Which New York City building, completed in 1870, was the first office building designed with passenger elevators?

The Equitable Life Building was the first office building designed with passenger elevators when it was completed in New York City in 1870.

Built for the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the seven-story structure stood at 120 Broadway in Lower Manhattan. Architect George B. Post designed it, and the building used hydraulic passenger elevators made by the Otis Elevator Company.

The elevators changed the commercial value of upper floors. Before reliable passenger lifts, space higher in an office building was generally less desirable because workers and visitors had to climb stairs. The Equitable Life Building helped establish the elevator as essential real-estate infrastructure rather than a novelty.

The building was demolished in 1912, so it is sometimes omitted from lists focused only on surviving skyscrapers. It also predates famous New York landmarks such as the Flatiron Building and the Woolworth Building. Its importance lies in connecting elevator technology with the economics of vertical office development.