Chicago's Piece of the Rock
(photo by Lee Bey)
The Prudential Building has been part of my daily routine since I started working for the Chicago Central Area Committee located in the neighboring Aon Building.
The 42-story building was the talk of the city when it was completed in 1955. It was the tallest building in Chicago; the first skyscraper built downtown since 1934. The $40 million building would be the Mid-America headquarters Prudential Insurance and the company was quite proud: It wrote its name across the top of the building in 13-foot high red neon lettering and hired Alfonso Ianelli (for $7,500) to create a 65-ton replica of the Rock of Gilbratar for the building's lower wing.
The Prudential became an instant icon of mid-century Chicago. Here is a 1955 image from a booster publication on Chicago:
At 53, the Prudential still looks good in a conservative-gray-flannel-suit sort of way, although it seems to "read" differently than before. The red Prudential lettering at the top of the building was replaced in the 1990s, as was the building's original limestone skin, which began cracking around that time.
