Home Life Building
The Home Life Building, also known as 253 Broadway, is an office building in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is in Manhattan's Tribeca and Civic Center neighborhoods at the northwest corner of Broadway and Murray Street, adjacent to City Hall Park.
The Home Life Building is made of two adjacent structures at 251–257 Broadway, erected between 1892 and 1894 as separate buildings. The original 16-story Home Life Insurance Company Building at 256 Broadway was designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons in the Renaissance Revival style. The 13-story Postal Telegraph Building, immediately to the south at 253 Broadway, was designed by George Edward Harding & Gooch in the neoclassical style. The original Home Life Building is clad with marble, while the Postal Telegraph Building's facade consists of limestone at its base and brick on its upper stories. Ornamental details are used on both structures.
256 Broadway was erected for the Home Life Insurance Company, while 253 Broadway was erected for the Postal Telegraph Company. Both buildings were constructed simultaneously between 1892 and 1894. Although 256 Broadway was intended as a 12-story building, it was expanded to 16 stories mid-construction, making it one of the tallest buildings in the city when it was completed. After the Home Life Company bought 253 Broadway in 1947, the two buildings were joined internally to form a single structure, and became collectively known as the Home Life Building. The Home Life Company occupied the building until 1985. It was made a New York City designated landmark in 1991.
Architecture
The Home Life Building is in the Civic Center and Tribeca neighborhoods of Manhattan, just west of New York City Hall and City Hall Park. It is on the northwest corner of Broadway and Murray Street, south of the Rogers Peet Building. The Home Life Building is composed of two formerly separate structures: the Postal Telegraph Company Building on 253 Broadway, at the corner with Murray Street, and the original Home Life Insurance Company Building at 256 Broadway, immediately to the north. The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services administers most of the Home Life Building, with New York City government offices on the upper floors. A private owner controls the basements and ground level. The Home Life Building is one of the few remaining major insurance company "home office" structures in New York City.253 Broadway, also known as the Postal Telegraph Building or the Commercial Cable Building, was designed by George Edward Harding & Gooch in the neoclassical style. It is 13 stories high, although the top floor is labeled as the 14th due to the perception of thirteen being unlucky. There are also two basement levels. According to a contemporary news articles, it is tall.
256 Broadway, the original Home Life Building, was designed by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons in the Renaissance Revival style, with influences from both Italian Renaissance and French Renaissance designs. The leading architect was likely Pierre Lassus LeBrun. It is 16 stories tall, counting a dormer in its gable roof, and reaches tall above the curb, including its gable roof. There are also two basement levels. Although 256 Broadway did not break any height records, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city at the time of its completion, and one of fifteen office buildings in the city taller than in 1900.
Form
253 Broadway extends north along Broadway and west along Murray Street. It is shaped like an "L", extending west along Murray Street and then north to the Rogers Peet Building. The westernmost portion of the Murray Street arm extends north and is wide.256 Broadway extends along Broadway with a lot deep. 256 Broadway has light courts on the north and south, which were intended to illuminate the interior space. The light courts give the structure an "H" shape, with two rectangular sections connected by a corridor adjacent to the light courts. The deeper section of the "H" faces east toward Broadway, while the shallower section faces west. The westernmost part of 256 Broadway abuts the L-shaped forms of 253 Broadway and the Rogers Peet Building.
Facade
The facade of 253 Broadway is made of light stone on the first four stories, and of light-gray brick and terracotta on the remaining stories. The design of 253 Broadway emphasizes horizontal layering, with sill courses between each story, three intermediate cornices, and a large bronze cornice at the top. The lowest levels are recessed behind the main facade, while the loggia on the twelfth story is taller than on 256 Broadway.The facade of 256 Broadway is of Tuckahoe marble. The facade emphasizes its vertical components, with three-part arcades stacked on each other, as well as ornamental details concentrated at the base and top. 256 Broadway's facade is divided into three vertical sections: a three-story base, a nine-story shaft with two transitional stories, and a two-story capital with a steep pyramidal roof. The two interior light courts have a facade of brick.
253 Broadway
253 Broadway has eleven windows per floor on Murray Street and five windows per floor on Broadway. The Murray Street elevation contains four vertical ribs that divide the center nine windows into three bays with three windows each; the outermost columns of windows are treated as "towers" with one window per floor. On the Broadway elevation, the single-window-wide towers flank a central bay with three windows. The corner towers contain a window-and-rondel motif.The main entrance to 253 Broadway, on the eastern elevation, is wide and contains a doorway to the main lobby. In the original design, smaller doors flanked either side of the main lobby; the left door led to the ground floor space while the right door led to the second floor. The main entrance is under a slightly projecting rectangular vestibule that extends to the third story and is supported by two pillars. The entrance was originally capped by bas-reliefs representing light and electricity. A side entrance for Postal Telegraph employees was also provided on Murray Street in the original design. The side entrances on Broadway were removed in a 1937–1938 renovation, as were the small storefronts under the loggia on either side of the entrance. The storefront on the left, at the Murray Street corner, was restored between 1990 and 1991. The 2nd and 3rd stories on Broadway are clad with glass bricks and recessed within a loggia supported by four columns.
Above the 6th through 11th floors, there are terracotta courses with alternating classical motifs. The courses above the even-numbered floors contain floral forms, while those above the odd-numbered floors contain rinceau friezes. A loggia extends across the 12th story on Broadway, with Ionic-style capitals atop the loggia's square columns, as well as Doric-style antae. The 13th story contains balconies between the corner bays, facing both Murray Street and Broadway. There is a small copper cornice above the 12th story, and a larger copper cornice above the 13th story.
256 Broadway
The facade of 256 Broadway is five bays wide at ground level. The ground floor contains a rusticated arcade topped by an entablature, except in the center bay, which has a balustrade. The northernmost bay of the ground floor contains a window within what was formerly the main entrance, while the southernmost bay is a freight entrance; these doorways have columns flanking either side as well as metal plaques above them. At ground level, the center bay projects slightly and has a glass door. On the 2nd floor, there is another arcade with elaborate columns. The three center bays on the 2nd story have large arched openings, with mullions supporting an entablature below the top of the arch, while the two outer bays contain smaller arches underneath the entablature as well as circular windows above it. There are elaborate reliefs on the second-story arcade.The 3rd floor of 256 Broadway is consistent with the 4th floor of 253 Broadway. The center bay of the 3rd floor contains an aedicule with two windows, topped by a pediment and flanked by pilasters. The other windows on the 3rd floor are single arched windows. A sill course separates the 3rd and 4th floors, except at the center bay, which is interrupted by the pediment. The 4th through 12th stories have seven windows on each story: five in the center and one on either of the outer bays. The windows of these stories are rectangular, except on the 4th floor where they are arched. The 5th and 13th stories have marble balconies supported by brackets and decorated with classical motifs. Ornamental shells are located above the tops of the center windows on the 12th floor. Band courses separate each of the shaft floors, and there are bracketed sills underneath the windows of each floor, the center sills being continuous with each other.
The windows on the 13th through 15th stories are arched. The five center windows on the 14th story are recessed behind a colonnade with a balustrade, creating a loggia, although the two outer windows have their own slightly-projecting balconies. The 15th and 16th floors are situated within a steep copper-bronze pyramidal roof, and contain dormers. The 15th floor has a colonnade for the five center windows and dormers for the two outermost windows. The 16th floor consists of one aedicule with two windows, similar to on the 3rd floor. Copper dormers with round pediments project from the north and south sides of the roof on the 15th floor. The pinnacle is constructed of tie and angle iron.
Features
Structural features
253 Broadway uses a metal skeletal frame for its superstructure. The frame includes cast iron columns and steel beams and girders. The front and rear walls of 253 Broadway were load-bearing walls below the 6th floor and carried by girders above that story. 253 Broadway's floors are built upon steel beams infilled with flat terracotta arches and covered with cement. 253 Broadway's structural beams were laid out so that the floors could carry a total live and dead load of. All of the interior partitions were made of terracotta or fireproof blocks. The main corridors in 253 Broadway were wainscoted with marble, and mosaic floor tile was used in the halls and other areas.256 Broadway uses a skeletal frame made almost entirely of wrought steel, with self-supporting outer walls made of marble. Terracotta and brick was used to enclose the interior steel frame. The curtain walls ranged in thickness from in the two basement levels to on the upper stories. The foundations of 256 Broadway were excavated to a depth of. There are structural columns in the center of 256 Broadway's lot as well as on the edges. 256 Broadway's structural beams were laid out so that the floors could carry a total live and dead load of. The interiors used wooden floors, and as built, the stairs and elevator screens were of cast iron, wrought iron, and marble. "Costly marbles" were used to decorate the lower floors' corridors.