Look up ahead for a tall, pale stone skyscraper with dramatic arching windows and a grand, palace-like entry-if the building in front of you looks like it belongs in a movie about 1920s New York, you're in the right place!
Welcome to the Jefferson Standard Building-once the soaring king of the Southern skyline! Imagine it’s 1923: flappers, jazz, Model Ts sputtering past, and here rises North Carolina’s tallest building, a whopping 374 feet-so tall back then, it was the biggest thing from Washington, D.C. all the way down to Atlanta. Its creator, Julian Price, was a no-nonsense insurance boss who paid cash for the entire thing. He brought in Charles C. Hartmann, a New York architect, and told him to make it grand… and debt-free. Can you picture the sound of marble slabs echoing as workers wheel in 23 train cars worth of marble for the hallways?
Stare up at that U-shape, designed to let sun and air pour into every office. There are hints of Neo-Gothic drama, stately columns, even touches of Art Deco. And if you peek above the main door, you’ll spot Thomas Jefferson’s bust staring wisely out over the city, with Buffalo nickels on the ground floor windows-reminders to be thrifty!
Need a little superhero action with your history? In 2009, this very spot made it onto a special edition comic book cover, with a superhero battle echoing across the skyline!
The story didn’t stop in the Roaring Twenties; after mergers and a big 1990 expansion, this place became the hub for Lincoln Financial’s towering operations, blending old-school grandeur with modern hustle. So take a deep breath-feel that blend of marble, ambition, and maybe just a whiff of adventure.
