Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis Former Guardian Life Annex finally landmarked The building known as the Guardian Life Annex, a sleek glass structure among 19th Century row houses on East 17th Street, east of Park Avenue South, has been the subject of controversy ever since its inception in 1959. While nestled against a 20-story skyscraper, described by the AIA Guide to NYC as a "mansarded…Renaissance Revival marvel," which was until 1999 Guardian Life Insurance Company's Tower Building, anchoring Union Square’s northeast corner, the stark contrast of the glass-walled Annex to the area of low-facade buildings was successfully blunted by its four-story height and a tree line, melding with the red brick Anglo-Italianate residences across the street. The 1911 corner Tower Building, designed by D’Oench and Yost, was designated a NYC landmark in 1975, and now its offspring has finally acquired the same mark of distinction. In its November 18 2008 meeting, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has admitted the Annex to the ranks of New York's landmarks. The Annex, built to help the company consolidate its expanding offices, was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, (somewhat reflecting their Pepsi-Cola Building, 1960, Park & 59th Street), specifically by SOM’s partners, Robert F. Cutler, Roy O. Allen and Roger Radford. Whether SOM's star was Gordon Bunshaft of Lever House fame had anything to do with the Annex is moot; critic Paul Goldberger called its style Miesian (after Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, designer of the Seagram Building, 1958, across from Lever House). At the time neighborhood criticism of the anachronistic structure abounded; now time and local modern high-rises constructions have modified our attitudes, as evidenced in the documents presented at the hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission of April 10, 2007, held to consider an individual designation for the former Guardian Annex. Note that Guardian Life itself, expanding further, has since moved downtown to Hanover Place, and the Tower has morphed into a stylish W New York Union Square Hotel, while the Annex, after a short term as a dot.com known as March First, is now the headquarters of Zurich American Reinsurance. Talking about a landmarks designation elicits strong feelings among New Yorkers. Some of us consider landmarking, with its restrictions on changes, an encroachment on personal property rights. It is not an absolute standard, even the strictest constitutionalist will accept the designation of the Roman Forum as a landmark and reject turning New York into a sunless canyon of skyscrapers; it is the drawing of the line that presents the problem. Surprisingly, at the April 2007 public designation hearing the prevailing testimonials were in favor of landmarking the Annex building. Presumably the low zoning for the area, and the 17th Street /Irving Place Historic District designation had something to do with it; even the representative of the management of the property, Related Companies, had no objections. Strong support for the designation came from Union Square Community Coalition, with Jack Taylor relating how the organization has sought protection for the Guardian Life Annex since 1997, with the aid preservationist groups, public officials and many residents. Nordal McWethy, President of Gramercy Neighborhood Associates, and local architect Frank Nicoletti identified it as one of the finest examples of urban infill structure. In a similar vein, Maggie Hartnick of DOCOMOMO US (an international preservationist organization founded in the Netherlands in 1988) commented on its elegance. It was noted that the building represented really advanced concepts of the era. There were work-saving innovations for the then new computer era, anticipating needs of flexibility – liftable floor panels for easy electric installations, large open areas with movable partitions, with privacy provided by high acoustic ceilings with fluorescent lighting, novelties that today we take for granted. Given this quality of support, one expected that the designation would proceed without fail. Actually it took 20 months. The designation document reflects the thorough research and analysis by Matthew Postal of the Commission. The Guardian Life Annex building cornerstone ceremony for the Annex building, on July 20, 1960, with Mayor Robert F. Wagner as the guest speaker, The thought was offered that Guardian Life, founded by liberal German refugees, represented the spirit of Union Square. Yet within the next decades the mutual life insurer (i.e. there are no stockholders drawing dividends; insurance gains are distributed to policyholders), having entered the group insurance and employee benefit coverage fields for small and midsize companies, experienced a tenfold increase in staff and had built satellite home offices in Bethlehem, PA, Appleton WI and Spokane WA. By 1992 the assets had grown to $8B and the New York staff to 1,255, and expansion was in the winds. Space in White Plains and New Rochelle was offered and rejected, and in 1999 Guardian Life returned to the Wall Street area where it was founded in 1860, at 7 Hanover Square (by Norman Jaffe, 1983). Today the mutual company’s assets under management have grown to the over $30B range, and it has announced an unprecedented (for this economic climate) 2009 dividend increase to its policyholders. col 1/15/09 inged@ix.netcom.com Tuesday, January 13, 2009 11:42AM From: To: Town and Village Show Details Cc: wally dobelis Bcc: Sent by: inged@ix.netcom.com Error Warning Info Detail Select Clear Close New Reply Reply To All Forward Mark As More Show New Reply Reply To All Forward Show Show Console Day-At-A-Glance Help