Prudence Building
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| Prudence Building | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of the Prudence Building area | |
| General information | |
| Status | Demolished |
| Architectural style | Romanian Revival architecture |
| Location | Manhattan, New York City |
| Opened | 1923 |
| Demolished | 2016 |
The Prudence Building, or Prudence Bonds Building, was a fourteen-story edifice at the southeast corner of Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was the headquarters of the Prudence Bonds Corporation, opening in October 1923. Stores on the street level were leased to affluent shops. The banking floor was a close likeness of the Bankers Trust Company building at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The Bank of Manhattan was accorded a 21-year lease and moved its headquarters from 40 Wall Street. The building was demolished in 2016 and the site is now the location of One Vanderbilt.[1]
The structure was built on a plot 66.8 by 100 feet (30 m). The building was entered from Madison Avenue via antique bronze doors. The entrance floor opened into a sixteen-foot-wide marble corridor with elevators leading to the upper floors. An imposing stairway of Italian Travertine marble, ten feet wide with ample landings, led directly to the banking floor. This area was eleven feet above street level. It was composed of marble with a twenty-foot ceiling of Roman architecture classic design. An artistic screen of marble and statuary bronze surrounded the banking space.
The former Charles building was incorporated into the Prudence Building, which encompassed the area once occupied by several structures. The Charles building space became the loan department of the new edifice, a quiet section constructed of steel.[2]