Talk:Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower
 | Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower has been listed as one of the Art and architecture good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it. Review: May 8, 2020. (Reviewed version). |
 | A fact from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 June 2020 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
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WikiProject class rating
editThis article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 03:23, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Architect?
editWho designed it? Article and building infobox seem lacking. doncram (talk) 20:36, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
Madison Square Garden?
edit
I wonder if the tower's architecture was meant to be a nod to the second Madison Square Garden... 198.151.130.69 (talk) 04:30, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
- Could be. MSG II was still there at the time the Met Life Tower was built. Stanford White modeled the MSG tower after the Giralda, the bell tower of the Cathedral in Seville, while LeBrun & Sons modeled the Met Life Tower after St Mark's Campanile in Venice. Maybe they thought that using another reference to a European architectural landmark would resonate with the existing building. I haven't read anything specific that said that, though. Beyond My Ken (talk) 05:01, 17 December 2010 (UTC)
Architectural style: Gothic???
editIt's not gothic at all. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.10.239.107 (talk) 17:39, 15 June 2012 (UTC)
- That is correct, I'm not sure where that came from, I've corrected it to "Italiam Renaissance Revival". Beyond My Ken (talk) 20:51, 15 June 2012 (UTC)
Should the image be replaced?
editSince someone is reverting my changes, I want to see if we can reach a consensus. Should a new image or an old image be at the top of the page? I seriously don't think it reflects what it looks like today or that it exists in the year 2013, it's just there because it works, which I think is more of a reason not to care if it's replaced with a better image.RocketLauncher2 (talk) 18:54, 11 June 2013 (UTC)
- A new image would be better - but not one that only shows trees and blue sky. Compared to that, the old image is better. --Albinfo (talk) 07:48, 13 June 2013 (UTC)
- I think part of the reason for that is the area's changed in the past 100 years so there's more things around it, more of a reason I want to update it
- What about https://pt.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficheiro:Metropolitan_Life_Tower_April_2008.jpg ? RocketLauncher2 (talk) 14:44, 13 June 2013 (UTC)
External links modified (January 2018)
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New York 2140?
editIsn't this the tower that features in Robinson's novel? It's a finalist for the Hugo Award in 2018.Pkeets (talk) 13:21, 21 June 2018 (UTC)
In popular culture
editMoved here, because only two list entries have sources. epicgenius (talk) 18:52, 12 March 2020 (UTC)
- The tower appears prominently in the first part of the "Darkness and Dawn" science fiction trilogy from the 1910s written by George Allen England. The tower is the temporary home of the two remaining post-apocalyptic survivors Allan Stern and Beatrice Kendrick.
- The tower is mentioned in W.E.B. Dubois's 1920 short story "The Comet" where the main characters Jim and Julia look out over the city.
- The clock tower is mentioned in the opening of Murray Leinster's 1919 story "The Runaway Skyscraper," the clock running backwards indicating that the skyscraper was traveling in time.[1]
- In the animated TV series Futurama, the tower is seen in the future as wider and its face replaced with a digital clock.
- In the video game BioShock Infinite, the building is the location of Booker DeWitt's office.
- In Christopher Morley's 1919 book "The Haunted Bookshop" character Aubrey Gilbert "could see the ruby beacon on the Metropolitan Tower signal three quarters."
- In Kim Stanley Robinson's 2017 book "New York 2140", several characters live in the building and plot events occur in the building.
- In Antti Tuuri's 2005 book Taivaanraapijat, a young Finnish migrant gets hired to build the tower.
- The tower is one of only two visible structures besides the Empire State Building in Andy Warhol's eight-hour film Empire, and the flashing of the time beacon on top of the tower every 15 minutes is one of the few concrete events in the film.[2]
References
- ^ Webster, Bud (2013). Past Masters, and Other Bookish Natterings. West Warwick, RI: The Merry Blacksmith Press. p. 164.
- ^ Angell, Callie (1994). "Guide to Empire" in The Films of Andy Warhol Part II (exhibition brochure). The Whitney Museum of American Art. p. 16.
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
GA Review
edit| GA toolbox |
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| Reviewing |
- This review is transcluded from Talk:Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Vami IV (talk · contribs) 03:27, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
Opening statement
editHello, and come what may from this review, thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. During the review, I may make copyedits, which I will limit to spelling correction and minor changes to punctuation (removal of double spaces and such). I will only make substantive edits that change the flow and structure of the prose if I previously suggested and it is necessary. The Nominator(s) should understand that I am a grammar pedant, and I will nitpick in the interest of prose quality. For responding to my comments, please use 
Done, 
Fixed, 
Added, 
Not done, 
Doing..., or 
Removed, followed by any comment you'd like to make. I will be crossing out my comments as they are redressed, and only mine. A detailed, section-by-section review will follow. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 03:27, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
Architecture
edit
constructed in 1905–1909. [...] in 1953–1957.
"In" doesn't work here since this is not an x>12 span of time.
Done though I don't understand what you mean by "an x>12 span of time". Is that referring to years? epicgenius (talk) 14:25, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
- Edit. Oops. I meant months there. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 21:50, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
many 19th-century early skyscrapers
Unwieldy; I recommend removing "19th-century".- Done
provided by Hedden Construction Company.
the Hedden Construction Company- Done
The bells were the highest [...] The bells are respectively
Change this up.- Done
from which a "magnificent"
Delete the last word here.- Done
they were split up into different social hierarchies, with immigrants in service jobs; women in seamstresses' and cleaners' jobs; and native-born workers of both genders in white-collar jobs.
Replace the semicolons with commas.- Done
History
edit
in 1903–1905
See above.- Done
In 1982, Cross & Brown Company
the Cross & Brown Company.- Done
GA progress
editArticle passes Copyvio scanner without issue. Images are all free and relevant, too. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 04:27, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
- @Vami IV: Thanks for the review. I have addressed all of these issues. epicgenius (talk) 14:25, 8 May 2020 (UTC)
Good Article review progress box
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Did you know nomination
edit- The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by Yoninah (talk) 12:41, 5 June 2020 (UTC)
- ... that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (pictured), once the tallest building in the world, is older than the structure it is modeled after? Source: NYCL p. 7
- ALT1:... that the Metropolitan Life Tower (pictured) was used in its namesake's advertising as "The Light That Never Fails"? Source: Moudry, Roberta (2005). "The Corporate and the Civic: Metropolitan Life's Home Office Building". p. 128.
- ALT2:... that the Metropolitan Life Tower (pictured), once the world's tallest building, now contains a hotel? Source: Bizjournals
Improved to Good Article status by Epicgenius (talk). Self-nominated at 14:19, 9 May 2020 (UTC).
| General: Article is new enough and long enough |
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| Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems |
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| Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation |
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| Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px. |
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| QPQ: Done. |
Overall: 
New enough (promoted to GA status on the day of the nomination) and long enough. Well-sourced and seems neutral and free of plagiarism, as is expected of an article with GA status. Earwig stands at 17.4%, but that's mostly due to the phrase "Metropolitan Life Insurance Company" so it's not a problem. The image is OK.
All the hooks are cited and included in the article. Of the three hooks, ALT0 is definitely the most interesting one, but is it really accurate? The tower built in 1905–08 is not modeled after the structure built in 1902–12, but on the original campanile. Both the NYC building and the present-day campanile are modeled on the old campanile, but they are not modeled on each other. An example of a building which "is older than the structure it is modeled after" would be the Alte Bibliothek (Berlin) which was built in 1775–80 and was based on the Michaelertrakt, which had been designed in the 1720s but was not built until the 1890s.
Perhaps ALT0 can be reworded to make it slightly less misleading? Regarding the other hooks, both are acceptable, although I would prefer ALT1 over ALT2 since the latter is not particularly noteworthy (there are plenty of tall buildings which are hotels).
Apart from that, looks good to go after QPQ is done. Well done on the article! Xwejnusgozo (talk) 09:23, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
- Xwejnusgozo, thanks for the review. I have done a QPQ now Maybe I can suggest ALT3:
- ALT3 ... that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (pictured), once the tallest building in the world, is modeled on a destroyed building that was not rebuilt until after the Metropolitan Life Tower's completion? epicgenius (talk) 16:21, 11 May 2020 (UTC)
- Xwejnusgozo, thanks for the review. I have done a QPQ now Maybe I can suggest ALT3:
QPQ done so it's now good to go. ALT3 is more accurate than ALT0 but I think it's a bit too long, perhaps it can be modified along the lines of:
- ALT3a ... that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (pictured), once the tallest building in the world, was modeled on St Mark's Campanile which was not rebuilt until after the tower's completion?
- Xwejnusgozo (talk) 11:10, 14 May 2020 (UTC)
Hi, I came by to promote this, but ALT3-3a are really long and wordy. I like ALT1, but I'm wondering if we could run the whole bolded link rather than part of it to make it clear that this is an insurance company? Yoninah (talk) 21:21, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
- Also, the black and white image, while showing the whole tower, looks really dated. I would suggest running this image with a revised ALT1. Yoninah (talk) 21:25, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
- @Yoninah: I like the proposed alternate image. How about this?
- ALT4:... that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower (pictured) was used in its namesake's advertising as "The Light That Never Fails"? epicgenius (talk) 22:00, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
- Yes, that's the expansion of ALT1 that I had in mind. I added the part about the lantern to the article and hook caption. Restoring tick for ALT4 per Xwejnusgozo's review. Yoninah (talk) 12:38, 5 June 2020 (UTC)