| Industry | Insurance |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1845; 180 years ago (1845)[1] |
| Defunct | June 14, 2001 (2001-06-14) |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
Key people | Frederick Frelinghuysen |
| Mutual Benefit Life Building | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Office |
| Location | 520 Broad Street Newark, New Jersey |
| Completed | 1957 |
| Height | |
| Roof | 75 m (246 ft) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 20 |
| Design and construction | |
| Structural engineer | George A. Fuller Company |
| References | |
| [2] | |
TheMutual Benefit Life Insurance Company was a life insurance company that was chartered in 1845 and based inNewark inEssex County,New Jersey, United States. The company was headed byFrederick Frelinghuysen (1848–1924).[3][4] The company was known as the "Tiffany" of insurance companies, a reference to its reputation as the life insurance company to the upper classes.
Mutual Benefit Life was taken into receivership for rehabilitation by theNew Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance on July 16, 1991, after losses in an overheated real estate market led to arun by policyholders, who ultimately lost the purported "cash value" that had been said to have accrued in their policies. At the time, the collapse was the largest ever of an American insurer.AMEV acquired the group life, accident and health insurance Mutual Benefit in 1991.[5]SunAmerica acquired the remaining divisions in 1998.[6] Effective June 14, 2001, Mutual Benefit was liquidated and dissolved.[7]
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company | |
 | |
  | |
| Location | 300 Broadway near 2nd Ave.,Newark, New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′40″N74°10′10″W / 40.76111°N 74.16944°W /40.76111; -74.16944 |
| Area | 3.9 acres (1.6 ha) |
| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | John H. & Wilson C. Ely[9] |
| Architectural style | Civic Renaissance |
| NRHP reference No. | 83004031[8] |
| Added to NRHP | November 17, 1983 |
Mutual Benefit commissioned a number of landmark buildings in Newark for their headquarters.
After outgrowing previous locations at Broad and Market (from the 1845 founding to 1848), then another ten years in the Insurance Buildings onMarket Street, the company built a headquarters at the corner ofBroad and Clinton Streets in 1858.[10] The architect is unknown.
In 1904, Mutual Benefit pulled down the 1858 structure and commissioned a replacement through competition. The winner was architectGeorge B. Post, who planned a neo-classical structure for eight stories,giant order Corinthian columns, and a $1,000,000 budget.[11] Because the site was diagonally opposite a set of commanding, fortress-like buildings for thePrudential Headquarters, also designed by Post, a contrasting identity was a key requirement: "The problem was to design a building as different as possible from the Prudential Building, and at the same time make it indicative of the strength and greatness of an important insurance company."[12]
The company's uptown headquarters building at 300Broadway in Newark was designed by locally important architectsJohn H. & Wilson C. Ely. Finished in 1925, it's listed in theNational Register of Historic Places. In the mid 1950s the building was sold to theArchdiocese of Newark and served as home toEssex Catholic High School until 1979. The building was again sold, and as of 2018 serves as anursing home.
The company moved to larger headquarters at 520 Broad Street in 1957, a modern structure that was built in theInternational Style as part of theNew Newark movement and centered to the north of traditionaldowntown at Washington Park.[13] The architects were Frank Grad & Sons of Newark, with consulting architectsEggers & Higgins. As of December 2012 there were plans to convert the building, owned by theIDT Corporation, to residential and retail space marketed to the city's student population[14]'
TheMutual Benefit Life Building inPhiladelphia is another structure associated with the firm.
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John H. Ely and Wilson C. Ely formed a well- known father-and-son Newark ... were responsible for the East Orange City Hall, the Morristown Memorial Hospital....
Media related toMutual Benefit Life Insurance Company at Wikimedia Commons
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