Prudential Financial Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American financial services company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both Investor#Retail_investor, retail and institutional cus ...

is based in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, United States. It began as The Widows and Orphans Friendly Society in 1875, and for a short time it was called the Prudential Friendly Society. For many years after 1877 it was known as the Prudential Insurance Company of America, a name still widely in use. The company has constructed a number of buildings to house its offices in

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ( ...

in the Four Corners district. In addition to its own offices, the corporation has financed large projects in the city, including Gateway Center and

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multipurpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey, United States. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), the New York Sirens of the Pro ...

. Prudential has over 5,000 employees in the city.

Prudential Home Office

The four original Prudential headquarters buildings were built from 1892 to 1911 as early examples of steel framing in Newark, clad in gray Indiana limestone with Romanesque styling, the work of George B. Post. The four buildings were known as the Main Building, the North Building, the West Building, and the Northwest Building, and were the tallest in the city at the turn of the 20th century. All were demolished in 1956 to make way for the current Prudential Plaza building. left, Detail of the tower of the Main Building The '' Prudential Lions'' are sculptures designed by Karl Bitter. The two carved limestone companion pieces depict seated male lions, each with its front paw placed on a sphere. They are approximately tall and weigh each. The works were originally created 1901 to stand above the front entrance of the Prudential Home Office. When it was demolished in they were removed and given to Essex County Parks Commission by the Prudential Insurance Company of America and installed in Branch Brook Park in 1959.

Gibraltar Building

The Gibraltar Building was built by Prudential in 1927 at 153 Halsey Street, across from the old Home Office as additional office space. The name was inspired by the

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq , meaning "Mountain of Tariq ibn Ziyad, Tariq") is a monolithic limestone mountain high dominating the western entrance to the Mediterranean Sea. It is situated near the end of a nar ...

, which is featured in the Prudential logo. The

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

structure was designed by the architect

Cass Gilbert Cass Gilbert (November 24, 1859 – May 17, 1934) was an American architect. An early proponent of Early skyscrapers, skyscrapers, his works include the Woolworth Building, the United States Supreme Court building, the state capitols of Minneso ...

, renowned for many works including the

Woolworth Building The Woolworth Building is a residential building and early skyscraper at 233 Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the Tribeca neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Cass Gilbert, it was the tallest building in the world f ...

and the

United States Supreme Court Building The Supreme Court Building houses the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. The building serves as the official workplace of the Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice o ...

. It was sold by Prudential in 1986 to Hartz Mountain Industries, which renovated the building. The Willentz Justice Complex is located inside the building. It is named for Robert Nathan Wilentz (1927–1996), who was Chief Justice of the

New Jersey Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

from 1979 to 1996. The New Jersey Motion Picture & Television Commission, as well as other government agencies and private enterprises are also located there. It was sold in 2021 to an investment partnership, which planned a major renovation to upgrade and 'reactivate' it.

Prudential Building

The Prudential Building is located at 213 Washington Street, across from the Gibraltar Building. It was completed in 1942. Shortly after it was taken over by the federal government for use by the Office of Dependency Benefits (ODB), which responsible for payments to military dependents and their families and moved to Newark from Washington during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Work went on around the clock at 213 Washington Street until it was returned to Prudential in 1946. File:Prudential Building.jpg, February 2024

Prudential Plaza

Prudential's main headquarters, Prudential Plaza, opened in 1960 on the site of the former home office buildings during the ''New Newark'' era when modernist buildings were built downtown. The

International style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

building is one of the tallest and most prominent on the Newark skyline. The facade of Vermont marble includes 1,600 windows set in aluminum frames. It was designed by Voorhees, Walker, Smith, Smith and Haines The lobby of the building was originally adorned with triptych of mosaics designed by

Hildreth Meiere Hildreth may refer to: Places * Hildreth, California * Hildreth, Nebraska * Hildreth Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts Other uses * Hildreth (name) {{Disambiguation, geo ...

entitled "The Pillars of Hercules". The panels had been removed and put in storage; two were formally installed at the Center for Hellenic Studies in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and another in Newark Museum. On August 1, 2004, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the discovery of terrorist threats against the Plaza prompting large-scale security measures such as concrete barriers and internal security changes such as

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

machines.

Prudential Tower

In 2011, Prudential announced plans to construct another office tower near the Plaza headquarters. The company had received a $250 million urban transit tax credit from the state which required that it create new jobs and build within walking distance of a transit hub. The site of the $444 million tower is on Broad Street just west of Military Park. Construction began in July 2013. The exterior of the tower was completed in January 2015 and the building opened in July 2015. File:PrudentialTowerprogress04.29.14.jpg, Construction April 2014 File:Prudential_Tower_Front.jpg, January 2015 File:Prudential Tower.jpg, February 2024

References