New York Life Insurance Building (Kansas City)

Infobox Skyscraper
building_name =New York Life Building


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year_highest =
year_end =
plural =
location = 20 West Ninth,
Kansas City, Missouri
coordinates =
status = Completed
groundbreaking = 1888
constructed = 1890
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opening =
demolished =
destroyed =
use =Office
antenna_spire =
roof = convert|180|ft|m
(54.8 m)
top_floor =
floor_count = 12
elevator_count =
cost =
floor_area = convert|200000|sqft|m2
architect = McKim, Mead, and White
engineer =
contractor =
developer =
owner =
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Built in 1890, the New York Life Building was the first highrise building in Kansas City, Missouri and the first to have elevators. It was one of six buildings built by New York Life Insurance across the United States.

The Italianate Renaissance Revival style building features brick and brownstone exterior and an H-shaped footprint with 10-story high wings on either side of a 12-story tower. A monumental eagle tending eaglets in a nest is perched above the main entry. The work was sculpted by Louis St. Gaudens and contains more than two tons of cast bronze. The lobby has an Italian granite atrium floor.

The imposing structure marked a dramatic change in the Kansas City skyline where the tallest buildings previously had been three and four stories. [ [http://www.kchistory.org/cgi-bin/showfile.exe?CISOROOT=/Building_Pr&CISOPTR=12&filename=17.pdf New York Life Building - kchistory.org - Retrieved January 9, 2009] ]

The building's location on Quality Hill marked the first significant movement of the city south from its founding at River Market along the Missouri River.

The New York Life Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 8, 1970. [ [http://www.dnr.mo.gov/shpo/Jackson.htm Jackson County National Register Listings - dnr.mo.gov - Retrieved January 8, 2008] ] However, the building was abandoned in 1988.

In 1996, Utilcorp United conducted a $35 million restoration of the building adding state-of-the-art energy, communications, and environmental features. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00E7D6163FF935A35753C1A960958260 Kansas City Is Rediscovering Its Downtown Area - New York Times - October 6, 1996] ] Financing assistance came from the Kansas City Tax Increment Finance Commission, the Missouri Department of National Resources, and the National Park Service.

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