Met Life Hall of Records

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company was established in 1863 as the National Union Life and Limb Insurance Company to insure sailors and soldiers injured in the Civil War. The Met Life Company Hall of Records was originally designed by the company’s consulting architect, D. Everett Waid in 1906. The original two-story building was expanded in 1920 with a third floor. The buildings location on the eastern edge of Yonkers bordering Bronxville was isolated from fire hazards and immediate neighbors, while still being close to the Metro North. Waid designed the building to be fully fireproof to protect the records.[1]  

The Hall of Records was designed in the Neoclassical style to harmonize with estate and country club neighbors; it featuring fluted columns, cast stone cornices, and stone wreaths.[2]

The records were shipped from the home office in Manhattan by freight train to Bronxville, then by horse drawn truck to the building. In the early years, it was staffed by one employee, Elijah Cattell. Cattel’s daughter worked in the home office and brought requests for records to their home in the evening. Elijah would retrieve the records, and she would bring them back to office the next day.

The Hall of Records remained under Met Life’s ownership until 2006, serving as its storage facility. In 2014, the building underwent a conversion into luxury housing.[3]

[1] National Register of Historic Places- Registration Form, United States Department of Interior-National Parks Service, https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/14000543.pdf

[2] “The Safeguarding of Public Records,” American Industries: The Manufacturers’ Magazines 16,no. 8 March 1916.

[3] Ernie Garcia, “What’s up with the Metropolitan Life Hall of Records in Yonkers?” Lohud. February 27,2018.