and Home Life in August 1892. 253 Broadway The terms of Postal Telegraph's lease required Mackay to pay for the demolition of existing buildings on the site, and build a structure at least 10 stories tall. The lease prohibited serving of alcoholic beverages below the third story of Postal Telegraph's new building. Harding and Gooch were selected as architects for the Postal Telegraph Building, apparently through an architectural design competition. Construction on that Postal Telegraph Building began on June 14, 1892. During the Postal Life Building's construction, there were at least two worker deaths: one in February 1893 when a derrick fell, and another that May when a worker fell off the roof. Additionally, the Postal Life Building's project superintendent was seriously injured in October 1893 when he was shot by a homeless man looking for work. 256 Broadway Home Life held a design competition for its planned headquarters, with six architecture firms competing. The judge, William Robert Ware, selected Napoleon LeBrun & Sons as the winning architects. The plan called for a building with three stories at the base, eight stories in the shaft, and a dormer and pediment under a peaked roof. At the time, life insurance companies generally had their own buildings for their offices and branch locations. According to architectural writer Kenneth Gibbs, these buildings allowed each individual company to instill "not only its name but also a favorable impression of its operations" in the general public. This had been a trend since 1870, with the completion of the former Equitable Life Building in Manhattan's Financial District. Furthermore, life insurance companies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries generally built massive buildings to fit their large clerical and records-keeping staff. Work on 253 Broadway began on November 2, 1892. During construction, Home Life took up space in the New York World Building. The original plans called for Home Life's building to be 12 stories tall, extending on Broadway and deep. Excavations for Home Life's building caused the adjacent building at 257 Broadway, occupied by the Merchants' Exchange National Bank, to tilt out of alignment. The 257 Broadway building had shallower foundations, and the settling caused the top of the bank building to trespass upon Home Life's property. Home Life was already seeking extra space, and it acquired the bank building in early 1893; in exchange, the bank would occupy the ground and basement stories of