New York Life Insurance Building, Chicago
- Architect
- William Le Baron Jenney
- Year
- 1894
- Style
- Chicago School
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- the chicago school
The New York Life Insurance Building at 39 South LaSalle Street was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and completed in 1894 as a 12-story structure for $800,000, roughly $29.8 million in 2025 dollars. Jenney kept expanding his own building over the next decade: a 92-foot eastward addition in 1898 stretched the Monroe Street facade to 233 feet and added 13 floors, and a fourteenth floor followed in 1903, bringing the tower to its present height.
the building
Built in three stages. The original 12-story building grew through Jenney's own 1898 addition, which extended the Monroe Street facade to 233 feet, added a new Monroe Street entrance, and enlarged the lobby, followed by a 1903 fourteenth floor.
The lobby. The lobby still carries Georgia gray marble cladding and a mosaic tile floor, with deco light fixtures that appear to date from the 1920s.
the style
The building is faced in brick and terra cotta trim in a classical idiom; a cornice and parapet that originally encircled the top were removed to accommodate Jenney's later additions.
More on Chicago Schoolsignificance
The building received preliminary Chicago landmark status in 2002. By 2006, Preservation Chicago considered it one of the city's most threatened buildings, after a company submitted an application that year.
nearby
- 19 South LaSalle Street
- Roanoke Building and Tower
- Central YMCA Headquarters
- Chicago Loop Synagogue
- Chicago Stock Exchange Building
- One North LaSalle Building