The Jefferson Standard Building is a 374 ft (114m) skyscraper in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

. It was completed in 1923 as the headquarters for Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co. (now known as

Lincoln Financial Group Lincoln National Corporation is a ''Fortune'' 200 American holding company, which operates multiple insurance and investment management businesses through subsidiary companies. Lincoln Financial Group is the marketing name for LNC and its subsi ...

) and has 18 floors. Until it was superseded by the

Nissen Building The Nissen Building is a 283 ft (86 m) 18-story skyscraper in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, built in 1927. It was the largest building in the city, succeeding the Hotel Robert E. Lee, and the tallest building in North Caroli ...

Winston-Salem Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

in 1927, it was the tallest building in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

(succeeding the

Independence Building Independence Building may refer to: * Independence Hotel, Sihanoukville, Cambodia * Independence House, Lagos, Nigeria; an office tower * Independence Tower, Ankara, Turkey; at the mausoleum tomb of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk * Independence State Hos ...

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

) and the tallest building between

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. It was named to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1976. A 20-story addition first known as the Jefferson-Pilot Building and later the Lincoln Financial Building was finished in 1990.

History

Julian Price, president of Jefferson Standard Life Insurance, asked

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

architect

Charles C. Hartmann Charles C. Hartmann (1889–1977) was an American architect. A number of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The include: * Alamance Hotel, Maple Ave. and S. Main St. Burlington, NC (Hartmann, Charles) * Atlan ...

to design his company's new headquarters. Price paid for the building in full because he did not believe in debt. The Jefferson Standard Building copied the Equitable Building in its use of a U-shape allowing more light and air into more of the building. The exterior is

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. Architectural styles include

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

, Neo-Classical and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

. The terra cotta tile facade incorporates Beaux-Arts and Romanesque characteristics. Above the doorway is a

bust Bust commonly refers to: * A woman's breasts * Bust (sculpture), of head and shoulders * An arrest Bust may also refer to: Places *Bust, Bas-Rhin, a city in France *Lashkargah, Afghanistan, known as Bust historically Media * ''Bust'' (magazine ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

, for whom the company was named, with Buffalo nickels on either side of ground floor windows to represent thrift and economy. The corridors used "23 carloads of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

". In 1930, Jefferson Standard gained a controlling interest in Pilot Life Insurance Co. In 1967, Pilot Life Insurance Co. and Jefferson Standard became Jefferson-Pilot Corporation, and 800 Pilot Life employees moved from the Pilot Life buildings, which were built in

Sedgefield, North Carolina Sedgefield is a populated place within the city of Greensboro, North Carolina in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. History New York executive John Cobb bought 3660 acres for a hunting preserve he called Sedgefield for sedge broom f ...

in the 1920s, into the Jefferson Standard Building and its 20-story addition in 1990. Jefferson-Pilot merged with Lincoln Financial Group in 2006. The buildings remain the headquarters for the company's life insurance operations, though the company headquarters moved to

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. In October 2009, a

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

cover of Acme Comics

G-Man ''G-man'' (short for "government man", plural ''G-men'') is an American slang term for special agent, agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). ''G-man'' i ...

Cape Crisis #2 showed the 1990 Lincoln Financial insurance division headquarters (formerly the Jefferson-Pilot Building), with G-Man fighting the Acme Bat. Chris Giarusso drew the cover, which recalled

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

fighting

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

in 1976. A special appearance by Giarusso at the Greensboro Acme Comics store marked the cover's release on October 24. Also present were Gregg Schigiel (whose work includes

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...

), Jacob Chabot (''Mighty Skullboy Army''), Brian Smith (''Stuff of Legend'') and

Art Baltazar Arthee "Art" Baltazar (born 1968) is an American comics artist and writer who currently works for DC Comics. Career Art Baltazar started making comic books with his self-published comic book, ''The Cray-Baby Adventures''. Since then he has cre ...

('' Tiny Titans'').

Lincoln Financial Building

A 20-story addition to the Jefferson Standard Building, officially known as the Lincoln Financial Building, opened in 1990. Originally known as the Jefferson-Pilot Building, the 384,993 ft² building was designed by the architectural firm

Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart Smallwood is an American architectural firm based in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1979, the company has approximately 108 total employees across all of its locations and generates $25.00 million in sales (USD). There are 3 companies in the Sma ...

and constructed by the Hardin Construction Group. The Lincoln Financial Building, which is the tallest building in Greensboro, was constructed in a

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

style to match the existing Jefferson Standard Building, a rarity for buildings constructed at the end of the 20th century.

References

External links

Photo of Jefferson-Pilot building
{{National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Skyscrapers in Greensboro, North Carolina Skyscraper office buildings in North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Guilford County, North Carolina Office buildings completed in 1923