The Equitable Life Building was made of brick, granite, and iron, and was originally built with seven above-ground stories and two basement levels, with a height of at least 130 feet (40 m).

[3][4] The Equitable Life Building was made of brick, granite, and iron, and was originally built with seven above-ground stories and two basement levels.

[8] Architect Robert A. M. Stern wrote that was likely the actual height based on a "convincing analysis" by architectural writer Lee Edward Gray.

[13] When the building was renovated in the late 1880s, the lobby was expanded to stretch the entire block from Broadway to Nassau Street.

The enlarged lobby was composed of a 44-foot-wide (13 m), 100-foot-long (30 m) arcade lined with convenience shops, post office boxes, a restaurant, and a barber.

The arcade also included a barrel-vaulted ceiling with skylights, as well as a mosaic by the Herter Brothers; one critic described the arcade as a "marvel of the architect's and builder's art", in that respect superseding the nearby 280 Broadway, a grand Italianate department-store building nearby.

[22] Hyde had been advised against constructing elevators; at the time, prestigious firms did not rent offices above the second floor, since that entailed climbing more flights of stairs, exhausting the workers.

[7] While touted as fireproof,[3] the Equitable Life Building still contained combustible components and non-fireproof materials.

[25] In the 1887 annex, the floors were of hollow burnt-clay flat arches set between iron beams, and the partitions were made of burnt clay blocks.

[22] The sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward was hired to produce Protection, a group of statues for the facade of the Equitable Life Building.

[27] This sculptural group was carved in Italy and was unveiled when Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia traveled to the United States in 1871.

[38] Further, many firms in the Financial District were building to the north of Wall Street, the traditional center of commerce in the neighborhood.

[38] Hyde was a member of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, which helped contribute funding to get Equitable started.

[41] The company's success led Equitable's board to hold a meeting in December 1865, because the firm needed extra space and had already been subjected to two fires.

[12][2] Gambrill and Richardson's plan, which featured a large central clerking hall lit by skylights, prioritized the usage of the site.

By contrast, Hunt proposed three schemes in which a geometric clerking hall was illuminated by exterior walls.

While Post's plans no longer exist, his designs influenced the inclusion of the sculptural pediment and the facade pavilion.

[2][43][44] Their partnership had been strained at the time of the commission; an October 1869 New York Herald article called the Equitable Life Building Kendall's "first great work", implying that Gilman was no longer involved in the project.

[44] Post had redesigned the structural system for the office floors and had recommended the use of brick and terracotta above a granite base.

[11] Architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler wrote the elevators were included after Post and Hyde had insisted on them.

[6][16][45] The seven buildings on the site were demolished in mid-1868,[47] and construction on the lots at Broadway and Cedar Street began the same year.

[49] Equitable's operations increased further, so that by 1872 workers were cramped for space, leading the company to purchase property to the rear and create a law library.

[10] At the time, the Equitable Life Building occupied the entire block except for the corner lots on Nassau Street.

[17][4] The author R. Carlyle Buley stated that Equitable did not assume control of the entire block until 1906, when it bought the lots at 17 and 23–25 Nassau Street.

[57][58] The fire started in the basement at about 5:00 a.m. EST but quickly spread to the rest of the building, exacerbated by the open stairways and elevator shafts.

[61] There were several high-profile rescues, including that of William Giblin, president of major tenant Mercantile Safe Deposit Company, who had been trapped in a vault.

[59] Smoke continued to billow from the site two days later, and two of the outer structural walls remained standing after the blaze.

[64] Damage was estimated at $2 million, but the structure was considered "no asset"—it was worthless because of the high demand for vacant land in the Financial District.

[67] Du Pont developed the present Equitable Building, designed by Ernest R. Graham & Associates, on the same plot between 1913 and 1915.

[69][33] Architectural historians Sarah Bradford Landau and Carl W. Condit wrote that the Equitable Life Building was considered to be one of the first skyscrapers.