Equitable Building (Manhattan)

Equitable Building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
New York State Register of Historic Places
New York City Landmark No. 1935
The building in 2010
Location	120 Broadway Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°42′30″N 74°00′37″W / 40.70833°N 74.01028°W / 40.70833; -74.01028
Built	1913–1915[1]
Architect	Ernest R. Graham
Architectural style	Neoclassical
Part of	Wall Street Historic District (ID07000063)
NRHP reference No.	78001869
NYSRHP No.	06101.001692
NYCL No.	1935
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	June 2, 1978[3]
Designated NHL	June 2, 1978[4]
Designated NYSRHP	June 23, 1980[2]
Designated NYCL	June 25, 1996

The Equitable Building is an office skyscraper located at 120 Broadway between Pine and Cedar streets in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The skyscraper was designed by Ernest R. Graham in the neoclassical style, with Peirce Anderson as the architect-in-charge. It is 555 feet (169 m) tall, with 38 stories and 1.2 million square feet (110,000 m²) of floor space. The building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital.

The Equitable Building replaced the Equitable Life Building, the previous headquarters of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, which burned down in 1912. Work on the Equitable Building started in 1913 and was completed in 1915. Upon opening, it was the largest office building in the world by floor area. The Equitable Building hosted a variety of tenants and, by the 1920s, was the most valuable building in New York City. The Equitable Life Insurance Company, the building's namesake, occupied a small portion of the building until it moved out during 1960. The owner as of 2022^[update], Silverstein Properties, purchased the Equitable Building in 1980 and has renovated it multiple times.

Upon its completion, the Equitable Building was controversial because of its lack of setbacks, which in turn does not allow sunlight to reach the surrounding ground. This contributed to the adoption of the first modern building and zoning restrictions on vertical structures in Manhattan, the 1916 Zoning Resolution. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978 and was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1996. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, a NRHP district created in 2007.