AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company (formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States) was founded by Henry Baldwin Hyde in 1859. In 1991 a French insurance company, AXA, acquired a majority of The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. In 2004 it officially changed its name to AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company.1
Equitable Life Insurance opened a new building in 1875 near Wall Street (Manhattan). It had an excellent location with three entrances on Broadway (Manhattan), Pine Street, and Cedar Street. The edifice had six elevators and incomparable facilities for lawyers, who were located almost entirely in the building's upper stories. Aside from Hyde, who was president of Equitable, the firm's officers included James W. Alexander (Vice President), George W. Phillips (Actuary), and Samuel Borrowe (Secretary).2
