National Register of Historic Places: Phoenix Companies Headquarters Building

Interesting Places I've Photographed

Phoenix Companies Headquarters Building

Hartford, CT 

Topics: National Register of Historic Places, Corporate Headquarters

GPS: N41° 45.925; W072° 40.264

Quick Description:

The Phoenix Companies corporate headquarters is located at One American Row, Hartford, CT, 06103

Long Description:

The Phoenix Companies date back to 1851 when the American Temperance Life Insurance Company was founded. American Temperance Life Insurance Company changed its name to Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1860. In that same year the Home Life Insurance Company was formed in Brooklyn, New York.

Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company and Home Life Insurance Company merged in 1992, creating Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Company. The combined company consolidated their headquarters in Hartford, CT, the home base of Phoenix Insurance. In 2001, Phoenix Home Life Mutual Insurance Company converted from a mutual to a stock company. The company is renamed itself The Phoenix Companies, Inc. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol of PNX. President and Chief Executive Officer is James D. Wehr.

The Phoenix Companies, Inc. two-sided, glass structure that stands out from the Hartford Skyline is known as the boat building.  Architect Max Abramovitz designed this oddly shaped building as a pioneering effort to evolve from the modern rectangular glass box buildings that dominated the International architecture movement.  The building was built in 1963 and a mere 42 years later, in 2005,  this modernistic structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.