National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form

Form No. 10-300JRev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS I NAME HISTORIC Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower AND/OR COMMON ___Metropolitan Tower LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 1 Madison Avenue —NOT FOR PUBLICATION 1? CITY. TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT New York VICINITY OF STATE CODE COUNTY CODE New York 36 New York 061 CLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE —DISTRICT —PUBLIC ^OCCUPIED —AGRICULTURE —MUSEUM X_BUILDING(S) ^.PRIVATE —UNOCCUPIED _COMMERCIAL _PARK _STRUCTURE —BOTH —WORK IN PROGRESS —EDUCATIONAL —PRIVATE RESIDENCE —SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE —ENTERTAINMENT _RELIGIOUS —OBJECT —IN PROCESS X.YES: RESTRICTED —GOVERNMENT —SCIENTIFIC —BEING CONSIDERED _YES: UNRESTRICTED —INDUSTRIAL —TRANSPORTATION —NO _MILITARY MOTHER Insurance ____C£L_office OWNER OF PROPERTY Contact: Mr. Richard R. Shinn, President Mr. Scott Ehrlich, Law Dept. NAME Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Ms Mary S * Frazee, Librarian STREET & NUMBER 1 Madison Avenue CITY, TOWN STATE New York VICINITY OF New York LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE, REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC. New y Ork County Hall of Records STREET& NUMBER Chambers Street CITY, TOWN STATE New York New York 1 REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE New York Cit.v Landmarks Preservation Commission DATE 1957 —FEDERAL —STATE _COUNTY X-LOCAL DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS New York city Landmarks Preservation Commission CITY, TOWN STATE New York DESCRIPTION CONDITION CHECK ONE CHECK ONE JCEXCELLENT —DETERIORATED —UNALTERED X—ORIGINAL SITE _GOOD _RUINS _XALTERED —MOVED DATE_______ —FAIR _UNEXPOSED DESCRIBETHE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE Since 1909 the 700-foot Metropolitan Tower, with its famous beacon, gigantic four-dial clock, and monstrous McNeely bells, has been the symbol of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The structure's likness has appeared on hundreds of millions of Insurance documents. For 4 years, until completion of the Woolworth Building in 1913, the stately tower was the tallest masonry and steel structure in the world, and it remains a prominent feature of the New York skyline. Designed by Pierre and Michel Le Brun and patterned after the famous bell tower of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, the 50-story edifice marked the culmination of a company building program conceived by Joseph P. Knapp and completed by John R. Hegeman. The tower underwent refurbishing in the early 1960's, and while it surrendered necessarily some of Its disintegrating Tuckahoe marble trim, it retained its original form and general appearance. Because it is the most distinctive and least altered extant Metropolitan building and because its construction corresponds with the company's rise to first place in the life insurance industry, the tower excellently commemorates Metropolitan's historical significance. Before Metropolitan erected the first of several building units that eventually constituted its Madison Avenue -complex, the firm occupied offices at three other locations. In 1868-69 the company had two and a half rooms in a.building at 2*13 Broadway; between 1869 and 1876 it claimed the entire third floor of a stru> cture at 319 Broadway; and from 1876 to 1893 it enjoyed an entire building that it refurbished at the corner of Park Place and Church Street. None of these is believed extant. By 1889 Metropolitan had outgrown Its quarters again, and Knapp selected Madison Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets as the site for a new seven-story, white marble, Second Rennaissance Revival office building designed by Napoleon Le Brun. Before workmen completed the structure in 1893, Knapp died, and Hegeman added four more stories to the building plan to accomodate the firm's rapid expansion. Gradually over the next 12 years, Metropolitan employed Le Brun to design several additions to the structure, and by 1905 the complex filled all the block except a small lot on the northwest corner, which the Madison Square Presbyterian Church occupied. Desperately in need of still more space, Metropolitan negotiated the sale of the lot and moved the church into a new home across the street. Then, since Le Brun had died, Hegeman hired his two sons to design an office tower in the mode of the campanile of St. Mark's and compatible with the existing complex. (continued) SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW —PREHISTORIC _ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC —COMMUNITY PLANNING —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE —RELIGION — 1400-1499 _ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC —CONSERVATION —LAW —SCIENCE — 1500-1599 —AGRICULTURE —ECONOMICS —LITERATURE —SCULPTURE — 1600-1699 _ARCHITECTURE —EDUCATION —MILITARY —SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN — 1700-1799 _ART —ENGINEERING —MUSIC —THEATER — 1800-1899 X-COMMERCE —EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT —PHILOSOPHY —TRANSPORTATION _X1900- —COMMUNICATIONS —INDUSTRY —POLITICS/GOVERNMENT —OTHER (SPECIFY) —INVENTION BUILDER/ARCHITECT : Plerre & Michel Le Brun SPECIFIC DATES 1909-present (1868+) STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company is outstandingly symbolic of the growth and development of the American Life insurance industry in both the late 19th and early 20th centuries Although particularly reflective of the latter era, the firm traces its origin to the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company, which when founded in 1863 represented the first com prehensive attempt to provide war-risk insurance to American soldiers and sailors. Subsequent reorganization of that firm and its descendents resulted in the formation of Metropolitan in 1868. After its first year the company ranked only 3^th among 56 American life firms operating in New York, but due to sound management and a variety of popular policy offerings, by 1909 it had become, according to scholar Marquis James, "the largest life insurance company in the world in point of business in force." 1 The firm went on to become the world's largest private investor and, in the opinion of distinguished institutional historian Morton Keller, "one of the twentieth century's prime symbols of corporate vastness and efficiency." 2 Over the years, Metropolitan introduced and successfully implemented a number of notable innovations in the life insurance industry. In 1879 the company began writing "industrial" life insurance (small-amount policies offered at low prices to industrial workers) and rose within a year to preeminence in this important new insurance field. Metropolitan also pion eered intermediate-range life insurance and several social welfare programs. James argues persuasively that the firm's formation of an intermediate branch in its ordinary department in 1896 affected "the general trend of life insurance in America," and that the introduction of a $5,000 minimum whole life policy for exceptionally good risks in 1909 "proved to be the outstanding life insurance innovation of the decade."3 (continued) -'-Marquis James, The Metropolitan Life: A Study in Business Growth (New York, 1947) , 168. 2Morton Keller, The Life Insurance Enterprise, 1885-1910: A Study in the Limits of Corporate Power (Cambridge, 1963), 37. 3james, Metropolitan Life, 119, 170. IMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES (see continuation sheet.) ^GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY (£55 UTM REFERENCES I I ZONE EASTING NORTHING ZONE EASTING NORTHING cl , I I I , I , , I I , I . I , , I ol . I I I . I . 1 I . I . I . I VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION The boundary of the nominated property corresponds with the outer plane of the four exterior walls of the tower. Justification: This boundary includes the entire tower and excludes that portion of the Metropolitan complex between 23rd and 24th Streets that has been altered so extensively that it does not meet the criteria of historical integrity. LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE ______George R. Adams, Director, Historic Landmarks Prnjent_______ ORGANIZATION DATE American Association for State and Local History 1/2*1/77_______ STREET& NUMBER TELEPHONE 1400 Eighth Avenue South__________________615-242-5583______ CITY OR TOWN STATE Nashville r_______________________________Tennessee_______ STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: NATIONAL__ STATE___ LOCAL___ As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service. FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE SIGNATURE TITLE DATE $&¥$ ;|'^^|Bi]^;Ci^l1^>?iitATTI4t|S PROPERTY *S INCLUDED IN TH£ NATIONAL REGISTER DATE :l|:;;:l:|ii:itJiR:fejQ:;R, Of FJii m ARCNSOiOGY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION ^^Pfe:'4: t^ DATE i::i::::;?::!::^||:P;Ii;'^|T^E,NATIONAlRl;QISfEfl ^^^•^•^•^:.^' .:J' ! ,. :: :^r: .:•: V*.- • '•, :,',,. Form No,. 10-300a (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM COIMTIIMUATION SHEET Met . LI f 6_______ITEM NUMBER 7 PAGE one_________________ When the tower was finished in 1909, at a cost of $6,581,391, the American Institute of Architects judged it the most meritorous work of the year. With this addition, the

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