Metropolitan Life North Building

Metropolitan Life North Building
General information
Location 11-25 Madison Avenue, Manhattan (Gramercy Park), New York 10010
Coordinates 40°44′29.6″N 73°59′11.6″W / 40.741556°N 73.986556°WCoordinates: 40°44′29.6″N 73°59′11.6″W / 40.741556°N 73.986556°W
Construction started 1928
Completed 1950
Height
Roof 137.5 m (451 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 30

The Metropolitan Life North Building, now known as Eleven Madison, is a 30-story art deco skyscraper on Madison Square Park in Manhattan, New York City, at 11-25 Madison Avenue. The building is bordered by East 24th Street, Madison Avenue, East 25th Street and Park Avenue South, and is connected by an elevated walkway to the Met Life Tower just south of it. The building replaced the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, which was designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White, and had been completed only 13 years before. As part of the Metropolitan Life Home Office Complex, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 19, 1996.[1]

History

The North Building and the Met Life Tower as seen from West 24th Street off of Fifth Avenue, with Madison Square Park in the foreground

The North Building was designed in the 1920s by Harvey Wiley Corbett and D. Everett Waid[2] as a 100-story skyscraper that would have been the tallest building in the world. However, due to the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and onset of the Great Depression, the construction was halted at floor 29 in 1933. There is some speculation as to whether Metropolitan Life really intended to finish the 100-story tower, but the existing building was obviously constructed to be strong enough to support it. However, there are no known plans to "finish" the building. The original plans were to include a New York City Subway station. The station is now located one block south on 23rd Street with an entrance through the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower at One Madison Avenue.

The building, which has 2,200,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of space,[2] was constructed in three stages,[2] and was finally completed in 1950. It is finished on the outside with Alabama limestone and marble detailing, and marble in the lobbies. The building features four vaulted corner entrances,[3] and its bulk is mitigated by numerous setbacks[2] and its polygonal shape.[3] The building contains 30 elevators, enough to serve the originally-planned 100 floors.

From 1994-1997, the building, which has served time as Met Life's records warehouse,[3] had its interior redesigned by Haines Lundberg Waehler and the exterior renovated, all at the cost of $300 million. It is now owned by the Sapir Organization and primarily occupied by Credit Suisse, with the Chef Daniel Humm and Will Guidara restaurant Eleven Madison Park occupying street-level retail space on Madison Avenue.[2]

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Mendelsohn, Joyce. Touring the Flatiron. New York: New York Landmarks Conservancy, 1998. ISBN 0-964-7061-2-1
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000). AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.). New York: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Alleman, Richard. The Movie Lover's Guide to New York. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. ISBN 0060960809 p.160

External links

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