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(1913–1994)
Jack Pruden grew up in Edenton NC. He received his architecture degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1939 then went into the Army during WWII. After the war, he worked for George Watts Carr then later left to start his own firm with Kenneth Scott. He eventually returned to Carr and was named a principal. The firm changed to Carr Harrison Pruden & DePasquale in 1962. Later when Frank DePasquale left, the firm was Carr Harrison and Pruden until Pruden's retirement.
Pruden and his wife Nancy Walker Pruden retired to his hometown of Edenton in 1981 and he died there in 1994. They had several children, artist Nancy Margaret Pruden, Jack McMullan (Mack) Pruden Jr., Jess (Jay) Bagwell Pruden, and Walker Pruden.
L to R: Son Mack Pruden, daughter Nancy Pruden, Norfleet Pruden (Jack's nephew), Helen Pruden (Jack's niece), wife Nancy Pruden, Jack Pruden, and son Walker Pruden at Helen's debutante ball in the late 1960s.
His most well-known commercial project was the 1976 Henderson Towers on South Duke Street in Durham, considered by many as a monster or a marvel of concrete. Photo from Endangered Durham. He also designed many homes in the North Estes Drive area of Chapel Hill.
Sources include: Former partner Robert Carr; son-in-law Scott McLean; Mimi and Lucien Roughton; son Walker Pruden; Arthur Cogswell.
