Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

"Mutual Benefit" redirects here. For other uses, see Mutual aid.

For the band Mutual Benefit, see Mutual Benefit (band).

Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

Industry	insurance
Fate	dissolved
Founded	1845
Defunct	June 14, 2001
Headquarters	Newark, New Jersey
Key people	Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848–1924)

Mutual Benefit Life Building
General information
Type	Office
Location	520 Broad Street Newark, New Jersey
Completed	1957
Height
Roof	75 m (246 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	20
Design and construction
Structural engineer	George A. Fuller Company
References

The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company was a life insurance company that was chartered in 1845 and based in Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The company was headed by Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848–1924). The company was known as the "Tiffany" of insurance companies, a reference to its reputation as the life insurance company to the upper classes.

Mutual Benefit Life was taken into receivership for rehabilitation by the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance on July 16, 1991, after losses in an overheated real estate market led to a run by policyholders, who ultimately lost the purported "cash value" that had been said to have accrued in their policies. At the time, the collapse was the largest ever of an American insurer. AMEV acquired the group life, accident and health insurance Mutual Benefit in 1991. SunAmerica acquired the remaining divisions in 1998. Effective June 14, 2001, Mutual Benefit was liquidated and dissolved.

Landmark buildings

Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
File:MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, NEWARK, ESSEX COUNTY, NJ.jpg
Location	300 Broadway and 2nd St., Newark, New Jersey
Coordinates
Area	3.9 acres (1.6 ha)
Built	1925
Architect	John H. & Wilson C. Ely
Architectural style	Other, Civic Renaissance
NRHP Reference #	83004031
Added to NRHP	November 17, 1983

The company's original headquarters building at 300 Broadway in Newark is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The building was sold to the Archdiocese of Newark and served as home to Essex Catholic High School until 1979. The building was again sold, and today serves as a nursing home.

The company moved to larger headquarters at 520 Broad Street in 1957, a modern structure that was built in the International Style as part of the New Newark movement and centered to the north of traditional downtown at Washington Park. As of December 2012 there were plans to convert the building to residential and retail space marketed to the city's student population'

The Mutual Benefit Life Building in Philadelphia is another structure associated with the firm.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Essex County, New Jersey
• List of tallest buildings in Newark
• History of Newark, New Jersey

Further reading

• Answers.com Mutual Benefit Life
• Article on Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company at fundinguniverse.com

External links

• Image of share certificate

• http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/86/THE-MUTUAL-BENEFIT-LIFE-INSURANCE-COMPANY.html History of Mutual Benefit Life
• http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=520broadstreet-newark-nj-usa%7C520 Broad
• International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 3. St. James Press, 1991
• Re: Inquiry to Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, Updated December 8, 2005. Accessed May 31, 2007.