Consolidated Edison Building

The Consolidated Edison Building stands as a monumental headquarters for the city's power utility, but its ornate facade hides a commemorative purpose. While the tower serves as an iconic beacon of electricity, it was explicitly designed as a memorial for the more than three thousand company employees who served during the First World War. Carved stone urns placed on the exterior clock faces echo the ancient Greco-Roman practice of funerary ash storage to honor the seventy-four workers who perished in the conflict.