The Equitable Building is an office skyscraper located at 120 Broadway between Pine and Cedar streets in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City.

The building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column, namely a base, shaft, and capital.

Upon its completion, the Equitable Building was controversial because of its lack of setbacks, which in turn does not allow sunlight to reach the surrounding ground.

Federal Hall National Memorial is to the southeast and 14 Wall Street and the American Surety Building are to the south.

[25] This is because Graham wanted the building to have the latest technological systems, such as elevators, heating, ventilation, and fireproofing, while also maximizing usable office space.

[30] The window openings on the second, third, fifth, and sixth floors are separated by vertical mullions and horizontal spandrel panels made of green terracotta.

The facade between the 32nd and 35th floors is composed of a colonnade with terracotta pilasters between each column of windows, topped by ornamented capitals.

[19][23] A fact sheet published at the time of the Equitable Building's completion estimated that it had approximately 5,000 windows and 10,000 doors.

[34] At opening, half of the basement was occupied by the Cafe Savarin, a 1,000-seat eatery with three rooms fitted with bright blue tiled walls and floors.

[40][35] The club was highly frequented by notable financial figures and socialites in New York City, hosting politicians and leaders such as United Kingdom prime minister Winston Churchill, French president Charles de Gaulle, Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, and Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II.

[21] The power station originally burned oil, consuming 2.5 million barrels per year, but started using coal in 1934 due to a rise in fuel prices.

Horowitz, Andrews, and du Pont were said to have bought the lot in August 1912,[16][69] and finalized the sale that October for $13.5 million.

[7][70] Graham designed the structure as a bulky mass, wanting to maximize the amount of office space on the site rather than a corporate symbol.

[76] This plan also failed,[73] and blueprints were filed with the New York City Department of Buildings in December 1912, which called for a huge H-shaped edifice on the block.

The Equitable Building was the first private construction project in New York City where the mayor attended the cornerstone-laying ceremony.

[92] Other early lessees included tenants as diverse as General Electric,[93] the Federal Reserve Bank of New York,[94] the Fidelity Trust Company,[95] and American Smelting & Refining.

[33] Shortly after the official opening, du Pont bought the Equitable Life Assurance Company's controlling interest.

[109] In 1925, du Pont sold the Equitable Building for $38.5 million to the New York Empire Company,[110][111] a subsidiary of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

[112] The next year, the Brotherhood sold the building to a syndicate composed of William Henry Vanderbilt, Harry C. Cushing III, and Leroy W. Baldwin for $40 million.

Bankruptcy proceedings started in 1940, but were delayed due to World War II; three potential investors submitted dueling proposals in 1946.

[118][119] Lawrence Wien bought the lease for the land in 1956, though Webb and Knapp retained ownership of the building as well as its operating sublease.

[126] After buying the building, Larry Silverstein renovated and restored it at a cost of $30 million,[125] to a design by Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut & Whitelaw.

[154] Francisco Mujica stated in 1927 that "its intelligent interior arrangement and the central location of its 50 elevators" was the only appealing part of the Equitable Building.

[17] Sally A. Kitt Chappell wrote that the Equitable Building "was tall but without the redeeming slender, spirelike quality of a tower, and yet its height prevented it from having the urbanistic decorum of an office block".

[32] However, Chappell also wrote that the building had "mitigate[d] two of the major evils of which skyscrapers were accused, as its fireproofing and elevator service attest.

[156] Even during the cornerstone laying, Mayor Mitchel had alluded to the possibility that the Equitable Building might be the last bulky skyscraper to be erected in New York City.

[160] The Committee on Congestion of Population in New York,[d] as well as the Fifth Avenue Association, were among the groups that advocated for such legislation to limit building heights.

[154] Following the public criticism of the Equitable Building, the real estate industry finally ceased its objections to new legislation, and the 1916 Zoning Resolution was passed.

[160] The legislation limited the height and required setbacks for new buildings to allow the penetration of sunlight to street level.

New buildings were thus required to withdraw progressively at a defined angle from the street as they rose, in order to preserve sunlight and the open atmosphere in their surroundings.