Equitable Building NYC: Scandals, Murders, and Innovations

The Equitable Building is not as famous as the Chrysler, the Empire State, or even the Flatiron. But it has changed the city in countless ways – with as many superlatives, historical firsts, and tabloid headlines as a single structure can handle. (Well, two structures, but we’ll get to that.)

Completed in 1870 at 120 Broadway, the original tower is widely regarded as the world’s first office building with passenger elevators, and thousands of people have climbed to the roof for what the New York Sun called “the most exciting, wonderful and instructive vision you can have on our continent”. It was only seven stories tall, soon to be eight. The best floors were rented out to bankers and lawyers, making Equitable one of the first speculative office buildings; they ate at the Café Savarin, whose kitchens, bars, dining rooms and wine cellars were spread over all floors and which served no less than 20 preparations of potatoes. It was New York Time wrote: “a seaside resort of unparalleled magnificence in any quarter of the world.”

Photo: HATHITRUST / WIKIMEDIA

Made of granite, brick and iron, the Equitable was considered so indestructible that its owner, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, decided not to purchase fire insurance. On an unusually freezing January morning in 1912, a fire in the kitchen destroyed the building. Pride was only eclipsed by the sinking of the Titanic three months later.

1870s ➼ First building in the city with electric lighting.

1884 ➼ When a complex fraud collapses, a stenographer named William Scovil is revealed to have a dual identity, conspicuously working in an Equitable law firm while enjoying a reputation on Wall Street as a wealthy trader.

1905 ➼ The son of the founder of Equitable Life is drawing fire from gossip columnists for using corporate funds to finance his lavish lifestyle, including a Versailles-themed ball costing around $ 5 million in dollars. ‘today.

1916 ➼ First building to employ an elevator operator.

1920s ➼ A top G-man operates an undercover interdiction office outside of the Equitable.

The Fair in 1906. Ruins covered with icicles after the fire of 1912. Photo: Library of Congress (1906); Irving Underhill / The Library of Congress.

The Fair in 1906. Ruins covered with icicles after the fire of 1912. Photo: Library of Congress (1906); Irving Underhill / The Library of Congress.

Edouard Laperruque, chef of Café Savarin, in 1903. A soldier of the 88th Infantry Division surveyed New York from the roof in 1918. Photo: Ullstein Bild via Getty Images; FPG / Hulton Archive / Getty Image.

Edouard Laperruque, chef of Café Savarin, in 1903. A soldier of the 88th Infantry Division surveyed New York from the roof in 1918. Photo: Ullstein Bil … After
Edouard Laperruque, chef of Café Savarin, in 1903. A soldier of the 88th Infantry Division surveyed New York from the roof in 1918. Photo: Ullstein Bild via Getty Images; FPG / Hulton Archive / Getty Image.

1929 ➼ At Café Savarin, a waiter beats the stock market crash with stock advice passed to him at the lunch counter by his financial regulars, but a less fortunate brokerage clerk jumps out of the building when he dies. The following year, a man collapsed on the roof of a truck, killing himself and the driver.

1942 ➼ An artillery shell crashes on a ledge between the 37th and 38th floors, the result of an anti-aircraft misfire on the East River.

1952 ➼ A thief on the 32nd floor dodges a guard’s bullet before escaping with 50 cops chasing him.

1958 ➼ A cleaning lady from Mitsubishi International Corporation throws 12 vials of radioactive isotopes in the trash.

1976 ➼ Stocks worth $ 168,000 disappear from Smith Barney – and resurface about 18 months later in a scheme orchestrated by the Colombo criminal family.

1979 ➼ Man is shot in the chest during an armed robbery at a Barclays branch in a citywide outbreak.