2 Columbus Circle Renovation

[New Jack City]

This is some old news but in case anyone didn't see it, here is the renderings of the 2 Columbus Circle renovation.




Two Columbus Circle as it is.



Two Columbus Circle as it might be.

[AtlanticaC5]

Hehe, yeah I remember this cute little building. What's the usage of the building?

[Philip Cronin]

Perhaps it would be better to demolish it than to make it that ugly.

[New Jack City]

They changed the renovation design to something else...

NY Times

January 22, 2004

On Columbus Circle, Fighting a Face-Lift

By JULIE V. IOVINE


NOW AND WHEN The 1964 facade at 2 Columbus Circle, left, and the proposed makeover, right.

THIS much will always be true: The view from the top floor of 2 Columbus Circle is stunning.

You can see the mighty vectors of Broadway and Central Park West radiating north and Central Park carpeting the landscape to the east. Hard to the west, the new Time Warner Center rises skyward.

The prospect from the top floor of 2 Columbus Circle may be clear as far as the eye can see, but the building's future is still murky. Last month, the Museum of Arts and Design approved a design by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture for a complete overhaul of the 40-year-old building, designed by Edward Durell Stone. The museum, formerly the American Craft Museum, is in the process of buying the building, vacant since 1998, from the city.

That transaction, and the subsequent renovation, is threatened by a lawsuit filed in November by a consortium of three preservation groups, arguing that the building's historic value was inadequately analyzed by the city before it agreed to turn the building over for private development. The case will go before a judge of the New York County Supreme Court on Feb. 20.

The controversy has made for some unlikely bunkmates, with critics known for championing more new avant-garde architecture joining neighborhood groups known for opposing new development.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is not going to protect the building, having declined to submit it for consideration in 1996, two years after it became eligible for landmark status.

Theodore Prudon, the president of Docomomo, a preservation group dedicated to saving modern structures and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said: "The building has very many detractors and supporters. With that much interest, clearly it is a building of significance that should be considered a New York landmark. Independent of whether the current design is good or bad, these prior issues need to be settled."

Others feel that the building, not considered one of Stone's most significant, has had its day in court. "It's a building of no consequence whatsoever," said Terence Riley, chief curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art. "To deserve landmark status, something either has to have happened there or it has to be a place of great architectural distinction. It's not enough to say it's quirky and interesting."

On Tuesday, the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development, a neighborhood group, published an open letter to Robert B. Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, in AM New York, a free daily newspaper. The letter asks the commission to reconsider awarding the building landmark status for its "novel and daring style" and radical departure from the established corporate architecture of its day. In a phone interview, Mr. Tierney said that the commission was mindful of the "robust debate" about 2 Columbus Circle, but would not reconsider. "In the past year, we've seen it talked about, we've seen a lot in print and we've thought about it and the decision made in 1996 is the decision that stands," he said.

The museum was a critical lightning rod from the very start. Huntington Hartford's Gallery of Modern Art, as it was originally known, was built in 1964 to house his personal art collection. Its perforated ornamental flourishes invoked either Venice or acoustical tiles, depending on your viewpoint. The interiors were widely acknowledged to be too small, dark and claustrophobic, and Mr. Hartford closed his museum after just five years. Over the next 30 years, it was a temporary home to the New York Cultural Center and after the city acquired it in 1975, it housed the Cultural Affairs Department, but failed to find a permanent resident. By 1998, it was empty.

In 2002 the city agreed to sell the building to the Museum of Arts and Design, which is squeezed into three and a half levels at 40 West 53rd Street. "It's ridiculously small," said Holly Hotchner, the director. "There's no room for showing the collection, no room for public programs, no visitors' services. There's not even room to sit down." After the city agreed to the sale, the museum held a competition to choose an architect for the building's conversion. The contest, which included submissions by Zaha Hadid, Toshiko Mori, and Smith-Miller & Hawkinson Architects, led to the selection of Mr. Cloepfil, a 47-year-old architect from Portland, Ore., who recently completed the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis.

Renderings released to the public last week by the museum show the building, with its small-bore windows and elongated loggia at the top, now etched with a channel of glass tracking up a terra-cotta facade. "I want it to maintain a sense of silence and singularity," Mr. Cloepfil said, "to emphasize its role as a marker on Columbus Circle in juxtaposition to all the noise around it."

Some elements of the old building will be preserved in its new form. Its original 10-story height, the concave curve of the facade and the arcade of "Venetian lollipop" columns, as the critic Ada Louise Huxtable dismissively called them when it opened, will all remain. The exterior cladding, however, will be entirely removed, replaced by glazed terra-cotta tiles with an iridescent sheen. "I want the facade to have a character and a texture so that it shows its materiality more, the closer you get to it, like an object you go to pick up on a shelf," Mr. Cloepfil said.

The distinguishing feature of the lobby will be switchback stairs that wrap around a glass display. Both stairwell and staircase will rise to the fifth floor, taking natural light from the lobby with them. The lack of windows in a prime city location has always dismayed the building's critics, but because the original structure is a concrete box, instead of a steel frame, the walls themselves hold up the building, and only about 30 percent of the concrete could be incised. Bringing in light without endangering the structure was Mr. Cloepfil's chief challenge. His solution is a 30-inch-wide channel of glass that runs up the facade and continues inside, cutting across floors, ceilings and walls. The most glass, both transparent and fritted, will be found on the upper floors, where offices and a cafe are to be located. The channel motif, Mr. Cloepfil said, "had to fill the galleries with light, connect people to the views and render the entire building more transparent to the city."

The design more than doubles the building's original gallery space on the four floors above the lobby by relocating the fire stair and restrooms, and by modernizing the mechanical systems. The sixth and seventh floors will be dedicated to artists' studios, classrooms and event spaces.

The dilapidated building still has some ornate interior finishes, including parquet floors, walnut paneling and bronze balustrades decorated with a whimsical bubble motif. Mr. Cloepfil said that it would be too costly to preserve most of the interior detailing, except for a basement auditorium with oversize bronze doors, which will be completely restored. The construction budget, Ms. Hotchner said, is under $30 million.

Construction was to begin in April, Ms. Hotchner said, but plans are on hold, pending the outcome of the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, architects continue to take sides. Unimpressed by the building's long and checkered past, Lindy Roy, a young architect from South Africa who set up a design office in Manhattan in 2000, said she's an admirer of the building just as it is: "I love it for all its craziness. It's so unapologetic. Any windowless structure in the city is compelling." But compelling toward what remains the question.

[phxmania2001]

Originally posted by savethewtc

NOW AND WHEN The 1964 facade at 2 Columbus Circle, left, and the proposed makeover, right.

Meh... I'm not too keen on what's there now, but this rendering looks like some sort of futuristic soda machine.

[New Jack City]

Originally posted by phxmania2001

Meh... I'm not too keen on what's there now, but this rendering looks like some sort of futuristic soda machine.

lol - I thought it looked like some sort of nuclear fallout shelter!

[GreatSky]

I support demolishing it. Why not just start fresh?

[New Jack City]

Chicago Tribune

Landmark can be remodeled, court rules

Associated Press
Published April 25, 2004

NEW YORK -- A nearly windowless, 10-story building erected in the 1960s that is considered a landmark by some and a monstrosity by others can be given a makeover, a judge ruled.

The Museum of Arts and Design can move ahead with its plan to purchase and renovate 2 Columbus Circle, State Supreme Court Justice Walter Tolub said earlier this month, turning aside an effort by three preservationist groups. The building, across from the southwest corner of Central Park, is now owned by the city and has been vacant since 1998.

The groups argued that the city had not thoroughly assessed the impact of selling and renovating the building when it said the structure was "not worthy of preservation in its present form." But Tolub said the city had taken "a hard look" at the issue.

The building, designed in 1964 by noted architect Edward Durell Stone, is windowless except for a row of elongated windows along the top and features a concave facade and engraved porthole edges.

The unorthodox design has been derided by many critics, but it was famously championed by author Tom Wolfe.

"Stone was the most prominent architect in America, and he decided that the modernist movement in architecture -- in other words, the parade of glass boxes that marched across America -- had become exhausted, not worth pursuing anymore," Wolfe once said. "He did this as a way of saying, `Enough is enough.'"

The Museum of Arts and Design, formerly the American Craft Museum, plans to replace the facade with terra cotta and glass and make changes to the layout of the interior. There also will be more windows.

The building originally housed the art collection of millionaire A&P heir Huntington Hartford.

[BigMac]

National Trust for Historic Preservation
May 24, 2004

2 Columbus Circle one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places

Created by architect Edward Durell Stone, who also designed Washington’s famed Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2 Columbus Circle is a nationally recognized – albeit controversial – icon of the Modern Movement. Sporting a marble skin, porthole windows and a street-level arcade that critics have likened to a row of lollipops, the unorthodox building is radically different from the glass-and-steel boxes typical of its era.

Now it is slated to be sold and renovated as a permanent home for the Museum of Arts and Design. That’s the good news; the bad news is that the design proposed for the new use would strip 2 Columbus Circle of its architectural integrity, and since it is not protected by New York’s preservation ordinance, these changes could be made without any kind of preservation review. This means that unless the new owner can be persuaded of the building’s significance, sweeping architectural changes could rob 2 Columbus Circle of its distinctive character and rob America of an engagingly quirky icon of the recent past.

History

Located at the southwest corner of Central Park, 2 Columbus Circle has been controversial ever since its completion in 1964. Originally designed to showcase the modern-art collection of supermarket heir Huntington Hartford, the building housed New York City offices during the 1980s and 1990s but is now vacant, pending transfer to the private Museum of Arts and Design. The building was listed on the Preservation League of New York State’s “Seven to Save” this year in recognition of its architectural and historical significance to the citizens of New York.

Threat

The new design for the building by Brad Cloepfil, although not finalized, includes extensive alterations that would destroy major elements of Edward Durell Stone’s design. The destruction of 2 Columbus Circle's original façade would mean the loss of a unique chapter of America's story.

Solution

The National Trust urges the owners of 2 Columbus Circle, currently the City of New York, but soon to be the Museum of Arts and Design, to develop a restoration plan for the building that respects its integrity as a modernist masterpiece and celebrates its unique form and design. Listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places and public hearings by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission for landmark designation of 2 Columbus Circle will give the building added protection and ensure that all possible measures are taken to protect this important resource.


Circa 1964.


This view (circa 1964) taken soon after the opening of Huntington Hartford's Gallery of Modern Art, shows the 1892 Columbus Monument at left.


View of "Lollipop Arcade," circa 1964.


View of interior gallery, circa 1964.


View of interior auditorium, circa 1964.


Recent view from north side of Columbus Circle (2002).

Copyright 2004 National Trust for Historic Preservation

[New Jack City]

The solution sounds good.

On one side I respect and admire the tower's uniqueness and stand out attitude not giving a shit about what you think of it, but it's different seeing it and through pictures here.

It looked filthy and dirty when I saw it up close, one thing's for sure, something's gotta be done.

[RafflesCity]

They should just clean it up cos its design is unique.

[7 World Trade]

i agree with raffles city. it's such an unique architecture, and it's perfect for a design of a museum of arts and design, and it design was meant for a museum. but they can reclad the wall to make it look less dull.

the facade of the new plan looks like something they'd put on a telephone switching center in nyc.

[New Jack City]

Here's a picture I took of it with the Columbus statue:

[BigMac]

Originally Posted by savethewtc

Here's a picture I took of it with the Columbus statue:

Nice picture!

I'm also looking forward to the renovation of Columbus Circle itself.
Here is more information from landscape architecture firm Olin Partnership:



The design intent for Columbus Circle returns the historic monument to public access and appreciation, fostering an environment not present for a generation. The proposed design has been conceived to make the site a safe and attractive addition to the public realm of New York City at one of the principal entries to Central Park and the intersection of three significant streets: Broadway, Eight Avenue and 59th Street. The design features – paving, planting, fountains, seating and lighting – all reinforce the simple idea that Columbus Circle is unique in the City.

The island consists of a series of concentric rings that buffer the traffic and provide a pleasant pedestrian environment for the monument, consisting of a broad, gently raised area of planting, a series of fountains, paving, benches and lights. On the outer perimeter, a ring of raised stone cobbles provides an emerging pedestrian refuge adjacent to the outer vehicular lane, which, in winter, can also accept piles of snow and salt without damage to planting. Next, a ring of colorful low plantings is formed, which can be changed and replenished seasonally. This is encircled by evergreen shrubs, placed to enhance the floral display, and a ring of trees standing in evergreen groundcovers, underplanted with spring bulbs.

Proposed American Yellow Buckeye frame axial views to the historic monument, while providing a partial enclosure in the form of a circular room, in the center of which stands the monument. New benches, scaled to complement the civic space, are to be made of curved wood, designed to be large enough to allow individuals and groups to sit comfortably back to back, facing either the active water and planting or the monument.

The small fountain currently surrounding the monument base is to be removed, allowing the column base to sit firmly on the ground as the central feature of the circle. People will once more be able to approach the monument, to read the inscriptions, and to study the relief sculptures on the base more easily than in recent decades. To replace the loss of the central fountain, new basins are to be created that encircle the central open area. More generous than the former basin and shaped as a series of concentric ledges to form cascades with arching jets towards the center, the new fountains will reinforce the circular design and primacy of the monument, while masking the noise of the traffic and tempering the climate in summer. The fountain is designed to form a series of bleacher seats which, when turned off, avoid the forlorn character of so many empty fountain bases in the City, visible during the colder months.

It is the intent of these simple gestures to make obvious the importance of this civic space and monument, and to return it to the citizens and visitors of New York City as an inviting celebratory place. It is a place to pause and refresh oneself in the midst of one of the busiest intersections in the metropolis – a foyer to Central Park, an event on Broadway, and a handsome scene for those who live, work and visit this great city.


(Metropolis Magazine)


(Metropolis Magazine)

[New Jack City]

Thanks!

The whole renovation is gonna look great and definetely help the area, is there any date when construction will be done?

The redesign of 2 Columbus Circle isn't anything special, probably average at best which is probably the biggest reason for the opposition and controversy. Maybe if they proposed a design just nearly as original as the current one, I think there would be more support.

Here's another rendering of the proposed renovation:

[BigMac]

Originally Posted by savethewtc

is there any date when construction will be done?

According to a New York Post article from February 24:

"The city's Department of Design and Construction says the $20 million reconstruction of the traffic circle and its center island is on schedule, due to be finished by year's end. Only the planting of perennials must wait until spring. When the job is done, the island that's home to the Christopher Columbus statue will be graced by pretty landscaping and three graceful fountains."

[New Jack City]

NY Daily News

2 Columbus Circle deal gets okay


The building was nicknamed lollipop because of its columns.

BY LORE CROGHAN and DANIEL DUNAIEF
DAILY NEWS BUSINESS WRITERS

The lollipop building, which has graced Columbus Circle for decades, won final approval yesterday to be sold.

Manhattan's borough board gave its okay for the transaction in a 9-to-1 vote, despite appeals by preservationists.

The Museum of Arts & Design is paying $17 million for the famous building, which got its nickname from its lollipop-shaped columns. The museum plans to tear down the building's white-marble facade, which has riled some groups.

"There was a lot of discussion and debate surrounding the landmarkable status," said Josh Bosian, the director of community affairs for city Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who voted to approve the sale.

The Museum said the sale would make the building a more productive cultural center.

"This gives the opportunity for the museum to continue to grow," said Laurie Beckelman, head of the museum's new building program. "We'll have public spaces and artists creating art, master classes, and a beautiful theater in the basement. It's a great thing for the city."

Landmark West, however, had a vastly different reaction to yesterday's vote, which is the final government action required before the sale can take place.

"We were hoping to see leadership from the board," said Kate Wood, executive director of Landmark West. "We are extremely disappointed it didn't come through."

Wood said the group, which collected over 1,000 signatures, will continue to press a lawsuit.

"What we've been asking for is a public hearing for the Landmark's Preservation Commission," Wood said.

Manhattan councilman Bill Perkins was the lone vote against the sale.

"This is a precious piece of property," he said. "I thought it was important that we take a position that respected the architectural and historical significance."

Originally published on August 25, 2004

[Ellatur]

finally... it looked very ugly to me

[3tmk]

and very very ugly to me

[FerrariEnzo]

THANK GOD. I hate looking at that THING.