History of the Prudential Center in Boston

Construction of the tower was completed in 1964, after four years of work. The tower held the title of the city's largest building for approximately 15 years. It was trumped when rival insurance company John Hancock built its own skyscraper that was 38 feet taller. The tower itself has been criticized as an architectural blemish on the city, with its only real characteristic being height. Prudential sold the property in the early 1990s in order to stay financially liquid. It is now owned by Boston Properties.

Prudential had been the largest tenant of the building for years, before centralizing most of its operation at its Newark, New Jersey, world headquarters. Procter and Gamble is the largest tenant of the buildings nearly 1.2 million square feet, occupying most of the top half of the building. Partners HealthCare, which owns Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's hospitals, has its headquarters in the building. So do two law firms, an e-commerce company and a branch of Harvard Medical School's research division. The Oblates of the Virgin Mary operate the 300-set St. Francis Chapel on the building's ground floor.

Boston Properties redeveloped the site in the early 1990s, mixing retail property with the commercial office space. Two towers opened after the year 2000--the 36-floor building at 111 Huntington Place and a 25-floor structure at 101 Huntington Place. Both are considered part of the Prudential Center complex.



The Shops at Prudential Center is a half-million-square-foot mall; it's one the largest shopping centers in the metropolitan Boston area. Also on-site is the 193,000-square-foot Hynes Convention Center.

The location of the Prudential Center puts it directly at the center of Boston transportation. During the construction of The Prudential Center, developers were able to negotiate construction of the plaza over the roadway and the rights to the land itself. Prudential Center is the only space over the highway not owned by the Turnpike Authority. In addition, the building's developers were able to convince the state to build Exit 22 from the Turnpike, which puts travelers on Huntington Avenue, adjacent to Prudential Center.

The Prudential Center is one of two downtown starting points for the popular Boston Duck Tours Company. The other is nearby Copley Square. The 50th floor Prudential Skywalk observation deck is the highest observation point in New England. The center is served by two stops on the Boston subway system--Back Bay and Prudential. Both are linked by indoor walkways. Back Bay is also an Amtrak station, meaning that a traveler can go from Boston's Prudential Center to New York's Penn Station without having to step outside.