Metropolitan Life North Building
skyscraper in New York City
The Metropolitan Life North Building, now known as Eleven Madison and colloquially known as The UBS Building or The CS Building is a 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, which 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
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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Metropolitan Life North Building” is skyscraper in New York City. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Metropolitan, Life and North, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “skyscraper in New York City” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1925855. Authority coordinates are 40.742, -73.987. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1929, 1950, 1996 and 1854.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Metropolitan Life North Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Metropolitan Life North Building primary sources, Metropolitan Life North Building archive and Metropolitan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Metropolitan Life North Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.