Kansas City – KC Life Insurance Co.
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Kansas City – KC Life Insurance Co.
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Kansas City – KC Life Insurance Co.
Kansas City – KC Life Insurance Co.
Image by sombraala
Kansas City – KC Life Insurance Co.
NYC: Met Life Tower and General William Jenkins Worth Monument
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Honoring General William Jenkins Worth (1794-1849), and dating to 1857, this site is the second oldest major monument in the parks of New York City.
Worth was born on March 1, 1794 in the hamlet of Hudson, New York. His parents were Quakers, and his father, Thomas, was a seaman and "one of the original proprietors of Hudson." After a common school education Worth worked briefly at a store in Hudson before moving to Albany to pursue a mercantile career. With the outbreak of the War of 1812 he enlisted in the army and was appointed first lieutenant, 23d Infantry on March 19, 1813.
During the war he was an aide-de-camp to General Winfield Scott and at the battle of Lundys Lane was wounded so severely that he almost died. He was made a captain for his valor at Chippewa, and awarded the rank of major for his deeds at Niagara. After the war, though not a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Worth served as its fourth commandant of cadets at West Point.
For ten years of military service Worth was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1824 and became colonel of the Eighth Infantry in 1838, during the Seminole Wars. For his gallantry in these military engagements he was appointed brigadier-general by President James Knox Polk (1795-1849). Though a victorious commander in Florida, Worth urged that the Seminoles be allowed to live in peace, and maintain certain territorial rights.
Worth was also active in the Mexican-American War (1846-48), taking.part in all of the engagements from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. He was given his highest rank–major-general–in 1846, and assumed the governorship of Puebla. Following the war Worth commanded the armys Department of Texas and while there died of cholera on May 17, 1849.
Throughout his life Worth was a respected military tactician, and his writings have been required reading for generations of cadets at West Point. The recipient of a Congressional Sword of Honor, the frontier post he manned became the metropolis of Fort Worth, Texas. Lake Worth, Florida, and Worth Street in Manhattan are also named in his honor. After Worths death, his body was temporarily interred at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, before being buried on Evacuation Day, November 25, 1857, at the monuments location at the intersection of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 25th Street. The burial followed an elaborate processional, which included 6,500 soldiers. A relic box was placed in the cornerstone, and Mayor Fernando Wood delivered the principal oration.
The Worth Monument was designed by James Goodwin Batterson, who founded Travelers Insurance Company, and was also involved in the design and construction of the United States Capitol and Library of Congress in Washington, D. C., as well as the New York State Capitol in Albany. The monument consists of a central, 51 foot-high obelisk of Quincy granite with decorative bands inscribed with battle sites significant in Worths career. On the front is attached a bronze equestrian relief of Worth, a decorative shield and ornament. On the back is a large bronze dedicatory plaque. Four corner granite piers (which once held decorative lampposts) support an elaborate ornamental cast-iron fence whose pickets are replicas of Worths Congressional Sword of Honor and which has an oak swag motif. The north side fence was removed around 1940 to accommodate an above ground utility shed which services the water supply system pipes beneath the monument.
In 1941 the City restored the monument. In 1995, the monument again underwent an extensive restoration funded mainly by the Paul & Klara Porzelt Foundation and U.S. Navy Commander (Ret.) James A. Woodruff Jr, Worths great-great grandson. He and his family have endowed the maintenance of the monument and surrounding planting bed, through the Municipal Art Societys Adopt-A-Monument Program.
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The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (also Met Life Tower) at One Madison Avenue, New York City was the world’s tallest building from 1909 to 1913, when it was surpassed by the Woolworth Building. As its address suggests, it is located at the southern end of Madison Avenue, directly across the street from Madison Square Park.
The tower is a later addition to the original 11-story, full-block office building (the "East Wing") that was completed in 1893. The Campanile in Venice, Italy served as an inspiration when the building was commissioned by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1907 and served as world headquarters of the company until 2005. Napoleon LeBrun & Sons designed the 700 feet (213 m) tower with 52 floors, more than twice the height of its old world counterpart, and completed the building by 1909 with help from the Hedden Construction Company. The completion of the Woolworth Building in 1913 ended the Met Life Tower’s reign as the tallest building in the world.
There are 4 clocks, one on each side of the tower. Each clock is 26.5 feet (8 m) in diameter with each number being 4 feet (1.2 m) tall. The minute hands each weigh half a ton. The original tower was sheathed in Tuckahoe marble but during the 1964 renovation plain limestone was used to cover the tower and the East Wing, replacing the old Renaissance revival details with a streamlined, modern look. Much of the building’s original ornamentation was removed.
A three-year exterior restoration project, which saw much of the building covered in scaffolding, ended in 2002 (click here for a picture during restoration) and added a new, computerized, multicolored nighttime lighting system much like that of the Empire State Building; the colors change to denote particular holidays or important events. The gilded cupola at the very top of the building serves as an "eternal light" which stays illuminated even after the rest of the lighting system has been turned off for the night.
In March of 2005, SL Green Realty Trust bought the tower in anticipation of converting it into apartments. The base would remain an office component, although its air rights could be bought to allow for the construction of another apartment building nearby.
Metropolitan Life Home Office Complex National Register #95001544
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company National Register #78001874
