2 Columbus Circle Updated
I was last in NYC in August 2005. I was there during debate about altering a building by Architect Edward Durrell Stone. I wrote in that post:
I took the subway from 116th and Broadway to Columbus Circle on the edge of Central Park. Having just seen the CBS story on 2 Columbus Circle (pictured, right) I had to see the fuss for myself. I’ve said before that I am an urbanist, not a preservationist. This is yet another example. This building is terrible in the urban environment. It is not welcoming at all. The new owners want to either raze or reskin the building. Sure it was designed by noted architect Edward Durrell Stone. Must we save failures simply because it’s architect was famous?
The included picture was:
This morning my good friend, a former St Louis resident now living in Chicago, Margie Newman, called me from 2 Columbus Circle in Manhattan. She had remembered my post on the building. She liked the transformation. “Email me a photo”, I insisted.
Knowing Margie also has an iPhone I knew I’d have a pic as soon as she could get her gloves off to snap & email it to me.
While I was in NYC and folks were debating the alteration of the building, back in St Louis our Edward Durrell Stone building was being razed — Busch Stadium #2 (1966-2005).
Two thumbs down.
Urbanistically, the building is still terrible. Architecturally, it was better off before. I don’t get the point of the recladding unless it’s some sick joke from the highbrow low lifes whose hostility to Stone has always been plainly ridiculous.
Their alterations look horrible. Does U-Haul happen to be a tenant?
I live nearby. I much prefer the original building’s design. The new one is awful…it looks like a bad joke.
U-Haul?! Duckworth, you hit the nail on the head! There must be something about Mid-Century Modern that suggests wrapping it in putty colored siding…
Wow! All the hype about this and then to get truly underwhelming results. Both are a disaster from an urban point of view, but at least the original version had a loggia that was permeable at street level. Now its just flat glass. Take a look at these photos:
http://curbed.com/archives/2008/05/23/2_columbus_circle_update_lollipops_under_glass.php
…only if there is a Noguchi sculptural ceiling somewhere inside.