{"nrhp_refnum":"78001876","name":"New York Life Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"51 Madison Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.742755085000056,"lon":-73.98558665390084,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-06-02","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1978-06-02","areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 34-story steel-framed, granite-and-limestone office tower at 51 Madison Avenue in Manhattan, completed in 1928 as the home office of the New York Life Insurance Company. It was designed by Cass Gilbert and built by Starrett Brothers, Inc.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building represents the large, well-structured organization of New York Life, which was among the industry's \"Big Three\" from the mid-1880s and led the industry around the turn of the century. It also credits the company with innovations such as paid-up insurance after two premiums, the branch office system, and a numerical rating system for substandard lives. The building is presented as an excellently maintained example of Cass Gilbert's work.","narrative":"Rising 34 stories on the site of the old Madison Square Garden, this granite-and-limestone tower at 51 Madison Avenue has served as the home office of the New York Life Insurance Company since 1928. Cass Gilbert designed it, Starrett Brothers erected it, and Gunvald Aus Company engineered the steel frame. It covers an entire block, steps back in stages, and ends in a 100-foot-square tower with a golden pyramidal roof and lantern, reaching 617 feet. Inside, a ground-floor arcade links Madison and Fourth Avenues, and the old oak-paneled boardroom from the company's earlier Broadway headquarters was reinstalled here. The building is tied to a company that ranked among the industry's leading firms from the 1880s onward and introduced practices such as paid-up insurance after two premiums, the branch office system, and a published financial report for policyholders. The nomination presents the building as the best surviving expression of the company's organization and of Gilbert's work.","period_of_significance":"Building: 1928 to present; firm: 1845 to present","architect_builder":"Cass Gilbert (architect); Starrett Bros., Inc. (builder)","architectural_style":"Described by company historian Abbott as \"American Perpendicular, clothed in Gothic\"","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in excellent condition; New York Life remains headquartered there and rents the remaining space to shops, banks and offices. Interiors above the ground floor have been altered, but the ground-floor arcade and exterior facades remain unchanged.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.928726-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001876_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001876/f4c6266a52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001876/f4c6266a52-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Dmadeo","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ny-life-bldg.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Dmadeo</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ny-life-bldg.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315906","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Life_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1499859"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/new-york-life-building-78001876/"}