Quote:
Originally Posted by jedikermit
I actually really loved it when I was a pup -- back then it had the flight of seagulls sculpture (not Flock of Seagulls)(which also would have been awesome) running up the front of the building, and I liked that. Plus I liked the buttressed look. So I guess in the early 1980s, I liked it. I still like it, but after the retrofit it's not quite the same. I'm okay with it leaving.
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Don't forget that when it was first built and into the early to mid 80's it also had a water feature. There was a bridge on each side of the building and in between those bridges was a water feature. The water cascaded down from around sidewalk level on a stepped slope towards the building. You can see where the water feature was, in the below image.
I too have fond memories of that building. As a kid I used to take the bus downtown in the Summer to meet my dad for lunch. We would go to different places and walk around downtown. I remember being mesmerized by this cascading water feature in front of an office building and how cool it was right next to the sidewalk. When I started loving downtown, and particularly when I started working at NAC in 2002 I'd walk around downtown during my lunch and search for that building that was in my memory from my childhood. I finally put the pieces together from my memory and realized that it was the Prudential Building, but the water feature had been removed. I wonder if remnants of the water feature are still under the new entrance sidewalk.
Image from blogs.artinfo.com
I do agree though, that once the remodel was done in the late 90's early 00's it lost it's charm. When the water feature was removed, whenever that was, and having to place the steal tube girders along the entire front made it lose it's charm to me.