W New York Union Square

The W New York Union Square is a 270-room, 21-story boutique hotel operated by W Hotels at the northeast corner of Park Avenue South and 17th Street, across from Union Square in Manhattan, New York City. Originally known as the Germania Life Insurance Company Building, it was designed by Albert D'Oench and Joseph W. Yost and built in 1911 in the Beaux-Arts style.

The W New York Union Square building was initially the headquarters of the Germania Life Insurance Company. In 1917, when the company became the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, the building was renamed the Guardian Life Insurance Company Building. A four-story annex to the east was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and was completed in 1961. Guardian Life moved its offices out of the building in 1999, and the W New York Union Square opened the following year.

The main building, part of the hotel, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, and was designated a city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1988. The Guardian Life annex, not part of the current hotel, was designated as a city landmark in 2007.

The W New York Union Square building's site measures 80 feet (24 m) along Park Avenue South and 115 feet (35 m) along 17th Street. The building is located at the northeast corner of that intersection, diagonally across from Union Square to the southwest. Its immediate neighbors include the four-story International Style Guardian annex and several rowhouses to the east; the former Tammany Hall building at 44 Union Square to the south; the Everett Building across Park Avenue to the west; and a five-story commercial building and a twenty-story loft structure to the north. The building is one of the few remaining major insurance company "home office" structures in New York City.

The W New York Union Square building is designed in the Beaux-Arts style. It is 21 stories tall, with the 18th through 21st stories being located within the mansard roof. A "light court" on the north side of the building gives it a U-shaped footprint. According to building plans, D'Oench and Yost considered the Germania Life Building's main roof to be a flat roof above the 17th floor. The building is divided into three horizontal sections: a three-story base with a ground floor and two-story "transitional section"; a 12-story "shaft" below another 2-story "transitional section"; and the four-story roof. The building rises 290 feet (88 m) above ground level. Two basement levels are located below ground level, and there is a mezzanine between the second and third floors.

The interior structure is supported by steel plate girders below the fourth floor. Above that level, the structure is composed primarily of 24-inch (61 cm) I-beams, with flange plates at their tops and bottoms. The building also incorporates curtain walls in its design.

According to critic A. C. David, the optimal building design included high ceilings and large windows to maximize natural light coverage. The Germania Life Building not only included these features, but also had a corner location that was conducive toward the maximization of natural light. However, unlike many buildings being built on Park Avenue in the 1900s and 1910s, the Germania Life Building also retained traditional design features. For instance, the building used masonry instead of a terracotta-clad metal structure for fireproofing.

The W New York Union Square building facade is composed mostly of gray Concord granite interspersed with brick, except for the red Numidian-granite water table, and the red Spanish-tile mansard roof. The foundation walls are made of brick, mortar, and cement. On all floors, there are eight architectural bays, three facing Park Avenue to the west and five facing 17th Street to the south.