The historic Prudential building, which was located in Houston, Texas, has been demolished. The location where it once stood is going to hold a new building, and possibly a park. It is always interesting to watch a video of a controlled demolition. At the same time, it is sad to see historic buildings reduced to dust.

Prudential is an insurance company that has been around for more than 135 years. The company’s mission is to help their customers “achieve financial prosperity and peace of mind”. This is the company that, for years, used the phrase: “Get a piece of the rock” in their advertising.

This insurance company is doing just fine. They sell life insurance, annuities, and long-term care policies. They also help businesses with investments, and individuals with making decisions related to retirement. Do not assume that the demolition of their former building means that the company has ceased to exist.

The building that originally housed the offices of the Prudential Insurance company was built in 1952. It was located in the downtown area of Houston, Texas. It was 500,000 square feet, and 18 stories tall. At the time it was built, it held the honor of being the second modern skyscraper to be built in Houston.

It was designed by an architect named Kenneth Franzheim. He gave the building a sense of urban style, and of suburban comfort. The ground level walls were made with deep red, polished, Texas granite. Upper floors had walls of Texas limestone. Much of the building was made of steel. It was one of a group of regional headquarter buildings that were built for the Prudential Insurance company between the late 1940′s and the early 1950′s.

The building the area stood on had landscaped grounds which included a fountain in a rectangular pool that was edged by bronze nautilus shells. The fountain directed water at a limestone sculpture called “Wave of Life”, which was created by artist Wheeler Williams. There was a swimming pool, and tennis courts. They certainly don’t make them like that anymore!

In 1974, the Prudential Building was sold, for $18.5 million, to the MD Anderson Cancer Center. They are a cancer treatment and research center which is connected with the University of Texas. Their goal is to eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation, and the world, and they want to become the premier cancer center in the world. At the time of the sale, the Prudential Building became the “former Prudential Building”. It was also called “the Houston Main Building”.

In 2002, MD Anderson announced that it intended on demolishing the building. They wanted to replace it with a four story medical campus. In 2008, it was discovered that the building was “slowly disintegrating”. Today, January 9, 2012, the former Prudential Building was demolished. It has been said that it took less than twenty seconds for the entire structure to fall.

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