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Buildings and Structures

Equitable Building

Commercial and Office Buildings

The Equitable Building is an office tower at 120 Broadway in lower Manhattan, designed by the architect Ernest R. Graham and completed in 1915 on the site of an earlier Equitable Life Assurance Society building lost to fire. Rising 38 stories straight up from its lot line with no setbacks, its massive bulk cast a shadow over several surrounding blocks and blocked light and air from neighboring buildings, a complaint that became a central argument for regulating building form. The public reaction to the building is widely credited as a direct cause of New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, the first comprehensive zoning law in the United States, which required new tall buildings to step back as they rose in order to preserve light at street level.

Facts
Building Type
Office skyscraper 1
Location
120 Broadway, Financial District, Lower Manhattan, New York City 1
Completed Year
1915 1
Height (m)
169 1
Classification
Standing Status
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)
Skyscraper 1
Connections

Has Building Type

The Skyscraper, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.

In Style

Neoclassical Architecture, Styles and Movements
Source Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia

Uses Element

Brick, Architectural Materials
Source Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia
Granite, Architectural Materials
Source Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia
Marble, Architectural Materials
Source Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia
Terracotta, Architectural Materials
Source Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Equitable Building (Manhattan), Wikipedia
  • Lead
    office skyscraper
  • Lead, location
    120 Broadway, between Pine and Cedar streets, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan, in New York City
  • Lead, completion
    The Equitable Building was completed on May 1, 1915
  • Lead, height
    It is 555 feet (169 m) tall
  • Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
    The Equitable Building is an office tower at 120 Broadway in lower Manhattan, designed by the architect Ernest R. Graham and completed in 1915 on the site of an earlier Equitable Life Assurance Society building lost to fire. Rising 38 stories straight up from its lot line with no setbacks, its massive bulk cast a shadow over several surrounding blocks and blocked light and air from neighboring buildings, a complaint that became a central argument for regulating building form. The public reaction to the building is widely credited as a direct cause of New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, the first comprehensive zoning law in the United States, which required new tall buildings to step back as they rose in order to preserve light at street level.
  • In Style: Neoclassical Architecture, Infobox, architecture
    architecture: Neoclassical
  • Uses Element: Brick, Wikipedia article
    === Facade === The building's facade is made of brick, granite, and terracotta, and white Yule Marble and iron are also used in the building.
  • Uses Element: Granite, Wikipedia article
    === Facade === The building's facade is made of brick, granite, and terracotta, and white Yule Marble and iron are also used in the building.
  • Uses Element: Terracotta, Wikipedia article
    === Facade === The building's facade is made of brick, granite, and terracotta, and white Yule Marble and iron are also used in the building.
  • Uses Element: Marble, Wikipedia article
    === Facade === The building's facade is made of brick, granite, and terracotta, and white Yule Marble and iron are also used in the building.
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