On its completion in 1915, the Equitable Building was the largest office building in the world, an H-shaped superstructure above a six-story base, rising approximately 38 stories straight up from the lot-line. It has an elegant Beaux-Arts ornamental treatment that emphasizes Roman classical detail at the base and top. All four facades have a tripartite base-shaft-capital arrangement typical of New York City skyscrapers of the period.