The Connecticut General Life Insurance Company Headquarters is a commercial office complex at 900 Cottage Grove Road in
Bloomfield, Connecticut. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
on January 27, 2010.
[ Built between 1954 and 1957, it is an important early example of suburban commercial office architecture, and one of the state's best examples of the International style of architecture. It was listed on the ]National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 2010.[ It continues to serve as the corporate headquarters for Cigna, as the company is now known.
]
Description and history
The current Cigna headquarters complex occupies about (out of what was originally about ), on the south side of Cottage Grove Road in southwestern Bloomfield. Former elements of the campus include the Gillette Ridge Golf Club, developed in 2004. The main building, now called the Wilde Building, is a large three-story structure, with a steel frame and largely glass exterior. The building is about long, with six interior courtyards, laid out so that no interior space is more than from a window. The steel framing elements are on the outside and courtyard walls, and serve as mullion-like separators between the window units. The interior floor plan is broken up by service cores, which house stairwells, elevators, and restrooms as well as other building infrastructure. There are escalators at roughly opposite ends of the building, providing additional access between the floors. A single-story cafeteria wing projects to the south.[NRHP nomination for Connecticut General Life Insurance Company; available by request from the National Park Service]
The building was designed by Gordon Bunshaft
Gordon Bunshaft, (May 9, 1909 – August 6, 1990), was an American architect, a leading proponent of modern design in the mid-twentieth century. A partner in Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Bunshaft joined the firm in 1937 and remained with ...
of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) is an American architectural, urban planning and engineering firm. It was founded in 1936 by Louis Skidmore and Nathaniel Owings in Chicago, Illinois. In 1939, they were joined by engineer John Merrill. The fir ...
, on a campus, and was completed in 1957. According to the architecture firm, "The bucolic site, campus-like plan, and extensive amenities, including a full service cafeteria and after-hours programs, reflected a desire to offer a highly civilized and satisfying office environment to Connecticut General employees. The building set new standards for flexible space planning, efficiency of operation, economy of construction methods, maintenance programs, and planning for future expansion." The project won various architectural and landscape awards.Isamu Noguchi
was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...
. The interiors of the building were designed by Florence Knoll
Florence Marguerite Knoll Bassett ( Schust; May 24, 1917 – January 25, 2019) was an American architect, interior designer, furniture designer, and entrepreneur who has been credited with revolutionizing office design and bringing modernist desi ...
.[
]
See also
*Phoenix Life Insurance Company Building
The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, locally called the "Boat Building", is a notable Modernist office building located on Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. Designed by Max Abramovitz and completed in 1963, it is listed on the N ...
, NRHP-listed in Hartford
*
References
External links
Connecticut General Life Insurance Company Headquarters
at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, includes image gallery
{{National Register of Historic Places
Bloomfield, Connecticut
National Register of Historic Places in Hartford County, Connecticut
Buildings and structures in Hartford County, Connecticut
Insurance company headquarters in the United States