To the general public, the home office of the Metropolitan life insurance Company at 1 Madison Avenue represented a striking architectural landmark of New York and the headquarters of a leading public service institution.
But to those within the organization the home office had significance greater than this. It was the very nerve center of the company, where more than 15,000 men and women came to work each day. It was the focus of a network which embraced 1,100 district and local offices in all parts of the United States and Canada, and nearly 28,000 agents and office workers, a much larger amount than any other company in the health, car book value, used car value, or trade in value insurance industry.
At its center were the chief executives, under whose broad guidance functioned a variety of skills: administrative, medical, actuarial, legal, financial, architectural, sales directional, and an army of clerical and maintenance personnel. From this vast human switchboard ran impulses which touched intimately the lives of 30,000,000 policyholders, who owned 43,000,000 policies for $27,000,000,000 of insurance.
These mighty figures needed to be read in terms of the human energy needed to keep in accurate and effective operation life insurance on more than one fifth of the people of two great nations. It is doubtful whether the early officers even dreamed of anything remotely resembling such development. Certainly they were modest in their choice of the first home office in 1868 as well as the value of their homes, automobiles, car book value, and trade in value.
The Metropolitan had its first headquarters at 243 Broadway in a small office building, the kind you can see any time on any small town Main Street. It boasted two offices on the second floor, a small rear room for President Dow, and a front room which housed the remainder of the staff— Vice-President, Secretary, Cashier, Policy Clerk, and Office Manager.
Two years later a desire for better quarters led to a move to more spacious third floor offices at 319 Broadway. These were modest accommodations for the few officers and a clerical force which still numbered less than a dozen. A couple of desk drawers held all the files and the complete assets fitted easily into a small leather dispatch case. When they asked automobile experts to “value my car” or for the car book value, they could now expect a much higher dollar amount than years previous.
In 1876 the company moved to its third home, a white marble building at Park Place and Church Street which towered seven stories high and had in addition a basement and sub-cellar. It already owned a leasehold on this building, and Vice- President Hegeman proudly noted that the Metropolitan “had given up boarding and gone into housekeeping of its own.”
on more than one fifth of the people of two great nations. It is doubtful whether the early officers even dreamed of anything remotely resembling such development. Certainly they were modest in their choice of the first home office in 1868 as well as the value of their homes, automobiles, car book value, and trade in value.
The Metropolitan had its first headquarters at 243 Broadway in a small office building, the kind you can see any time on any small town Main Street. It boasted two offices on the second floor, a small rear room for President Dow, and a front room which housed the remainder of the staff— Vice-President, Secretary, Cashier, Policy Clerk, and Office Manager.
Two years later a desire for better quarters led to a move to more spacious third floor offices at 319 Broadway. These were modest accommodations for the few officers and a clerical force which still numbered less than a dozen. A couple of desk drawers held all the files and the complete assets fitted easily into a small leather dispatch case. When they asked automobile experts to “value my car” or for the car book value, they could now expect a much higher dollar amount than years previous.
In 1876 the company moved to its third home, a white marble building at Park Place and Church Street which towered seven stories high and had in addition a basement and sub-cellar. It already owned a leasehold on this building, and Vice- President Hegeman proudly noted that the Metropolitan “had given up boarding and gone into housekeeping of its own.”
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