, but it grew immensely after the Civil War to become the largest life insurance company in the world, in 1886. Its first office was located at 98 Broadway, but the company moved to 92 Broadway in December, the same year and later leased more space at 94 and 96 Broadway.
By 1865, the company needed more space. Seven buildings were acquired at 116–124 Broadway and 84–86 Cedar Street, which were demolished about May/June 1868. The construction of the building began the same year. The architects were Edward H. Kendall (1842-1901) and Arthur Gilman, which won a competition for this building in January 1868.
It was built with seven above-ground stories and two basement levels, a huge granite edifice, covering entire block, at a height of 130 feet. It was one of the first buildings in Manhattan with passenger elevators. It opened on May 1, 1870.
On November 9, 1880, the N.Y. Times reported that the United States Electric Lighting Co. had introduced their arc and incandescent lights in the offices and vaults of the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, in the basement of the Equitable Building. This was believed to be the first practical use of the incandescent type of lighting. The company had enlarged its premises, adding a reading room containing the leading newspapers of the world.
On April 29, 1889, a banquet was held in the Lawyers' Club, in the Equitable Building, during the centennial celebration of the inauguration of George Washington as first President of the United States of America.
In 1910, the building housed offices of Equitable Life Assurance Society, Mercantile Trust Co., Koumtze Bros., Mercantile Safe Deposit Co. and the Café Saverin.
The old Equitable Building was destroyed by fire on January 9, 1912. The company decided to erect a new building on the same site, the 40-story Equitable Building, completed in 1915, now a landmark.
The Equitable Building site in Lower Manhattan. Illustration published in 1883 by Currier & Ives.
This is not it. The Equitable Building of Boston, 67 Milk Street, completed in 1875 (photograph in the 1870s/Boston Public Library), is frequently confused with the one in New York.
The Equitable Building, home to the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The Old Mutual Life Building can be seen in the distance. Image published in the King's Handbook of New York, in 1892.
Broadway, east side. Wall Street to Liberty Street - 1899.
The Equitable Building in 1899. Color version of the image below by C. Graham / American Lithographic Co. Source: Museum of the City of New York.
Old Equitable Building
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