Mutual of New York Building
Encyclopedia
1740 Broadway is a 26-story
building
in Midtown Manhattan
in New York City
which is owned by Vornado Realty Trust
. Located on the east
side of Broadway
between 55th
and 56th Streets, it shares a trapezoid
-shaped city block
with the Park Central Hotel
.
at the top of its facade
which advertised
for Mutual of New York, the structure's original owner. The first version spelled out the entire name, with the first letter of each of the words in it (MONY) being red
neon lighting
which was twice the size of the rest. It was in this form that the sign served as both the inspiration for Tommy James and the Shondells' 1968 hit single
"Mony Mony
" and as a motif
in Midnight Cowboy
. The subsequent version was the corporate
logo
, which was the insurance company
's acronym
with a dollar sign
inside the "O."
The MONY sign was removed by Vornado in December 2007, and replaced with "1740" to reflect its street address
. The numeral
s, 8½ feet (2.59 meters) tall and in Futura
typeface
, are illuminated at night
by white
light-emitting diode
s.
is the Weather Star
, a 150 feet (45.7 m) tower
of lights topped with a star which was built by Artkraft Strauss
. The star was green
if the following day
's weather forecast
was fair
, orange
for cloudy, flashing orange for rain
and flashing white for snow
. The direction the lights on the tower moved depended on whether the temperatures were expected to rise or fall; absence of movement meant no change. The Weather Star is still operable, but it's no longer used for meteorological forecasting purposes. At the base of the tower is a four-sided electronic digital board that has always displayed the current time and temperature.
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York built the structure in 1950 for its corporate headquarters. The architect Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
also designed the Empire State Building
. It left the building after being acquired by AXA
. Mutual Insurance had been renamed MONY Life Insurance Company in 1998. The building was completely renovated in 2007.
Storey
A storey or story is any level part of a building that could be used by people...
building
Building
In architecture, construction, engineering, real estate development and technology the word building may refer to one of the following:...
in Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan
Midtown Manhattan, or simply Midtown, is an area of Manhattan, New York City home to world-famous commercial zones such as Rockefeller Center, Broadway, and Times Square...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
which is owned by Vornado Realty Trust
Vornado Realty Trust
Vornado Realty Trust is a New York based real estate investment trust. It is the inheritor of real estate formerly controlled by companies including Two Guys and Alexander's.- History :...
. Located on the east
East
East is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.East is one of the four cardinal directions or compass points. It is the opposite of west and is perpendicular to north and south.By convention, the right side of a map is east....
side of Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
between 55th
55th Street (Manhattan)
55th Street is a two-mile-long, one-way street traveling east to west across Midtown Manhattan.-Sutton Place South:*The route officially begins at Sutton Place South which is on a hill overlooking FDR Drive....
and 56th Streets, it shares a trapezoid
Trapezoid
In Euclidean geometry, a convex quadrilateral with one pair of parallel sides is referred to as a trapezoid in American English and as a trapezium in English outside North America. A trapezoid with vertices ABCD is denoted...
-shaped city block
City block
A city block, urban block or simply block is a central element of urban planning and urban design. A city block is the smallest area that is surrounded by streets. City blocks are the space for buildings within the street pattern of a city, they form the basic unit of a city's urban fabric...
with the Park Central Hotel
Park Central Hotel
The Park Central Hotel is a 31-story, 935-room hotel located at 870 7th Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York.Built in the pre-Depression late-twenties, its grand opening took place on June 12, 1927...
.
Signage on the facade
Its most famous attribute was once a signSign
A sign is something that implies a connection between itself and its object. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm. A conventional sign signifies by agreement, as a full stop signifies the end of a sentence...
at the top of its facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
which advertised
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for Mutual of New York, the structure's original owner. The first version spelled out the entire name, with the first letter of each of the words in it (MONY) being red
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
neon lighting
Neon lighting
Neon lighting is created by brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain rarefied neon or other gases. Georges Claude, a French engineer and inventor, presented neon tube lighting in essentially its modern form at the Paris Motor Show from December 3–18, 1910...
which was twice the size of the rest. It was in this form that the sign served as both the inspiration for Tommy James and the Shondells' 1968 hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
"Mony Mony
Mony Mony
"Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by Tommy James & the Shondells, that reached #1 in the UK charts.-History:"Mony Mony" was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Ritchie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom. The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James' view of a MONY sign atop the Mutual of New York...
" and as a motif
Motif (narrative)
In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....
in Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
. The subsequent version was the corporate
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
, which was the insurance company
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
's acronym
Acronym and initialism
Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial components in a phrase or a word. These components may be individual letters or parts of words . There is no universal agreement on the precise definition of the various terms , nor on written usage...
with a dollar sign
Dollar sign
The dollar or peso sign is a symbol primarily used to indicate the various peso and dollar units of currency around the world.- Origin :...
inside the "O."
The MONY sign was removed by Vornado in December 2007, and replaced with "1740" to reflect its street address
Address (geography)
An address is a collection of information, presented in a mostly fixed format, used for describing the location of a building, apartment, or other structure or a plot of land, generally using political boundaries and street names as references, along with other identifiers such as house or...
. The numeral
Numeral
The term numeral can refer to:* Symbols for numbers used in mathematics.* Numeral , the basic words combined in a language represent numbers* Numerical digit, the glyphs used to represent numerals...
s, 8½ feet (2.59 meters) tall and in Futura
Futura (typeface)
In typography, Futura is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed in 1927 by Paul Renner. It is based on geometric shapes that became representative visual elements of the Bauhaus design style of 1919–1933...
typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
, are illuminated at night
Night
Night or nighttime is the period of time when the sun is below the horizon. This occurs after dusk. The opposite of night is day...
by white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
light-emitting diode
Light-emitting diode
A light-emitting diode is a semiconductor light source. LEDs are used as indicator lamps in many devices and are increasingly used for other lighting...
s.
The Weather Star
Perched on the roofRoof
A roof is the covering on the uppermost part of a building. A roof protects the building and its contents from the effects of weather. Structures that require roofs range from a letter box to a cathedral or stadium, dwellings being the most numerous....
is the Weather Star
Weather beacon
A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember....
, a 150 feet (45.7 m) tower
Tower
A tower is a tall structure, usually taller than it is wide, often by a significant margin. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires....
of lights topped with a star which was built by Artkraft Strauss
Artkraft Strauss
Throughout the twentieth century, Artkraft Strauss, located in Manhattan, New York, was the preeminent designer and creator of Times Square's iconic signs and displays...
. The star was green
Green
Green is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 520–570 nanometres. In the subtractive color system, it is not a primary color, but is created out of a mixture of yellow and blue, or yellow and cyan; it is considered...
if the following day
Day
A day is a unit of time, commonly defined as an interval equal to 24 hours. It also can mean that portion of the full day during which a location is illuminated by the light of the sun...
's weather forecast
Weather forecasting
Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the state of the atmosphere for a given location. Human beings have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia, and formally since the nineteenth century...
was fair
Fair Weather
Fair Weather was a British rock band formed in 1970 by former Amen Corner guitarist and vocalist, Andy Fairweather Low. They are best known for their track, "Natural Sinner".-Biography:The band evolved from a split within Amen Corner...
, orange
Orange (colour)
The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
for cloudy, flashing orange for rain
Rain
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to non-liquid kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface...
and flashing white for snow
Snow
Snow is a form of precipitation within the Earth's atmosphere in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. Since snow is composed of small ice particles, it is a granular material. It has an open and therefore soft structure, unless packed by...
. The direction the lights on the tower moved depended on whether the temperatures were expected to rise or fall; absence of movement meant no change. The Weather Star is still operable, but it's no longer used for meteorological forecasting purposes. At the base of the tower is a four-sided electronic digital board that has always displayed the current time and temperature.
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York built the structure in 1950 for its corporate headquarters. The architect Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon
Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon was the architectural firm best known for the 1931 Empire State Building, the tallest building in New York, and the world, at that time....
also designed the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
. It left the building after being acquired by AXA
AXA
AXA S.A. is a French global insurance group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. AXA is a conglomerate of independently run businesses, operated according to the laws and regulations of many different countries. The AXA group of companies engage in life, health and other forms of...
. Mutual Insurance had been renamed MONY Life Insurance Company in 1998. The building was completely renovated in 2007.