Travelers Tower: An Icon Turns 100

Posted on: August 22, 2019 - 3:00pm
Travelers Tower

The  story of this building is central to the way the company has crafted an image of itself - an enduring image, a powerful image - an image everyone who cares about Hartford should appreciate. The story begins in 1863 the founding of the company by Hartford monument maker James Batterson, whose architectural and memorial art helped define the Gilded Age nationwide with some of 19th century America’s most celebrated landmarks.  We’ll look at the evolution of the American Sky Scraper phenomenon. When Travelers Tower was new in 1919, it was the 7th tallest building in the world and was the tallest building in New England until 1964. We’ll meet architect Donn Barber and get an armchair tour inside this remarkable building - from the top of the tower to the grand entry hall. We’ll look at its impact on Hartford’s image and how artists singled it out for artistic representation  We’ll talk about corporate image management and advertising and how Travelers was born as an art-oriented company and remains so today. Finally, we’ll look at Hartford and the world around it in 1919 - a period when the city was in the midst of the biggest growth spurt in its history.

William Hosley  is a cultural resource development and marketing consultant, historian, preservationist, teacher, writer, and photographer. He was formerly Director of the New Haven Museum and Connecticut Landmarks where he cared for a chain of  house museums, including Hartford’s Butler-McCook House & Garden and the Isham-Terry House. Prior to that, as a curator and exhibition developer at Wadsworth Atheneum, Bill organized The Great River: Art & Society of the Connecticut Valley (1985), The Japan Idea: Art and Life in Victorian America (1990), and Sam & Elizabeth: Legend and Legacy of Colt's Empire (1996), a project that spawned the Coltsville National Park. Bill has studied, lectured and advised hundreds of museums and heritage destinations around the country and has served as a content specialist for PBS, BBC and CPTV film documentaries.