New York Life Building

The New York Life Insurance Building, New York, located at 51 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, across from Madison Square Park, is the headquarters of the New York Life Insurance Company.HistoryDesigned in 1926 by Cass Gilbert, who also designed the landmark Woolworth Building, the massive building, which was inspired by Salisbury Cathedral, rises forty stories to its pyramidal gilded roof and occupies the full block between 26th and 27th Streets, Madison Avenue and Park Avenue South, a rarity in Manhattan. The building stands 615ft tall and contains 40 floors. It was the last significant Gilbert skyscraper in Manhattan.From 1837 - 1889, the site was occupied by the Union Depot of the New York and Harlem and the New York and New Haven Railroads, a concert garden, and P.T. Barnums Hippodrome. Until 1925, the site housed the first two Madison Square Gardens, the second one designed by architect Stanford White.