Prudential Building, Chicago. Photographs of Early Stages of Construction, 1953 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

The 35 photographs in this collection show the construction of the basement area of the Prudential Building in Chicago. The photographs were taken by the Photograph Office of the Illinois Central Railroad Co. The place from which each photograph was taken is noted on the back of the picture. Many of the photographs were taken from the Randolph Street viaduct and show the Wrigley Building and Tribune Tower in the background. A date (June 2 or July 16, 1953) is stamped on the back of each picture. The Prudential, completed in 1955, was the first new downtown skyscraper built in Chicago in 21 years.

The photographs, now detached from a board binder, came to the Library from the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in 1976-1977.