(Update: IC lawyers must have been particularly picky because Mike Breski commented on a share:
Mike Breski
Chicago Daily News building 1927 was built on air rights and the Merchadise Mart started 1928 built on CNW air rights and as far back as 1908 in New York. https://www.planning.org/pas/reports/report186.htm Page 120 in Libby Hill's The Chicago River, Revised Edition explains:Building on railroad air rights also changed the aspect of the riverbanks. The Chicago Daily News Building at 400 W. Madison Street was built over the Chicago Union Station tracks and completed in 1929. The Civic Opera Building was erected during 1927-29. [But I don't think it needed air rights because there were no tracks on the east side that far north on the South Branch.] But it was the two-block Art Deco Merchandise Mart, conceived in 1923 and ready for occupancy on May 1, 1930, that historian Ann Durkin Keating says "emblemized the transformation of the river from railroad transhipment point to a post-industrial center of consumerism....The massive building used the river as its front yard, providing room for Chicagoans to once again see their river from its banks (and not just from its bridges).")
 |
| Jeff Incrocci posted 1957 ? Andie Hoffman Rathbone: When this was the tallest building in Chicago. Hard to believe, but true. Dave Alpert: Andie Hoffman Rathbone it was NEVER the tallest building in Chicago. Prudential is 41 stories, 601 feet tall. The Board of Trade building is 44 stories, 604 feet high and was built almost 25 years earlier. Official building heights include spires and architectural details, but not antenna masts. And it remained the tallest building in Chicago until the Chicago Civic Center (now known as Richard J. Daley Civic Center) in 1965. [The Ceres statue on the CBOT counts, but the antennae on the Prudential does not count. Prudential did have the highest observation deck. ] Paul Webb shared |
 |
| Randy Volz commented on Jeff's post 1956 |
 |
| Coast at Lakeshore East posted FBF: Year 1958 – The Prudential building used to be the tallest building in Chicago and had an observatory that was a tourist attraction. You can also see Illinois Central Railroad classification yards. The rail yard is now our beautiful 6 acre park. https://chicagopast.com/ Diane Primozic: The old S curve on Lake Shore Drive was classic Chicago driving. Paul Webb shared |
 |
| Coast at Lakeshore East commented on their post The Prudential Building and Grant Park parking in their early stages in 1954. |
 |
| BDBRCPC posted Construction begins on the Prudential Bldg, undated prob 1955 photographer unknown. Miguel A Cruz: Was the tallest building in chicago till the john hancock was built. Raymond Kunst shared Bill Novelli: The Prudential building was the first skyscraper to be built in Chicago since the Great Depression of 1929! |
A different exposure and cropping:
 |
| Ron Kolman posted Chicago. 1955. 130 E. Randolph St. The Prudential Building is pictured under construction.. One Prudential Plaza (formerly the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in Chicago began construction in the early 1950s and completed in 1955 as headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Second World War. In 2006, BentleyForbes, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm, purchased One Prudential Plaza for $470 million. Paul Petraitis: The banner photo is from a Chicago Daily News 4x5 film negative located and printed by yours truly when I worked at the Chicago Historical Society/Chicago History Museum 1970-86. |
 |
| Glen Miller posted The photo shows the 1954 opening of the Grant Park garage with the Prudential building, finished a year later, under construction in the background. The two-level garage, 23 feet below Michigan Avenue, will occupy 400,000 square feet and will hold 2,500 cars. Fees will be 45 cents for the first hour and 15 cents an hour after that. Today it's $31 for an hour. You can save by buying a monthly pass for $255. Prudential has left the building. Prudential stuck with its namesake skyscraper long after Sears, Wrigley, the Chicago Tribune, Montgomery Ward, Kemper and other big corporations left their buildings. Prudential is staying in town, however, and leasing space elsewhere. Glen Miller sharedPretty soon, you won't see Prudential at the top of the rock! Marguerite Ryan: Prudential Ins Co of America left Chicago around 1973 and moved to Merrillville Indiana. 10 years latter it consolidated down to four home offices and left only Minnesota, Florida,New Jersey(corporate office) and one more on West Coast. Now there is only the corporate office in Newark New JERSEY that exists.However,they have Prudential Property and Casualty in Chicago area . |
 |
| Ron Kolman commented on his post |
 |
| Ron Kolman commented on his post |
 |
| Блинчик Борис posted Rare photo of the Prudential construction in 1954. This appears to be from a window of the historic block between Monroe and Adams looking north on Michigan ave. John McElroy: I wonder if this is the opening of the Grant Park Underground Garage. There is a smallish crowd watching a long line of official-looking cars headed for the entrance ramp in the center of the photo. Paul Jervert shared Prudential Building being built over the I.C. Randolph Street Station (1954) |
 |
| Eric J. Nordstrom posted original 8 x 10 construction image of naess & murphy's 41-story prudential building (completed, 1955) located at 130 east randolph street, chicago, il. unidentified photographer. courtesy of bldg. 51 archive. |
 |
| Original Chicago posted Construction of Prudential Tower in 1955. Just into the new year of 1955 the first section of a 311-foot television tower belonging to WGN was hoisted to the top of the building. The $300,000 antenna and transmitter gave the Chicago station a chance to broadcast with a 50,000 watt transmitter over the highest antenna in the city, 914 feet above the ground. In a way WGN began its rise to “super station” status with this move to Prudential from Tribune Tower in early 1955. The original 41-story Prudential Plaza was the first skyscraper built in Chicago after the Great Depression, as well as one of the first to utilize air rights to build over the rail lines below it. Prudential Insurance is leaving Prudential Building and taking the name with it. The Prudential name has been on the 41-story Loop building since it opened in 1955. The name will stay until new naming rights are sold. The name has also been on the 64-story younger sibling, Prudential Plaza Two since that building opened in 1990. The 65 ton, 30 foot tall Rock of Gibraltar sculpture is staying however. A renovation has been announced for the complex which is currently owned by Wanxiang America Real Estate Group. The US-based real-estate developer is part of Wanxiang Group, a Chinese automotive manufacturer. I wonder if the new name will be in Chinese characters? |
 |
| (Booth Library Postcard Collection--Eastern Illinois U. from ConnectingTheWindyCity Without the other Randolph Street buildings that Prudential heralded, this late 1950's postcard clearly shows how sleekly modern the new building seemed. Gene Schuldt posted Remember when the Prudential Bldg was the tallest thing around? John Sevick: There was always a debate about which was taller — Board of Trade or the Prudential. The question was what criteria should be used. Top of the BoT statue of Ceres, or highest occupied floor at the Prudential. Tony Christoffel: John Sevick If you use the roof measurements the Prudential Building is 601 feet while the Board of Trade Building is 574 feet. The CBOT would only win if you counted the statue of Ceres on top.However,if do that,you’d have to count the antenna on the Prudential Building and that would make it 912 feet. [Antennas don't count because they are functional rather than architectural. So the CBOT is taller.] |
 |
| Paul Jevert shared Mike Tuggle's post Prudential Building at 130 E. Michigan Avenue in 1962. Eileen Truszkowski: One of my high school classes visited this new sky scraper in 1963. Went into the 6th or 7th sub basement, saw the pilasters that went into bedrock. Interesting. Then we went to the observation level. What an amazing view that was back in the day. It was never the tallest building in Chicago. Board of Trade is taller and was built years before. But it was the highest observation deck in the city until John Hancock was built. http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/2472.html I don't think the Board of Trade had an observation deck. But it was only taller because of architectural rules. The statue of Ceres counts as part of the building making it 4 feet taller than the Prudential. |
 |
|
Around 1956 an IC train powered by GP9's 9139, 9080, and 9215 was photographed at South Water Street Yard in downtown Chicago. In the background is the recently completed Prudential Building. The 41 story skyscraper was constructed between 1952 and 1955.
This view shows how the Prudential building was built over IC's tracks. Prudential paid the IC over $2.2 million for air rights. These air rights allowed Prudential to build atop IC's tracks and to sink 260 caisons into the ground to support the building, but the railroad retained ownership of the ground underneath the building. The concept of air rights was still relatively novel in the 1950's and several lawsuits were filed against the IC. All were settled in favor of the railroad and helped set legal precedent.
Today the freight yard is gone, but the IC's electrified commuter line into Randolph Street Station (now renamed Millennium Station) remains. The whole area is now covered by Millennium Park (and its underground parking garages).
IC photo, Cliff Downey coll.
|
 |
| Bruce Andrews shared This is a restoration I did showing the construction of the Prudential Building and the Illinois Central yard around the Grant Park area as seen in Feb. 1955. |
This image restoration shows the ongoing construction of the Prudential Building and the Illinois Central Rail Yard in Chicago, Illinois as seen in Feb. 1955.
Construction on the Prudential Building (now One Prudential Plaza) began in 1952 after the purchase of the railroad property. Prudential paid just under five million dollars for the site, signing an agreement with the Illinois Central and the Michigan Central Railroads, a subsidiary of the New York Central Railroad, for the 16 acres overlooking Grant Park.
On December 8, 1955, the 42 story building, the first skyscraper in Chicago since the depression of the 1930's, opened for business and still stands in the Plaza though now shadowed by taller surrounding buildings.
(PRINTS & CANVASSES ARE AVAILABLE FOR ALL IMAGES ON MY SITE. I DO ALL MY RESTORATIONS FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER SOURCE)
[I could not find the photo on his https://yesterdaystrails.com site so that I could include a direct link.]
Dennis DeBruler Prudential bought the air rights, not the land. A reference: https://www.facebook.com/illinoiscentralrailroadscrapbook/posts/1719327094954692:0
Mike Breski shared
|
 |
| David Daruszka posted Dennis DeBrulerGroup Admin Note the 42-story Prudential Building in the background. Prudential and IC lawyers invented the concept of air rights. The notion of buying or leasing air rights made possible many of the buildings we see along the north shore of the Main Stem and the west shore of the South Branch. And some buildings that we no longer see such as the Sun-Times Building. http://www.connectingthewindycity.com/.../prudential... |
 |
| Piere Hamon shared Mike Joyce Wow, the Prudential Building dwarfs them all; in today's skyline, you can barely find it. Now, I realize why they charged me an exorbitant fee to go to the observation deck in 56 or 57. I think it was $1.25 if you were 12 or older, maybe even $1.50. That was a lot of money for a kid back then. Historic Chicago posted Aerial view of Chicago. (1956) |
On August 12, 1952 Mayor Kennelly and Valentine Howell, executive vice-president of Prudential, hefted the first shovels of dirt atop what would become one of the 260 caissons that would be dug 105 to bedrock. [ConnectingTheWindyCity]
 |
| Planning |
No comments:
Post a Comment