The Metropolitan Life North Building, now known as Eleven Madison and colloquially known as The UBS Building or The CS Building is 30-story Art Deco skyscraper adjacent to Madison Square Park at 11–25 Madison Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building is bordered by East 24th Street, Madison Avenue, East 25th Street and Park Avenue South, and was formerly connected by a sky bridge and tunnel to the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower just south of it.

The North Building was built in three stages on the site of the second Madison Square Presbyterian Church. Construction started in 1929, just before the onset of the Great Depression. Originally planned to be 100 stories, the North Building was never completed as originally planned due to funding problems following the Depression. The current design was constructed in three stages through 1950. As part of the Metropolitan Life Home Office Complex, the North Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 19, 1996.

It serves as the North American headquarters for UBS Investment Bank who is by far the largest tenant. Additionally, a handful of floors previously occupied by UBS predecessor Credit Suisse now houses the headquarters of Sony Corporation of America and its select subsidiaries, including its entertainment unit as well as Sony Music and Sony Music Publishing.

History

Site

thumb|left|The Metropolitan Life North Building (left) and the [[Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (right)]]The original Madison Square Presbyterian Church, designed by Richard M. Upjohn in the Gothic Revival architectural style, was located on Madison Square Park at the southeast corner of East 24th Street and Madison Avenue, and was completed in 1854. The building was acquired by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and razed to make way for the 50-story Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, which was briefly the world's tallest building. In exchange, the church received a plot of land on the north side of 24th Street that became the site for Stanford White's 1906 building for the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, sometimes called the "Parkhurst Church" after Reverend Charles Henry Parkhurst.

A plot on the north side of 24th Street, measuring , was developed in 1903 as the first Metropolitan Annex, a 16-story printing plant building faced in Tuckahoe marble. The annex was designed by LeBrun, and it was connected to the main building by a tunnel. White's building was demolished in 1919 to make way for an expansion of that annex. The structure was to be 18 stories tall with six elevators, and would incorporate the existing annex, which would be . The ground story of the new annex would contain an auditorium with 1,100-seats, and the 12th story would include a lunchroom and a sky bridge to the 11th story of the home office building across 24th Street. This annex was designed by D. Everett Waid and completed in 1921. Metropolitan Life had acquired the lot bounded by Madison Avenue, 24th Street, Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South), and 25th Street in September 1929. Preliminary plans, submitted that October, proposed a 35-story building that would serve as a new "home office", supplanting the old "home office" in the Metropolitan Life Tower directly to the south. The final design for the new building, presented in November 1929, called for a 100-story tower with several setbacks, which would have been the tallest building in the world.

Following the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression, Corbett and Waid resubmitted plans for the building in November 1930. The new plans called for a 28-story brick, granite, and limestone structure. Starrett Brothers & Eken were selected as contractors the following month. Initially, only the eastern half of the block was developed; that structure was finished in 1932. Upon the first stage's completion, Corbett said, "it is a highly specialized building designed primarily as a machine to do as efficiently as possible the particular headquarters' work of our largest insurance company". The new structure contained of new office space. In 1938, the company filed plans to build the western half of the 26-story building at a cost of $10 million. The western wall of the existing structure would be demolished so the two sections would be integrated into a single building. The second phase was finished in 1940 and contained 32 stories: 26 above-ground and four basement levels, the same as in the first phase.

LeBrun's and Waid's northern annexes were demolished in 1946 to make way for the third and final stage of the North Building. Waid and Corbett prepared the third phase along with Arthur O. Angilly. The design was similar to that of the first and second phases, but in smaller scale. Construction was completed in 1950.

thumb|right|175px|A digital rendering of what the building would have looked like if it had actually been built as originally conceived

Later years

In 1985, Metropolitan Life vacated the clock tower and moved all remaining operations to the north building and the east wing of the south building. From 1994 to 1997, the building's interior was demolished and rebuilt by Haines Lundberg Waehler and the exterior was renovated at a cost of $300 million. The renovation entailed reducing the size of the building's core to provide additional office space. The North Building had been considered obsolete for the uses of Metropolitan Life (now MetLife), which had moved most of its employees to the MetLife Building in Midtown Manhattan. Credit Suisse First Boston, a subsidiary of Credit Suisse, then leased within the building, an agreement that was later expanded to . Other space was taken up by Alexander & Alexander Services, Emanuel/Emanuel Ungaro, Wells Rich Greene and the Gould Paper Corporation.

Architecture

The building, which has of interior space, was constructed in three stages. The building's bulk is mitigated by numerous setbacks As a result of these setbacks, mandated under the 1916 Zoning Resolution, the architects maximized the usable interior space The building is finished on the outside with Alabama limestone and marble detailing, covering an interior steel frame. The window frames are mostly made of bronze, except those installed during the final stage of construction, which are made of aluminum. The ground-floor windows are multi-pane windows and all others are three-over-three sash windows. Limestone grilles are located outside the second-story windows. Each entrance contains a three-story-high pier with ribs, which supports a double-height loggia. The vaulted entrances contain modern-style coffers with a Moderne-style chandelier hanging from the center.

Interior

The three-story lobby contains travertine and marble finishes. On the upper floors, the elevators, restrooms, and stairs are located in a core at the center of each floor. Another innovation for the building at the time of its construction was the inclusion of a building-wide air conditioning system. The 27th floor contained an auditorium. The original plans were to include an entrance to the 23rd Street subway station, but the entrance was ultimately built one block south, on 23rd Street, with an entrance through the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower.

Tenants

SL Green Realty has owned 11 Madison Avenue since 2015. The primary tenant was Credit Suisse. In recent developments, UBS has initiated plans to relocate its investment banking staff from 1285 Sixth Avenue to 11 Madison Avenue, the former headquarters of Credit Suisse. The move is part of the ongoing integration process following UBS’s acquisition of Credit Suisse, aimed at consolidating operations and optimizing office space. The relocation underscores UBS’s commitment to streamlining its corporate structure and fostering collaboration by housing its workforce under fewer roofs in strategically located buildings. Additionally, Yelp, Inc. and several Sony companies such as Sony Corporation of America, Sony Music Entertainment, and Sony Music Publishing occupy the building.The restaurant Eleven Madison Park is at street level on the Madison Avenue side of the building. offers a vegan multi-course tasting menu.

The building previously served as Met Life's records warehouse.

  • Director Martin Scorsese used the building as the location for Griffin Dunne's office in the 1985 film After Hours.