The Metropolitan Life Tower above Madison Square was the world's tallest building for four years after its completion. Architect Pierre Le Brun's four great clock faces at 26.5 feet are 4.5 feet taller than Big Ben. The clock features seventeen-foot-long minute hands weighing a thousand pounds each. Occupying the northwest corner of 24th Street and Madison Avenue, the tower closely resembles the Campanile, or bell tower in St. Mark's Square, Venice. A major renovation by Morgan and Mironi in the 1960s replaced the tower's original white Tuckahoe marble with limestone and eliminated the ornamental detail.
Met Life Real Estate Investments, the real estate investment arm of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, maintains a portfolio of over $20 billion invested in real estate products including equities, commercial mortgages and securitized investments. Through its Equity Investment Management (EIM) unit, Met Life offers over 31 million square feet of office space within several of the country's major CBD and suburban markets. The New York VRMLSIG has proposed a plan to explore experimental walkthroughs providing 3D visualizations on the Internet for parties interested in leasing or buying Met Life properties. The landmark project has been the first step in that direction.
In 1997, Computerworld Magazine presented Metropolitan Life Insurance with an award for the company's successful implementation of advanced technology. The company was the first to join the New York VRMLSIG's landmark project providing photographs and blueprints from the corporate archive. Many thanks are due to Mark George, Director of Interactive Commerce and Dan May, Corporate Archivist, for their help and support.