Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower

Completed in 1909 and inspired by Venice’s St. Mark’s Campanile, the Metropolitan Life Tower (Met Life Tower) at Madison Avenue and 23rd Street was the world’s tallest building until 1913. The 700-foot tower features large four-faced clocks with faces roughly 26 feet in diameter and a gilded cupola. Its slender, setback profile and campanile reference made it a prominent early-20th-century New York skyscraper and an enduring Midtown landmark.