Met Life Tower
New York, USA

HEIGHT: 213m/699 feet
FLOORS: 50 floors
COMPLETION: 1909
ARCHITECT: Napoleon LeBrun & Sons

The Facts

This building has landmark status.

The building is graced with an enormous clock on each of its four sides.

World's tallest building from 1909 - 1913; surpassed by the Woolworth Building.

World headquarters of Met Life Insurance Company

The Pictures

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3180/24042004_0611Image0090.JPG

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3180/24042004_0611Image0092.JPG

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/met1.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/met.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/met2.jpg

http://img51.photobucket.com/albums/v156/AtlanticaC5/met3.jpg

http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rotpics02/metlifeold01.jpeg

1909?Almost 100 years... Amazing.

9.5/10

What a beauty!And for it's age it's even more impressive.
9.5/10

9/10

This is such a jewel! Inspired by Venice no doubt.

9.5/10...This building is a masterpiece. It's old but looks fairly new. It looks STUNNING at night, especially during the Christmas season with it's red and green colors. The clock is unique and useful, the top is one of the best as is the crown.

BTW- 600th post!

9/10

it's a classic indeed.. it has passed the wars and changes of the 20th century, but i'm not very fond of the design. 7.5/10

beautiful.....700ft./213m in 1909!.....incredible...9.5/10

Darn it..I hate it when this happens. i thought you were talking about the park avenue buildng so I rated it a 3. I would truly rate this building a great 10. I love it!

<table cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width=98% class="quoteBox">
<td align=left valign=center> <smallfont> <b>Quote</B> <I>originally posted by TmanNYC </i></b> </smallfont> </td>
<tr><td align=left valign=top>Darn it..I hate it when this happens. i thought you were talking about the park avenue buildng so I rated it a 3. I would truly rate this building a great 10. I love it!</td></tr>
</table>

That sucks, sorry for the confusion. It was just too long of a name to write Metropolitan Life Insurance Tower, and besides it is called the Metlife Tower.

The Park Avenue formerly known as the PanAm is called the Metlife Building.

The top is great! The lighting isn't bad iether. 9.0/10

Hmmm...almost like a combonation of the Smith Tower in Seattle and the PNC Tower in Cincinnati. A classic, 9.5/10.

A very beautiful skyscraper, 9/10

9/10 beautifull classic scraper. Lovely!

timeless design, 9.5

Beautiful ! 9/10 ! :okay:

respect the eldery

6.5

My pics.
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3057/2251nyc101.jpg
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3057/2251nyc098.jpg
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/photopost/data/3057/2251nyc094.jpg

9.0

sweet at night....7

an oldie with tons of charm

Very nice proportions. But the roof is too plain(comparing with the lower levels).
8/10

8/10

cant give it a good vote, only coz its old. actually it looks like an ugly church. 4/10

Respect. :)

6.5/10

this is how a tower needs to be

10/10!

Kudos for being so tall, so early, but like Il Fenomeno says, it kind of looks like a church, and not a truly amazing one at that, the colour of the building looks pretty plain, and so are the walls by the looks of it.

6

10/10 I like that clock:)

Beautiful tower
10/10

Too bad met life north building wasn't realised :( 9.5/10

9/10
I like the top of the tower, and the clock - they combine to make this building look like an over sized church tower (but in a good way). It is also a massive building to have been built before the 1st world war, and it deserves marks for being once the world's tallest building.
:)

Typical american idea of 'classic'.....it's just eclectic kitsch, bordering on the ridiculous.

3/10

It's really nice. 9/10

8.5 :)

7.5

9/10


Great classic

9/10. Very interesting classic!

8/10 I hate the top.

This was modelled after the one in Venice - can't remember the name at the moment. Anyway I give this a 9.5.

exelent architecture 9/10

the roof and clock are classic, but the rest of the building is rather dull for a neo-classical skyscraper.

if they'd never ripped off the decors off this building, i would've gave it a better score. u know, they should reinstall some of those original decors to make it look more historical.

8.5

Always looks like 100m to me.

"Typical american idea of 'classic'.....it's just eclectic kitsch, bordering on the ridiculous."

Sorry they didn't immediately start running them up big stained boxes of blown- concrete, Rotterdam-style, the way you evidently prefer them.

I see nothing ridiculous about this building, which is well-proportioned, beautifully sited in realtionship to the small park it adjoins and is marvelously lit at night.

If you don't like historic skyscrapers, fine, but spare us your tepid taste and middle-class Scandinavian snootiness.

I like the gold-coloured top, and some of the details. The colour of the building is rather plain. Incredible height for a building built less than 10 years after the start of the 20th century. 7.5/10

6/10. I Don't Like It

Great! 9.

sorry, thought this was the old pan-am building so i gave it 3. now i realise i got the wrong building....and this is completely at the other end of the scale!

reminds me of the campanile in venice.

9!

It is ugly and plain...3...I would have liked it better if it WAS the Pan Am one =)

I expected another building..........
7.5

9/10

An absolute classic. This building oozes character.

9.5

I quite like it!! 8/10

6/10

wow!! love this building. it has cool lighting too;)

9/10

Very nice, 8/10

Fantastic!!! I really love it!!! 10/10.

Too thin, but at that age I give it a 7/10

Is it possible to say something bad about this tower? I give it a 10/10. :applause:

A grandaddy of a scraper 10/10

This tower is beautiful! One of the best old skyscrappers! Love the clock, looks absolutely amazing at night!
10/10

9/10

A classic of skyscraper's history.

9/10

The FIRST Skyscraper :bow:
9/10

7/10

7/10

Its a nice building but I really don't like concrete :D

Just because of its age it's an amazing tower, 9/10

9/10 Great building.

simply perfect 10/10

10/10

The oldest building in Top300 deserves no less than 10/10 :master:

classic

8,5/10

classical and original design . no bad 7/10

8/10

8,5/10

one of the older yet better scrapers...9/10

in 1909!!!!
10/10

8/10

9/10.

What a beauty! I vote 10!

It a piece of art, the night shots are magestic. 10/10

9.5/10

10/10 fantastic. To have something that is nearly 100 years old still look fresh and new and not dated at all, fantastic! Its got the looks, its got height, bonus for having 700ft in 1909. a 10!

a big 10 for sure. :)

8/10 200 m in 1909 - incredible

9/10

5/10

A rare construction photo of the Met Life taken on June 16th, 1908 - the Empire State Building would not have been built for 23 years.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Metropolitan_Life_Insurance_Company_Tower_being_built_in_New_York_City.jpg

a piece of N.Y. history 9/10.

9/10.

9/10 is fair for such a historic building !

8/10

8/10

9/10

10/10 as good as they come

7/10

still in good shape after almost 100 YEARS !!! 8/10

ok, 7/10

9.5/10

9/10

8/10, i like it

9/10

9.5 BEAUTIFUL, and built 97 years ago... when buildings this high weren't even in other countries dreams.

Great art deco. 8/10.

9.5 nice clock!

7/10 and only for the nice clock.

9/10

Superb color and texture. A classic beauty.

8/10

9/10

Beautiful.

8.5/10

Very elegant looking tower. Lighting at night is also very beautiful. One of my favorites;
8.5/10

elegant and "other" architecture 8,5

9/10

8.5/10

8/10.

One of the nicest landmarks of the city of spires New York once was.

8/10

10/10 amazing,a classic,I love it at night too

9. :)

8/10

8/10

8/10

Ugly... :down: 2/10

sorry...i'm not a fan of this...3,5/10

7/10

i love this building!

what a beauty!

6. so so

Stunning design, even more so for a 99-years old :-)
It's original (unique?), iconic and aged perfectly well too. Some great effort spent in the restoration and lighting is paying handsomely.
9/10.

3/10

beautifull 9/10

I don't understand why so many people hate this building! Do they think this thread is about the Met life building on 5th avenue or something? I strongly think this building is one of the best!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1082/1225801222_146337a29f_b.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/riacale/1225801222/

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/129424055_99941cb0d6_b.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/myoung/129424055/

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/171692041_b5266f0725_b.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/tassava/171692041/

Pretty!

8.5/10

10 :cheers:

8/10

7.5/10

respect 9/10

9. Very good building. Regards.

9/10

10/10 nice

8.5/10

9/10

10/10

9/10

9/10

9/10