Insuring the city : the Prudential Center and the postwar urban landscape / Elihu Rubin.

Main entry:

Rubin, Elihu, 1977-

Title & Author:

Insuring the city : the Prudential Center and the postwar urban landscape / Elihu Rubin.

Publication:

Description:

viii, 247 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 221-242) and index.
Introduction. Insuring the city -- Extra dividends : Prudential's urban vision -- "I hate Boston" : setting the stage -- "We believe in Boston" : the politics of the Prudential Center -- A closed loop : the pike and the Pru -- Designing the Center : the business of architecture -- The legacy of the Prudential Center : confidence, criticism, and change.

Summary:

The Prudential Center anchors the Boston skyline with its tall, gray tower. Though unassuming architecturally, it is 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.

ISBN:

9780300170184 (hbk. ; alk. paper)
0300170181 (hbk. ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Office buildings Massachusetts Boston.
City planning Massachusetts Boston History 20th century.
Immeubles de bureaux Massachusetts Boston.
Buildings.
City planning.
Office buildings.
Prudential Center (Boston, Mass.)
Boston (Mass.) Buildings, structures, etc.
Massachusetts Boston.
Massachusetts Boston Prudential Center.

Form/genre:

History.

Added entries:

Prudential Center and the postwar urban landscape

Holdings:

Location: Library main 278083
Call No.: BIB 213509
Status: Available

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