Columbus Circle
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}}Template:Main other Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South (West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the southwest corner of Central Park. The circle is the point from which official highway distances from New York City are measured, as well as the center of the Template:Convert restricted-travel area for C-2 visa holders.
The circle is named after the monument of Christopher Columbus in the center, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The name is also used for the neighborhood that surrounds the circle for a few blocks in each direction. Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is located to the southwest, and the Theater District is to the southeast and the Lincoln Square section of the Upper West Side is to the northwest.
HistoryEdit
The traffic circle, located at Eighth Avenue/Central Park West, Broadway, and 59th Street/Central Park South, was designed as part of Frederick Law Olmsted's 1857 vision for Central Park, which included a rotary on the southwest corner of the park. It abuts the Merchant's Gate, one of the park's eighteen major gates. Similar plazas were planned at the southeast corner of the park (now Grand Army Plaza), the northeast corner (Duke Ellington Circle), and the northwest corner (Frederick Douglass Circle).<ref name="Heckscher 2008">Template:Cite book</ref> Clearing of the land area for the circle started in 1868.<ref name="Minutes 1869" /><ref name="Bruner Foundation" /> The actual circle was approved two years later.<ref name="Bruner Foundation" /> The Columbus Monument was placed at the center of the circle in 1892.<ref name="nyt18921013">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyh18921013">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Jackson p. 287">Template:Harvnb</ref>
Columbus Circle was originally known generically as "The Circle".<ref name="Minutes 1869">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Heckscher 2008" /> An 1871 account of the park referred to the roundabout as a "grand circle".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> After the 1892 installation of the Columbus Column in the circle's center, it became known as "Columbus Circle",<ref name="Jackson p. 287" /><ref>Template:Cite naming</ref> although its other names were also used through the 1900s.<ref name="nyt19020105">Template:Cite news</ref> Template:Multiple image
By 1901, construction on the first subway line of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company (now the IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line, used by the Template:NYCS trains) required the excavation of the circle, and the column and streetcar tracks through the area were put on temporary wooden stilts. As part of the subway line's construction, the 59th Street–Columbus Circle station was built underneath the circle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Jackson p. 288">Template:Harvnb</ref> During construction, traffic in the circle was so dangerous that the Municipal Art Society proposed redesigning the roundabout.<ref name="nyt19020105" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By February 1904, the station underneath was largely complete,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and service on the subway line began on October 27, 1904. The station only served local trains; express trains bypassed the station.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The platforms of the IRT subway station were lengthened in 1957–1959, requiring further excavations around Columbus Circle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> An additional subway line—the Independent Subway System (IND)'s Eighth Avenue Line, serving the present-day Template:NYCS trains—was built starting in 1925. At Columbus Circle, workers had to be careful to not disrupt the existing IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line or Columbus Circle overhead.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Columbus monument was shored up during construction, and obstructions to traffic were minimized.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The line, which opened in 1932, contains a 4-track, 3-platform express station at 59th Street–Columbus Circle, underneath the original IRT station.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The IND station were designed as a single transit hub under Columbus Circle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Conversion to traffic circleEdit
In November 1904, due to the high speeds of cars passing through the circle, the New York City Police Department added tightly spaced electric lights on the inner side of the circle, surrounding the column.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The circle was altered in 1905 by William Phelps Eno, a businessman who pioneered many early innovations in road safety and traffic control.<ref>Henebery, Ann. "The Rules of the Road: Then Versus Now" Template:Webarchive, Eno Center for Transportation, October 6, 2015. Accessed October 9, 2017. "William P. Eno is internationally recognized as an original pioneer of traffic regulation and safety.... He was dubbed the 'Father of Traffic Safety' and many of the traffic-flow innovations that we now take for granted were a result of Eno's hard work. He is credited with designing Columbus Circle in New York City and the traffic circle surrounding the Arc de Triomphe in Paris."</ref><ref name="Petroski2016" /> In a 1920 book, Eno writes that prior to the implementation of his plan, traffic went around the circle in both directions, causing accidents almost daily. The 1905 plan, which he regarded as temporary, created a counterclockwise traffic pattern with a "safety zone" in the center of the circle for cars stopping; however, the circle was too narrow for the normal flow of traffic. Eno also wrote of a permanent plan, with the safety zones on the outside as well as clearly delineated pedestrian crossings.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The redesign marked the first true one-way traffic circle to be constructed anywhere, implementing the ideas of Eugène Hénard.<ref name="Petroski2016">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In this second scheme, the public space within the circle, around the monument, was almost as small as the monument's base.<ref name="nyt20050804">Template:Cite news</ref>
The rotary traffic plan was not successful. A New York Times article in June 1929 stated that the "Christopher Columbus [monument] is safe and serene, but he's the only thing in the Circle that is."<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficMaze-1929">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> At the time, there were eight entrance and exit points to Columbus Circle: two each from 59th Street/Central Park South, to the west and east; Broadway, to the northwest and southeast; Eighth Avenue/Central Park West, to the south and north; and within Central Park to the northeast.Template:Efn Moreover, streetcars on the former three streets did not go counterclockwise around the rotary, but rather, both tracks of all three streetcar routes went around one side of the monument, creating frequent conflicts between streetcars and automobiles using the rotary in opposite directions. The police officers patrolling the circle had to manage the 58,000 cars that entered Columbus Circle every 12 hours.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficMaze-1929" />
As part of a plan to reorganize traffic in the "Columbus-Central Park Zone", Eno's circular-traffic plan was abolished in November 1929, and traffic was allowed to go around the circle in both directions.<ref name="nyt20050804" /><ref name="NYTimes-NewTrafficRules 1929" /> Central Park West, a one-way street that formerly carried southbound traffic into the circle, was now one-way northbound.<ref name="NYTimes-NewTrafficRules 1929" /> The bidirectional entrance roads into Central Park, which fed into northbound and eastbound West Drive, were both changed to one-way streets because West Drive had been changed from bidirectional to one-way southbound and eastbound.<ref name="NYTimes-NewTrafficRules 1929" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Traffic going straight through Columbus Circle was forced to go around the left side of the monument, while any traffic making turns from the circle had to go counterclockwise around the rotary using the right side.<ref name="NYTimes-NewTrafficRules 1929">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
AlterationsEdit
The bidirectional traffic pattern through Columbus Circle failed to eliminate congestion. In 1941, engineers with the New York City Parks Department and the Manhattan Borough President's office formed a tentative agreement to redesign Columbus Circle yet again. "Local" and "express" lanes would segregate north–south traffic passing within the circle. Local north–south traffic and all east–west traffic would go around the circle's perimeter in a counterclockwise direction, along a Template:Convert roadway.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPlan-1941" /><ref name="NYTimes-Roadways-Islands-1949" /> Through north–south traffic on Broadway, Eighth Avenue, and Central Park West would use two Template:Convert divided roadways with Template:Convert landscaped medians, running in chords on either side of the Columbus monument. Traffic from southbound Broadway and northbound Eighth Avenue would use the western chord, and northbound Broadway and southbound Central Park West would use the eastern chord.<ref name="NYTimes-Roadways-Islands-1949" /> The center of the circle would be refurbished with a tree-lined plaza, and pedestrian traffic from the north and south would be able to pass through the center of the circle. The exit into Columbus Circle from West Drive would be eliminated, and the entrance to West Drive would be relocated.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPlan-1941" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In a related development, the 59th Street trolley route's tracks would be removed. This was crucial to the reorganization of the circle, as the trolley had already been discontinued.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPlan-1941">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The proposed reorganization of Columbus Circle was widely praised by civic groups and city officials.<ref name="nyt19410510">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On the other hand, William Phelps Eno advocated for a return to his original 1905 proposal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, the plan still had some issues, the largest of which was that traffic traveling on Broadway in either direction would be routed onto Eighth Avenue or Central Park West, and vice versa.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPlan-1941" /><ref name="NYTimes-Roadways-Islands-1949" /> The reconfiguration of the circle was deferred due to World War II.<ref name="Ingraham 1949">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The trolley routes that ran through Columbus Circle were discontinued in 1946, but the bus routes that replaced the trolley lines took the same convoluted paths through the circle.<ref name="Ingraham 1949" /> In June 1949, it was announced that the reconstruction of Columbus Circle would finally begin.<ref name="NYTimes-Roadways-Islands-1949">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Work on removing the abandoned trolley tracks commenced in August.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPuzzle-1949">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In conjunction with Columbus Circle's rehabilitation, the New York City Department of Transportation designed a variable traffic light system for the circle. The project was originally set to be complete by November 1949 at a cost of $100,000.<ref name="NYTimes-TrafficPuzzle-1949" /> However, delays arose due to the need to maintain traffic flows through the circle during construction.<ref name="Ingraham 1949" /> The project was ultimately completed that December.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The entirety of Eighth Avenue south of Columbus Circle was converted to northbound-only traffic in 1950.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1956, in preparation for the opening of the New York Coliseum on Columbus Circle's west side, traffic on Central Park West and Broadway was rearranged. Central Park West was made northbound-only for a short segment north of the circle, and two blocks of Broadway south of the circle were converted to southbound-only. A new northbound roadway was cut through the southern tip of the center traffic island that contained the statue, from Eighth Avenue to the eastern chord. At the same time, the eastern chord was converted to northbound-only.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
1990s and 2000s renovationEdit
By the late 20th century, it was regarded as one of the most inhospitable of the city's major intersections, as the interior circle was being used for motorcycle parking, and the circle as a whole was hard for pedestrians to cross. In 1979, noted architecture critic Paul Goldberger said that the intersection was "a chaotic jumble of streets that can be crossed in about 50 different ways—all of them wrong."<ref name="nyt20050804" /> In 1987, the city awarded a $20 million contract to Olin Partnership and Vollmer Associates to create a new design for the circle.<ref name="nyt20050804" />
The circle was refurbished in 1991–1992 as part of the 500th-anniversary celebration of Columbus's arrival in the Americas.<ref name="Sun-Columbus-2005">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Jackson p. 288" /> In 1998, as a result of the study, the circular-traffic plan was reinstated, with all traffic going around the circle in a counterclockwise direction. The center of the circle was planned for further renovations, with a proposed park Template:Convert across.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The design for a full renovation of the circle was finalized in 2001.<ref name="ASLA 2006">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The project started in 2003, and was completed in 2005. It included a new water fountain by Water Entertainment Technologies, who also designed the Fountains of Bellagio; benches made of ipe wood; and plantings encircling the monument.<ref name="nyt20050804" /><ref name="Sun-Columbus-2005" /> The fountain, the main part of the reconstructed circle, contains 99 jets that periodically change in force and speed, with effects ranging between "swollen river, a rushing brook, a driving rain or a gentle shower".<ref name="nyt20050804" /> The inner circle is about Template:Convert, while the outer circle is around Template:Convert. The redesign was the recipient of the 2006 American Society of Landscape Architects' General Design Award Of Honor.<ref name="ASLA 2006" /> In 2007 Columbus Circle was awarded the Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence silver medal.<ref name="Bruner Foundation">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
MonumentEdit
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The Columbus Monument, a Template:Convert column installed at the center of Columbus Circle, consists of a Template:Convert marble statue of Columbus atop a Template:Convert granite rostral column<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on a four-stepped granite pedestal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Created by Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the monument was installed at the center of the circle in 1892.<ref name="nyt18921013" /><ref name="nyh18921013" /><ref name="Jackson p. 287" /> It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NeighborhoodEdit
The five streets radiating from the circle separate the immediate surrounding area into five distinct portions.<ref name="MTAMaps-2015">Template:Cite NYCS map</ref><ref name="google-maps">Template:Google maps</ref>
In the early 20th century, much of the development around Columbus Circle was spurred by magazine publisher William Randolph Hearst, who acquired several plots before he ultimately erected the Hearst Magazine Building at Eighth Avenue and 57th Street in 1928.<ref name="NYCL-1625">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp<ref name="Stern (1987) p. 619" />Template:Efn Hearst had envisioned the creation of a large Midtown headquarters for his company near Columbus Circle, in the belief that the area would become the city's next large entertainment district.<ref name="Stern (1987) p. 619">Template:Cite New York 1930</ref> By the late 1920s, Hearst was acquiring large amounts of land in the area in an effort to create a "Hearst Plaza" near Columbus Circle.<ref name="NYCL-1625" />Template:Rp<ref name="Swanberg1961">Template:Cite book</ref> The Hearst Magazine Building, later expanded into the Hearst Tower, is the only remnant of this scheme, the other parts of the proposal having collapsed in the Great Depression.<ref name="NYCL-1625" />Template:Rp<ref name="Swanberg1961" />Template:Rp
WestEdit
To the west of the circle is a superblock spanning two streets, bounded by Broadway, 60th Street, Ninth Avenue, 58th Street, and Eighth Avenue.<ref name="MTAMaps-2015" /> The superblock was formerly two separate blocks.<ref name="Jackson p. 914">Template:Harvnb</ref> In 1901 the first theatre built in the Columbus Circle area, the Circle Theatre, was built.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> From 1902 to 1954, the Majestic Theatre occupied the more southerly of the two blocks.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Robert Moses closed and eliminated that block of 59th Street during the New York Coliseum's construction from 1954 to 1956.<ref name="Jackson p. 914" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The construction project, in turn, was the culmination of an effort to remove San Juan Hill, the slum that had been located at the site.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Until the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center was built in Hell's Kitchen in the 1980s, the Coliseum was the primary event venue for New York City.<ref name="Jackson p. 914" /> By 1985, there were plans to replace the Coliseum,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and after a series of delays, the Coliseum was demolished in 2000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Since 2003,<ref name="AIA5 p. 310" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the site has been occupied by Deutsche Bank Center (originally Time Warner Center).<ref name="Real Estate Weekly 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The center consists of a pair of Template:Convert towers 53 stories high.<ref name="Jacobs 2009">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The complex also hosts the Shops at Columbus Circle mall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the New York City studio headquarters of CNN, and the Mandarin Oriental, New York hotel.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Jacobs 2009" /> The mall inside the complex includes prestigious restaurants in the center such as Bad Roman,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Per Se, and Masa.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
NorthEdit
The north side of Columbus Circle is bounded by Broadway, Central Park West, and 61st Street.<ref name="MTAMaps-2015" /> In 1911, Hearst bought this city block.<ref name="nyt19110629">Template:Cite news</ref> The plot was developed with a three-story building by 1914, designed by Charles E. Birge.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Its superstructure was designed to support the weight of a 30-story tower that was never built.<ref name="NYCL-1625" />Template:Rp
The 44-story Gulf and Western Building (later the Trump International Hotel and Tower) was completed on the site in 1969<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> or 1970.<ref name="nyt19930131">Template:Cite news</ref> It served in this capacity until the conglomerate filed for bankruptcy in 1991.<ref name="nyt19930131" /> In 1994, Donald Trump announced his plans to convert the building into a mixed-purpose hotel and condominium tower.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Renovations started in 1995,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and were completed by 1997.<ref name="Jackson p. 288" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The building was stripped to its steel skeleton and reclad in a new facade, becoming the Trump International Hotel and Tower.<ref name="Jacobs 2009" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The steel globe outside the building was installed in this renovation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
NortheastEdit
On the northeast lies the Merchant's Gate to Central Park, dominated by the USS Maine National Monument. The USS Maine monument was designed by Harold Van Buren Magonigle and sculpted by Attilio Piccirilli, who did the colossal group and figures, and Charles Keck, who was responsible for the "In Memoriam" plaque. An imposing Beaux-Arts edifice of marble and gilded bronze,<ref name="NYCParks-Maine" /> it was dedicated in 1913 and was funded by Hearst.<ref name="Stern (1987) p. 619" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The statue is a memorial to sailors killed aboard the battleship USS Maine, whose mysterious 1898 explosion in Havana harbor precipitated the Spanish–American War.<ref name="NYCParks-Maine">USS Maine National Monument Template:Webarchive, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. Accessed October 9, 2017.</ref>
SouthEdit
Actors' Equity was founded in 1913 in the old Pabst Grand Circle Hotel,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> on the southern side of the circle.<ref name="nyt20060108" />
The original structure at 2 Columbus Circle was torn down in 1960. It was replaced by 2 Columbus Circle, an International Modernist tower designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone to house the Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art.<ref name="nyt20060108">Template:Cite news</ref> Vacated when the city's Department of Cultural Affairs departed in 1998,<ref name="nyt20060108" /> 2 Columbus Circle was listed as one of the World Monuments Fund's "100 most endangered sites" in 2006.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> After a renovation by architect Brad Cloepfil, the building became the new home of the Museum of Arts and Design in 2008.<ref name="AIA5 p. 310">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Its radical transformation was controversial for the failure of the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold hearings on its worthiness for designation.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
SoutheastEdit
Several buildings are on the block bordering the circle's southeast section.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308">Template:Harvnb</ref> 240 Central Park South, a balconied moderne apartment building across Broadway from the museum, is directly on the southeast corner of the circle.<ref name="NRHP-09000304">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Built between 1939 and 1940 to designs by Albert Mayer and Julian Whittlesey,<ref name="NRHP-09000304" /><ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /> it is a city-designated landmark and a National Registered Historic Place.<ref>Template:Cite nycland</ref> 240 Central Park South has 28 stories across two apartment blocks, and is variously quoted as having either 325,<ref name="nyt19970209">Template:Cite news</ref> 326,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="NRHP-09000304" /> or 327 apartments.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The building contains several roof gardens, and from the outset, was marketed toward people who wanted suburban lifestyles.<ref name="nyt19970209" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On Central Park South, just east of 240 Central Park South, is the Gainsborough Studios.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /> Designed by Charles W. Buckham, it was built between 1907 and 1908 as artists' cooperative housing,<ref name="NYCL-1423" /> and rises 16 stories with 34 studio units, some of them double-story units.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The facade has a bust of the English painter Thomas Gainsborough, a bas-relief by Isidore Konti, and tile murals by Henry Chapman Mercer. It is a New York City designated landmark.<ref name="NYCL-1423">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
To the east of 240 Central Park South and the Gainsborough Studios is 220 Central Park South, a 70-story residential skyscraper designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and SLCE Architects, and completed in 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The building contains some of the most expensive residences ever sold in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
On 58th Street, east of 220 Central Park South, are two New York City designated landmarks: the Helen Miller Gould Stable and the firehouse of Engine Company 23.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /> The four-story horse stable, at 213 West 58th Street, was designed by York and Sawyer in the French Renaissance style for wealthy philanthropist Helen Miller Gould.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /><ref name="NYCL-1564" />Template:Rp<ref name="nyt20081207">Template:Cite news</ref> Completed in 1902–1903 on the site of an existing stable,<ref name="NYCL-1564">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp the stable became Allan Murray's shoe shop in the 1950s, and has served as the Unity Center of Practical Christianity since 1982.<ref name="NYCL-1564" />Template:Rp<ref name="nyt20081207" /> It has a limestone base with a large entrance arch; a limestone-and-brick facade on the second and third stories; a bracketed cornice over the third story; and a hip roof on the fourth story, with a dormer window.<ref name="NYCL-1564" />Template:Rp The stable was one of several on that block of West 58th Street in the early 20th century, and is the only remaining former stable on the block.<ref name="NYCL-1563" />Template:Rp
The adjoining firehouse of Engine Company 23, at 215 West 58th Street, was designed by Alexander H. Stevens (the New York City Fire Department's superintendent of buildings<ref name="NYCL-1563" />Template:Rp) in the Beaux-Arts style.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /><ref name="NYCL-1563">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Rp It was constructed between 1905 and 1906 to replace a former firehouse at 233 West 58th Street, now taken up by the 240 Central Park South apartment building.<ref name="NYCL-1563" />Template:Rp The design contains an arched fire truck entrance at ground level; a limestone-and-brick facade on the second and third stories, with two small windows flanking a large window on each story; a bracket above the second story; and a parapet atop the third story.<ref name="NYCL-1563" />Template:Rp The building remains an active firehouse of the FDNY.<ref>Template:Cite FDNY locations</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
3, 4, 5, and 6 Columbus CircleEdit
3, 4, 5, and 6 Columbus Circle are the numbers given to four buildings on the south side of 58th Street. From east to west, the buildings are numbered 5, 3, 4, and 6 Columbus Circle.<ref name="google-maps" />
5 Columbus Circle (also known by its address, 1790 Broadway),<ref name="cpexec">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a Template:Convert, 20-story tower on the southeast corner of Broadway and 58th Street.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was originally built as the headquarters of the United States Rubber Company (U.S. Rubber) in 1912.<ref name="AIA5 p. 308" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was part of Broadway's "Automobile Row" during the early 20th century.<ref name="nyt20000707">Template:Cite news</ref> The lobby contains part of a flagship store for Nordstrom, which extends into the Central Park Tower and 1776 Broadway.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Between Eighth Avenue and Broadway on the south side of 58th Street is 3 Columbus Circle (also 1775 Broadway), a Template:Convert, 26-story tower.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is occupied by Young & Rubicam, Bank of America, Chase Bank, and Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The tower sits atop a 3-story structure called the Colonnade Building.<ref name="nyt20080220">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first three stories were built in 1923 and the top 23 stories were added in 1927–1928.<ref name="AIA5 p. 307">Template:Harvnb</ref> During the expansion, the original building's three-story Ionic supports were kept.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyt20080220" /> The new expansion, designed by Shreve & Lamb,<ref name="AIA5 p. 307" /> hosted General Motors' headquarters from 1927<ref name="nyt20000707" /><ref name="nyt19990915">Template:Cite news</ref> to 1968.<ref name="nyt19990915" /><ref name="nydn20150730">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1969, Midtown Realty purchased the building's lease, and in 1980, acquired the land. Half of the building was leased by Bankers Trust until the late 1980s,<ref name="nyt19990915" /> and Newsweek leased a third of the building from 1994<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> until 2006.<ref name="nyp20071227">Template:Cite news</ref> When the Moinian Group purchased the building in 2000,<ref name="nyt20080220" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the building assumed its current name;<ref name="nyt20080220" /><ref name="nyp20071227" /> a subsequent renovation refurbished the exterior and removed all remnants of the Colonnade Building.<ref name="nyt20080220" /> A neon sign for CNN was located on the roof of the building from the mid-2000s to 2015.<ref name="nydn20150730" /> A Nordstrom annex is at the base of 3 Columbus Circle.<ref name="cpexec" />
4 Columbus Circle, an eight-story low-rise located at 989 Eighth Avenue at the southwest corner of the intersection with 58th Street, was built in the late 1980s. Swanke Hayden Connell Architects designed the building, which houses the furniture company Steelcase on the upper floors and a Duane Reade and a Starbucks on the ground floor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Cerberus Capital Management bought the building in 2006 for $82.9 million. In 2011, it was sold to German real estate firm GLL Real Estate Partners for $96.5 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Directly to the west is 6 Columbus Circle, an 88-room, 12-floor boutique hotel called 6 Columbus.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Acquired by the Pomeranc Group in 2007,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the hotel was put on sale in December 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Template:Convert tower is planned for the site.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
TransportationEdit
The Template:NYC bus link buses all serve the circle, with the M5, M7, M20 and M104 providing through service and the southbound M10 terminating near the circle.<ref>Template:Cite NYC bus map</ref> Under the circle is the New York City Subway's 59th Street–Columbus Circle station, served by the Template:NYCS trains.<ref>Template:NYCS const</ref>
Cultural significanceEdit
Geographic centerEdit
Columbus Circle is the traditional municipal zero-mile point from which all official city distances are measured,<ref name="Jacobs 2009" /> although Google Maps uses New York City Hall for this purpose.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For decades, Hagstrom sold maps that showed the areas within Template:Convert<ref>Template:Citation</ref> or Template:Convert from Columbus Circle.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The travel area for recipients of a C-2 visa, which is issued for the purpose of immediate and continuous transit to or from the headquarters of the United Nations, is limited to a 25-mile radius of Columbus Circle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The same circle coincidentally defines the city's "film zone" that local unions operate in, a counterpart to Los Angeles' studio zone.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The New York City government employee handbook considers a trip beyond a 75-mile radius from Columbus Circle as long-distance travel.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As a center for soapbox oratorsEdit
The circle became known as a center for soapbox orators in the early-mid 20th century,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> comparable to Speakers Corner in London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It became a home particularly for non-leftists in contrast to Union Square, and for a time in the late 1930s it became a home to a number of far right speakers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The area sometimes had a poor reputation for cranks and street preachers, the "lunatic fringe whose tub-thumping make a nightmare of Columbus Circle" condemned by a New York Court of Appeals ruling in a case related to elsewhere in the city,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> that prompted mid-20th century configurations,<ref name="nyt19410510" /> but was also sometimes showcased by the national government as a rambunctious symbol of American freedom of speech.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In popular cultureEdit
Columbus Circle was featured in the 1954 romantic comedy film It Should Happen to You, in which Judy Holliday's character, Gladys Glover, began her quest for fame by renting a large billboard overlooking Columbus Circle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The USS Maine Memorial, was featured in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver, where Robert De Niro's character was thwarted in an attempt to assassinate a presidential nominee.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Columbus Circle was featured in the 1984 movie Ghostbusters as the place where the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man manifests and then walks up Central Park West.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The shooting of Joseph Colombo in Columbus Circle by Jerome A. Johnson in 1971 was featured in the 2019 film The Irishman.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Starting in seasons 6 of the TV show The Venture Bros., the Venture family relocates to a skyscraper located on Columbus Circle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
GalleryEdit
- Around Columbus Circle today
- Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) - NYC (51395616531).jpg
- USS Maine National Monument.jpg
The USS Maine National Monument at the Merchant's Gate entrance to Central Park
- 4118-NYC-Columbus Circle.JPG
- Time Warner Center May 2010.JPG
The Deutsche Bank Center, which replaced the New York Coliseum, while it was still known as the Time Warner Center
- Looking south along 8th Avenue from Columbus Circle.jpg
220 Central Park South (2018) rises above 240 Central Park South (1939)
ReferencesEdit
Explanatory notes Template:Notelist
Citations Template:Reflist
Bibliography
External linksEdit
- NYC Parks Department – Columbus Circle
- Smithsonian's Inventory of American Sculpture Entry
- Template:Usurped
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