W New York Union Square
- Architect
- Joseph W. Yost
- Year
- 1911
- Style
- Colonial Revival
- City
- Manhattan, NY
The W New York Union Square occupies the former Germania Life Insurance Company Building, a 21-story Beaux-Arts tower designed by Albert D'Oench and Joseph W. Yost and built in 1911 at the northeast corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street. Germania Life became Guardian Life Insurance in 1917, and the building carried its name until Guardian Life moved out in 1999, after which the W New York Union Square hotel opened the following year.
the building
Annex by SOM. A four-story annex to the east, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was completed in 1961 to expand the original insurance headquarters; it is not part of the current hotel.
the style
The main building was built in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style, though facts here also describe it as Georgian Revival, reflecting the ornamented, classically composed office architecture typical of early-20th-century corporate headquarters.
More on Colonial Revivalthe architect
Joseph W. Yost worked alongside Albert D'Oench on the 1911 design; the record here does not detail his broader body of work.
significance
The main building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 and was designated a New York City Landmark in 1988; the separate Guardian Life annex was designated a city landmark in 2007.
nearby
- Everett Building
- Century Building
- Samuel J. Tilden House
- Daryl Roth Theatre
- The Players Club
- Stuyvesant Apartments