Insuring the City: The Prudential Center and the Postwar Urban Landscape

The Prudential Center anchors the Boston skyline with its tall, gray tower. It is also a historical beacon, representing a midcentury moment when insurance companies such as Prudential were particularly aware of how their physical presence and civic engagement reflected upon their intangible product: financial security. Looking to New York's Rockefeller Center, the creators of the Prudential Center aspired to use real estate development as a tool toward civic achievement, reinvigorating central Boston and integrating a large complex of buildings with new infrastructure for the automobile. Architectural historian Elihu Rubin tells the full story of “The Pru,” placing it within the political, economic, and architectural contexts of the period. The Prudential Center played a pivotal role in the economic redevelopment of Boston and was arguably one of the most significant urban developments of the 1950s and '60s. It is an important story, and one that provides great insight into the evolution of the modern city in postwar America.

Details

Type

Book

Place of publication

New Haven, Connecticut

Year

2012

Number of pages

248 pages

Language

English

ISBN

9780300170184

Open stacks or available on request

Open stacks

Illustrations

Yes

Bibliography

No

UDC code and author sign

721 США

Volumes

1

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