The Equitable Life Assurance Building was the headquarters of the The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Construction was completed on May 1, 1870 at 120 Broadway in New York City and under the leadership of Henry Baldwin Hyde was the first office building to feature passenger elevators. At a then-record 130 feet (40 m), it is considered by some the world's first skyscraper. The architects were Arthur Gilman and Edward H. Kendall, with George B.