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
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. 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
Bankers Trust was a historic American banking organization. The bank merged with Alex. Brown & Sons in 1997 before being acquired by Deutsche Bank in 1999. Deutsche Bank sold the Trust and Custody division of Bankers Trust to State Street Corpo ...
building at the southeast corner of
Fifth Avenue and
42nd Street. The
Bank of Manhattan
The Manhattan Company was a New York bank and holding company established on September 1, 1799. The company merged with Chase National Bank#Chase National Bank, Chase National Bank in 1955 to form the Chase National Bank#Merger as Chase Manhattan ...
was accorded a 21-year lease and moved its headquarters from
40 Wall Street
40 Wall Street, also known as the Trump Building, is a Gothic Revival architecture, neo-Gothic skyscraper on Wall Street between Nassau Street (Manhattan), Nassau and William Street (Manhattan), William streets in the Financial District, Manh ...
. The building was demolished in 2016 and the site is now the location of
One Vanderbilt.
Design
The structure was built on a plot 66.8 by . 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
Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome ...
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.
[''New Prudence-Bonds Building'', New York Times, July 8, 1923, pg. RE2.]
Political importance
The headquarters of the
New York State Committee for
the presidential campaign of
Al Smith opened in the Prudence Building on May 5, 1924. The
committee's chairman was
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. After
retiring from politics in 1929, Smith made his permanent home an apartment at the southeast corner of
12th Street and Fifth Avenue. His office was in the Prudence Building. It was the administrative center of
Tammany Hall
Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...
in 1950, having relocated from their former headquarters at East
17th Street and 4th Avenue in 1943. Specifically its offices were on the 5th floor of the Prudence Building.
Business locale
C. Klauberg & Bros., Inc., a razor and cutlery firm established in the early 19th century moved its quarters from the Prudence Building to the
Biltmore Hotel at Madison Avenue and 43rd Street, January 1936. By making the change in location, the company increased its space by three
times.
Hoffritz, Inc., a cutlery interest with a store in the
McAlpin Hotel, leased a unit in the Prudence Building in May 1936. Wheelock, Harris & Company negotiated the rental.
[''Expanding Firms Get Quarters In Midtown'', New York Times, May 7, 1936, pg. 43.]
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Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan
Former skyscrapers
Office buildings in Manhattan
Cultural history of New York City
1923 establishments in New York City