Scott Burton. Axa Equitable Center is also near 810 Seventh Avenue to the northwest, the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel and Flatotel New York City to the north, Credit Lyonnais Building to the northeast, 1271 Avenue of the Americas to the southeast, The Michelangelo to the south, and the Winter Garden Theatre to the southwest. The site occupied by Axa Equitable Center had contained the Victoria and Abbey hotels just before the skyscraper's construction. Architecture Axa Equitable Center was designed in the postmodern style by Edward Larrabee Barnes, who commissioned the building for the Equitable Life Assurance Society. The building is tall with 54 stories. Severud Associates was the structural engineer and Turner Construction was the main contractor. The structure uses of stone and of steel. Rather than dictate the precise style for the building, Equitable CEO John B. Carter had requested only that Barnes create "a top-quality building". Nonetheless, Carter had specific requests for several of the interior spaces. For Equitable Tower's construction, Equitable acquired $7 million or $7.5 million worth of artwork to display in both public and private spaces. The work includes large murals by Sol LeWitt and Roy Lichtenstein; sculptures by Scott Burton and Barry Flanagan. In addition, works by Milton Avery, George Bellows, James E. Buttersworth, Marsden Hartley, and Alex Katz decorated the offices. Some works, such as a mobile by Alexander Calder and the bronze sculpture Day by Paul Manship, were already in Equitable's art collection when Equitable Tower was built. Equitable hired several experts, including art consultant Emily Braun, to assist in arranging the artwork. Equitable publications referred to 787 Seventh Avenue, along with 1285 Sixth Avenue, as "one square block of art". Form and facade The entire building is set back from the street on each side. A public galleria runs from north to south, dividing the lowest six floors of the building. The seventh and eighth stories span the north and south ends of the galleria. The north and south elevations rise with three setbacks, while the west and east elevations rise without setbacks. The setbacks on the north and south elevations are placed at the 12th, 34th, and 50th stories, with each setback being deep. Barnes intended for the setbacks to recall those on 30 Rockefeller Plaza and the International Building, two of Rockefeller Center's tallest buildings. One of the early plans for Axa Equitable Center, which was illustrated