{{Use American English|date=August 2023}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}{{Infobox NRHP | name = Jefferson Standard Building | image = Jefferson Standard Building, Greensboro, NC.jpg | caption = The building in 2019 | location = 101 N. Elm St, Greensboro NC 27401 | coordinates = {{coord|36|4|22|N|79|47|32|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = North Carolina#USA | built = 1922 | architect = Hartmann, Charles C. | architecture = Romanesque, Skyscraper | added = May 28, 1976 | refnum = 76001326<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> }} The '''Jefferson Standard Building''' is an 18-story skyscraper in Greensboro, North Carolina, completed in 1923 as the headquarters for Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Co., now the Lincoln Financial Group.
Until it was superseded by the Nissen Building in Winston-Salem in 1927, it was the tallest building in North Carolina, with an overall height of 374 ft (114m), succeeding the Independence Building in Charlotte. At completion, it was the tallest building between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, Georgia, and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.<ref name=emporis>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/128533/jefferson-standard-building-greensboro-nc-usa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215102755/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/128533/jefferson-standard-building-greensboro-nc-usa|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 15, 2016|title=Jefferson Standard Building, Greensboro | 128533 | EMPORIS|website=Emporis}}</ref><ref name=universe>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/jefferson-pilot-corporation-history/|title=History of Jefferson-Pilot Corporation – FundingUniverse|website=www.fundinguniverse.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/129376/jackson-building-asheville-nc-usa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160918142715/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/129376/jackson-building-asheville-nc-usa|url-status=usurped|archive-date=September 18, 2016|title=Jackson Building, Asheville | 129376 | EMPORIS|website=Emporis}}</ref>
A 20-story addition, first known as the Jefferson-Pilot Building and later the Lincoln Financial Building, opened in 1990.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-South/Greensboro-History.html|title=Greensboro: History - City Named for Revolutionary Hero|website=www.city-data.com}}</ref>
==History== thumb|250x250px|1923 advertisement showing the building, then under construction Julian Price, president of Jefferson Standard Life Insurance, asked New York City architect Charles C. Hartmann to design his company's new headquarters,<ref name=blandwood>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blandwood.org/JeffersonStandard.html |title=JeffersonStandard |access-date=2009-01-14 |archive-date=2008-05-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509093516/http://www.blandwood.org/JeffersonStandard.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> paying for the building in full because he was himself debt-averse.<ref name=universe/>
Architecturally, the building using a U-shape to allow more light and air, recalling Atlanta's Equitable Building.<ref name=blandwood/> Themes include Neo-Gothic, Neo-Classical and Art Deco.<ref name=emporis/> The exterior is terra cotta and granite, with the terra cotta incorporating Beaux-Arts and Romanesque themes. The main entrance features a bust of Thomas Jefferson, for whom the company is named, as well as Buffalo nickels on either side of ground floor windows, symbolizing thrift and economy.<ref name=blandwood/><ref name = nrhpinv>{{Cite web | author=Ruth Little-Stokes and McKelden Smith| title= Jefferson Standard Building | work = National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory | date =December 1975| url = https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/GF0011.pdf | publisher = North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office | accessdate = 2014-11-01}}</ref> The corridors used "23 carloads of marble".<ref name=Sale>{{cite news|url=http://www.greensboro.com/news/local_news/sale-of-news-record-property-part-of-a-newspaper-industry/article_97fa0b47-fe23-502d-964b-ef3df55e1b4e.html|title=Sale of News & Record property part of a newspaper industry trend|last=Barron|first=Richard|work=News & Record|date=2017-10-07|accessdate=2017-11-07}}</ref>
In 1930, Jefferson Standard gained a controlling interest in Pilot Life Insurance Co. In 1967, Pilot Life Insurance Co. and Jefferson Standard became a single entity named Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. At that time, 800 Pilot Life employees moved from several Pilot Life buildings, in Sedgefield, North Carolina (dating to the 1920s) into the Jefferson Standard Building and its 1990 20-story addition.<ref name=universe/><ref>Old Pilot Life HQ to be retirement center," ''News and Record'', August 13, 2008.</ref><ref>Taft Wireback, "Big project planned for Pilot life campus," ''News and Record'', January 16, 2015.</ref>
Jefferson-Pilot merged with Lincoln Financial Group in 2006. The Greensboro buildings remained the headquarters for the company's life insurance operations, though the company headquarters moved to Philadelphia.<ref>"Jefferson-Pilot Shareholders Approve Lincoln Financial Merger," ''Triangle Business Journal'', March 20, 2006.</ref>
In October 2009, a limited edition cover of Acme Comics G-Man 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 fighting Spider-Man 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), Jacob Chabot (''Mighty Skullboy Army''), Brian Smith (''Stuff of Legend'') and Art Baltazar (''Tiny Titans'').<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/09/16/article/comic_book_cover_to_feature_downtown_building |title=Comic book cover to feature downtown building |work=News & Record |date=2009-09-16 |accessdate=2009-09-17 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120905233619/http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/09/16/article/comic_book_cover_to_feature_downtown_building |archivedate=2012-09-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/10/24/article/greensboro_featured_on_comic_book_cover |title=Greensboro featured on comic book cover |last=Wolford |first=Jerry |work=News & Record |date=2009-10-25 |accessdate=2009-10-25 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120224022512/http://www.news-record.com/content/2009/10/24/article/greensboro_featured_on_comic_book_cover |archivedate=2012-02-24 }}</ref>
==Lincoln Financial Building== thumb|The Lincoln Financial Building, built as an addition to the Jefferson Standard 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 and constructed by the Hardin Construction Group.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/lincoln-financial-building/9491 |title=Lincoln Financial Building |work=The Skyscraper Center}}</ref> The Lincoln Financial Building, which is the tallest building in Greensboro, was constructed in a Gothic Revival architecture style to match the existing Jefferson Standard Building, a rarity for buildings constructed at the end of the 20th century.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.panoramio.com/photo/10620193 Photo of Jefferson-Pilot building] *[http://www.greensboro.world-guides.com/greensboro_photos.html Close-up photos of details]
{{Commons category|Jefferson Standard Building}} {{NRHP in Guilford County, North Carolina}}
Category:Office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Category:Skyscrapers in Greensboro, North Carolina Category:Skyscraper office buildings in North Carolina Category:National Register of Historic Places in Guilford County, North Carolina Category:Office buildings completed in 1923