Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building

Phoenix Life Insurance Company Building
Location One American Row, Hartford, Connecticut
Coordinates 41°46′12″N 72°40′36″W / 41.77000°N 72.67667°WCoordinates: 41°46′12″N 72°40′36″W / 41.77000°N 72.67667°W
Architect Abramovitz, Max
Architectural style Modern Movement
Governing body Private
NRHP Reference # 04001462[1]
Added to NRHP January 21, 2005

The Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building, locally called the "Boat Building", is a notable Modernist office building located on Constitution Plaza in Hartford, Connecticut. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the world's first two-sided building. It is home to The Phoenix Companies.

The building was designed by the nationally renowned architect Max Abramovitz of Harrison & Abramovitz, whose previous work included coordinating the work on the United Nations headquarters and Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. The contractor was George A. Fuller Company. Groundbreaking was in 1961, with construction complete in November 1963. The 13-story tower has only two curved sides, in an unusual and striking shape variously termed an elliptic lenticular cylinder or lenticular hyperboloid. Its height is 212 feet (65 meters); it measures 225 feet on its long axis, and 87 feet wide at its maximum width. The ends point east and west, with sides facing north and south. The building has been an architectural landmark in the city since its construction, occupying a highly-visible location near the Connecticut River and major highways.[2]

See also

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13.
  2. "NRHP nomination for Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Building". National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-12-11.