View source for 2 Columbus Circle

{{Short description|Building in Manhattan, New York}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox building
| name                = 2 Columbus Circle
| former_names        = 
| alternate_names     = 
| status              = Open
| image               = Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) - NYC (51395616531).jpg 
| image_alt           = Facade of 2 Columbus Circle
| image_size          = 250px
| caption             =  
| relief              = 
| altitude            = 
| building_type       = Museum 
| architectural_style = 
| structural_system   = Concrete [[bearing wall]]
| material            = 
| cost                = 
| ren_cost            = 
| client              = [[Huntington Hartford]]
| owner               = 
| current_tenants     = [[Museum of Arts and Design]]
| landlord            = Museum of Arts and Design
| address             = 2 [[Columbus Circle]]<br>[[Manhattan|New York]], [[New York (state)|NY]] 10019
| location_town       = [[New York City]]
| location_country    = [[United States]]
| coordinates         = {{coord|40|46|02.5|N|73|58|55|W|region:US-NY|display=inline,title}}
| groundbreaking_date = 1960
| start_date          = 
| completion_date     = 
| opened_date         = March 21, 1964
| inauguration_date   = 
| relocated_date      = 
| renovation_date     = 2005–2008
| closing_date        = 
| demolition_date     = 
| destruction_date    = 
| height              =
| diameter            = 
| circumference       = 
| architectural       = 
| tip                 = 
| antenna_spire       = 
| roof                = 
| top_floor           = 
| observatory         = 
| other_dimensions    = 
| floor_count         = 
| floor_area          = 
| seating_type        = 
| seating_capacity    = 
| elevator_count      = 
| grounds_area        = 
| architect           = [[Edward Durell Stone]]<br/>[[Brad Cloepfil]] (new facade)
| architecture_firm   = 
| structural_engineer = [[Cosentini Associates]]
| services_engineer   = 
| civil_engineer      = 
| other_designers     = 
| quantity_surveyor   = 
| main_contractor     = 
| awards              = 
| designations        = 
| ren_architect       = 
| ren_firm            = 
| ren_str_engineer    = 
| ren_serv_engineer   = 
| ren_civ_engineer    = 
| ren_oth_designers   = 
| ren_qty_surveyor    = 
| ren_awards          = 
| rooms               = 
| parking             = 
| embedded            = 
| references          = 
}}

'''2 Columbus Circle''' (formerly the '''Gallery of Modern Art''' and the '''New York Cultural Center''') is a nine-story building on the south side of [[Columbus Circle]] in the [[Midtown Manhattan]] neighborhood of [[New York City]]. The building fills a small [[city block]] bounded by [[58th Street (Manhattan)|58th Street]], Columbus Circle, [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]], and [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]]. It was originally designed by [[Edward Durell Stone]] in the [[modernist]] style for [[The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company|A&P]] heir [[Huntington Hartford]]. In the 2000s, [[Brad Cloepfil]] redesigned 2 Columbus Circle for the [[Museum of Arts and Design]] (MAD), which has occupied the building since 2008. 

The exterior walls are made of [[reinforced concrete]], which double as [[Load-bearing wall|load-bearing walls]] that support the concrete floor slabs inside. The original [[facade]] largely consisted of white Vermont marble slabs, with small windows only at the corner of the building, as well as loggias at the base and top of the building. The current facade consists of [[Architectural terracotta|terracotta]] panels separated by deep grooves, as well as large glass panels at the top. The lower stories of the building contain museum space, while the upper stories contain offices. There were originally several [[mezzanine]] levels, though these were removed in the 2000s. The original structure and the redesigned building have been the subject of extensive architectural commentary.

Hartford announced plans for the Gallery of Modern Art on the south side of Columbus Circle in June 1956, although construction did not start until 1960 due to various delays. The museum opened on March 21, 1964, and suffered financially for several years. [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] took over the museum in 1969, renaming it the New York Cultural Center, which operated until 1975. [[Gulf and Western Industries]] bought 2 Columbus Circle in 1976 and donated it to the [[Government of New York City|New York City government]], but the building remained vacant for four years due to various issues. The [[New York City Department of Cultural Affairs]] and the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau occupied 2 Columbus Circle from 1980 to 1998, when the city government offered up the building for redevelopment. Following a controversy over the building's proposed renovation in the early 2000s, MAD renovated the building from 2005 to 2008.

==Site==
2 Columbus Circle is on the southern side of [[Columbus Circle]] in the [[Midtown Manhattan]] neighborhood of [[New York City]].<ref name="ZoLa">{{Cite web |title=2 Columbus Circle, 10019 |url=https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/1030/1 |access-date=September 8, 2020 |publisher=[[New York City Department of City Planning]] |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624184835/https://zola.planning.nyc.gov/l/lot/1/1030/1 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="aia5">{{cite aia5|pages=310}}</ref> The building's [[land lot]] is irregular and covers {{cvt|4624|ft2}}. The lot occupies an entire [[city block]] bounded by [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]] to the east, 58th Street to the south, [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]] to the west, and Columbus Circle to the north.<ref name="ZoLa" /> The site measures {{convert|74|ft}} on Columbus Circle, {{convert|76|ft}} on Broadway, {{convert|97|ft}} on 58th Street, and {{convert|41|ft}} on Eighth Avenue.<ref name="nyt-1962-01-31">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=January 31, 1962 |title=Art Museum Makes Slow Progress; Huntington Hartford's Gallery Still a Year From Completion |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/31/archives/art-museum-makes-slow-progress-huntington-hartfords-gallery-still-a.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624224857/https://www.nytimes.com/1962/01/31/archives/art-museum-makes-slow-progress-huntington-hartfords-gallery-still-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The northern portion of the block is curved due to the curvature of Columbus Circle.<ref name="p1328052083">{{cite news |last=Molleson |first=John |date=May 29, 1959 |title=Modern Art in a 'Marble Monolith': Architect Shows Plans for 'Permanent' Gallery at Columbus Circle |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1328052083}}}}</ref> The building occupies its entire lot.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /><ref name="AF 1964-03">{{cite magazine |date=Mar 1964 |title=Huntington Hartford: a Most Unusual Client |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1964-03.pdf |magazine=Architectural Forum |volume=130 |pages=113 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804115016/https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1964-03.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

The building is near [[Central Park]] to the northeast; [[240 Central Park South]], the [[Gainsborough Studios (Manhattan)|Gainsborough Studios]], and [[220 Central Park South]] to the east; [[5 Columbus Circle]] and [[Central Park Tower]] to the southeast; [[Central Park Place]] to the southwest; [[Deutsche Bank Center]] (formerly Time Warner Center) to the west; and [[Trump International Hotel and Tower (New York City)|Trump International Hotel and Tower]] to the north.<ref name="ZoLa" /> Entrances to the [[New York City Subway]]'s [[59th Street–Columbus Circle station]], served by the {{NYCS trains|Columbus Circle header}}, are to the west, east, and south of the building.<ref>{{cite web |year=2018 |title=MTA Neighborhood Maps: 59 St-Columbus Cir (1) |url=https://new.mta.info/document/2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201029050619/https://new.mta.info/document/2011 |archive-date=October 29, 2020 |access-date=September 13, 2018 |website=[[Metropolitan Transportation Authority|mta.info]] |publisher=[[Metropolitan Transportation Authority]]}}</ref>

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Central Park South was developed as Manhattan's "Gold Coast", with many prestigious hotels and apartment buildings being erected on its route.<ref>{{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2116.pdf |title=240 Central Park South |date=June 25, 2002 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |pages=3–4 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=October 27, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027184520/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2116.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite report |url=https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/09000304.pdf |title=Historic Structures Report: 240 Central Park South |date=April 3, 2009 |publisher=[[National Register of Historic Places]], [[National Park Service]] |pages=12–13 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827224929/https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/09000304.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The seven-story [[Grand Circle Hotel]], designed by William H. Cauvet, stood at this address from 1874.<ref name="Gray">{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=2005-11-27|title=Audubon's Home, and Columbus Circle's Past|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/realestate/audubons-home-and-columbus-circles-past.html|access-date=2022-07-25|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908044237/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/27/realestate/audubons-home-and-columbus-circles-past.html |archive-date=September 8, 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Efn|Not to be confused with the later Pabst Grand Circle Hotel on the northwest corner of 58th Street and 8th Avenue.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Gray|first=Christopher|date=1996-12-01|title=A Small Hotel, a Mock Battleship and the Titanic|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/realestate/a-small-hotel-a-mock-battleship-and-the-titanic.html|access-date=2022-07-25|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103234706/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/01/realestate/a-small-hotel-a-mock-battleship-and-the-titanic.html |archive-date=November 3, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>}} Later called the Boulevard Hotel,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHYTOW3&SMLS=1&RW=1856&RH=964|title=Boulevard Hotel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910215840/http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWHYTOW3&SMLS=1&RW=1856&RH=964 |archive-date=September 10, 2014 |id=X2010.11.1774 |publisher=Museum of the City of New York |access-date=2022-07-25}}</ref> it functioned as an office building by the late 1950s, with a [[Chevrolet]] advertisement on its roof.<ref name="nyt-1956-06-11">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=June 11, 1956 |title=Art Museum at Columbus Circle Planned by Huntington Hartford; A. & P. Heir to Build 10-Story Gallery for Modern Works at Cost of $2,500,000 Art Museum at Columbus Circle Planned by Huntington Hartford |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/11/archives/art-museum-at-columbus-circle-planned-by-huntington-hartford-a-p.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624191020/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/11/archives/art-museum-at-columbus-circle-planned-by-huntington-hartford-a-p.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="p1327314359">{{cite news |last=Price |first=Joann |date=June 11, 1956 |title=Columbus Circle Will Get 12,500,000 Art Gallery |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1327314359}}}}</ref>

== Architecture ==

=== Facade ===
<!--[[File:2 Columbus Circle.jpg|thumb|The original design of the [[Edward Durell Stone]] building at 2 Columbus Circle|alt=The building's original facade, designed by Edward Durell Stone. There are marble slabs on the facade, and most of the structure is windowless, except at the corners, where there are tiny portholes.]]-->
The building was designed by [[Edward Durell Stone]] for businessman [[Huntington Hartford]], an heir to the [[A&P]] supermarket chain. It was originally a nine-story [[modernist]] structure.<ref name="aia5" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=February 13, 2014 |title=AD Classics: 2 Columbus Circle / Edward Durell Stone & Associates |url=https://www.archdaily.com/476318/ad-classics-2-columbus-circle-edward-durell-stone-and-associates |access-date=June 24, 2022 |website=ArchDaily |language=en-US |archive-date=September 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921030820/https://www.archdaily.com/476318/ad-classics-2-columbus-circle-edward-durell-stone-and-associates |url-status=live }}</ref> Its exterior wall is made of [[reinforced concrete]], which was used because it was more flexible to construct than a traditional steel structure.<ref name="nyt-1959-06-14" /> The building uses [[Mo-Sai]] slabs, which are made of exposed aggregate [[concrete]].<ref name="nyt19611029">{{cite news |date=October 29, 1961 |title=Textured Masonry Sheathes New Office Buildings |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|115325278}}}}</ref> The exterior walls double as [[Load-bearing wall|load-bearing walls]], which support the concrete floor slabs inside.<ref name="p1325752164">{{cite news |last=Zukosky |first=Jerome |date=September 9, 1962 |title=A Posh Place For Pictures |page=D9 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1325752164}}}}</ref>

==== Original design ====
[[File:2 Columbus Circle.jpg|thumb|The building's original exterior, photographed in 2005]]

The [[facade]] was largely made of slabs of white Vermont marble, with gray and gold veins; these slabs were originally attached to the concrete wall.<ref name="nyt-1959-06-14">{{Cite news |last=Knox |first=Sanka |date=June 14, 1959 |title=Hartford Tells of New Museum; Columbus Circle Project to Have Nine Floors, With Cafe Overlooking Park |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/06/14/archives/hartford-tells-of-new-museum-columbus-circle-project-to-have-nine.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210423/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/06/14/archives/hartford-tells-of-new-museum-columbus-circle-project-to-have-nine.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of the marble panels had no window openings, but there were small circular windows at the corners and top story.<ref name="p1328052083" /> The windowless sections of the facade measured {{Convert|2|in}} thick, while the sections with windows were {{Convert|3|in}} thick. To create the window openings, circular marble pieces were carved out of the slabs; these were reused in the lobby and on the sidewalk.<ref name="p1325752164" /> There were over 1,000 windows in the original design,<ref name="p116450146">{{cite news |last=Gardner |first=Paul |date=June 19, 1953 |title=Modern Gallery Is Due Next April: Huntington Hartford Project in 3d Delay--cost Rising |page=28 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|116450146}}}}</ref> each arranged in groups of four.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=December 11, 1998 |title=Acquiring a Taste For Marble Lollipops; 2 Columbus Circle, Much Despised, Is Now Somewhat Admired |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/11/nyregion/acquiring-taste-for-marble-lollipops-2-columbus-circle-much-despised-now.html |access-date=June 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163247/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/11/nyregion/acquiring-taste-for-marble-lollipops-2-columbus-circle-much-despised-now.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Stone designed the windows to be as small as possible,<ref name="p1328052083" /><ref name="nyt-1959-06-14" /> and the ''Times'' and ''Herald Tribune'' likened the windows to [[Porthole|portholes]].<ref name="p1325752164" /><ref name="p116450146" /> Each window had a bronze frame with a hinge that could swing inward.<ref name="p1325752164" /> According to Stone, the windows were intended to suggest the [[Rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] blocks of the [[Saint-Germain-des-Prés (abbey)|Saint-Germain-des-Prés]] church in Paris.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /> In Stone's original plans for the building, the facade would have been covered with vines or plantings.<ref name="nyt-2002-10-27">{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=October 27, 2002 |title=Streetscapes/Edward Durell Stone and the Gallery of Modern Art, at 2 Columbus Circle; An Architect Who Looked Both Forward and Back |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/realestate/streetscapes-edward-durell-stone-gallery-modern-art-2-columbus-circle-architect.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222830/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/realestate/streetscapes-edward-durell-stone-gallery-modern-art-2-columbus-circle-architect.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The sidewalk around the building was originally made of reddish-brown terrazzo or concrete. Inset into the sidewalk were marble circles measuring {{convert|3|ft}} across and framed by brass strips; there were also planting pits along the curb.<ref name="p1325752164" /> The base of the building contained a [[loggia]] of reinforced concrete columns, evocative of that at the [[Doge's Palace]].<ref name="p1328052083" /> There were 27 columns in the loggia,<ref name="p1014830428">{{cite magazine |last=Levinson |first=Leonard L. |date=March 18, 1964 |title=Miscellany: Hartford Debuts New Art Gallery Including Class Dinery and Bars |magazine=Variety |volume=234 |issue=4 |pages=2, 70 |id={{ProQuest|1014830428}}}}</ref> which measured {{convert|8|ft}} high.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=October 4, 2005 |title='Lollipop' Building Set to Be Revamped |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/arts/design/lollipop-building-set-to-be-revamped.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213539/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/arts/design/lollipop-building-set-to-be-revamped.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Above the ground-level loggia were alternating medallions made of red Italian marble and green Vermont marble.<ref name="p1328052083" /> The lobby was recessed behind the loggia and had bronze-framed windows facing Columbus Circle; the other three elevations were faced with green marble at ground level.<ref name="p1325752164" /> The seventh and eighth floors contained loggias on all elevations of the facade.<ref name="p1328052083" />

==== New design ====
[[File:2ColumbusCircle.JPG|thumb|Seen from across Columbus Circle]]
The current facade, designed by [[Brad Cloepfil]] for the [[Museum of Arts and Design]] (MAD), reuses the original [[massing]]; the upper loggia, the portholes, and the marble panels on the facade were removed. The building's concave curve on Columbus Circle was preserved.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22">{{Cite news |last=Iovine |first=Julie V. |date=January 22, 2004 |title=On Columbus Circle, Fighting a Face-Lift |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/garden/on-columbus-circle-fighting-a-face-lift.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201728/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/garden/on-columbus-circle-fighting-a-face-lift.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ground-story loggia was also preserved because it was one of the key portions of the superstructure; it was enclosed behind a {{convert|13|ft|m|-high|adj=mid}} glass wall.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04" /> Cloepfil had spoken negatively of Stone's original design, having regarded it as "frightening" ever since the 1970s when he was an architecture student.<ref name="Architectural Record 2009">{{cite web |last=Bernstein |first=Fred A. |date=February 19, 2009 |title=Museum of Arts and Design (Jerome and Simona Chazen Building) by Allied Works |url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/8148-museum-of-arts-and-design-jerome-and-simona-chazen-building-by-allied-works |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Architectural Record |archive-date=July 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726015550/https://www.architecturalrecord.com/articles/8148-museum-of-arts-and-design-jerome-and-simona-chazen-building-by-allied-works |url-status=live }}</ref>

The new facade consists of {{convert|4|in|cm|-thick|adj=mid}} [[Architectural terracotta|terracotta]] panels separated by deep grooves.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /> The white terracotta panels are [[Stippling|stippled]], giving a sparkling appearance in sunlight.<ref name="n104711320">{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Justin |date=February 4, 2004 |title=Facing a Turning Point |pages=67, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104711489/ 87] |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104711320/facing-a-turning-pointjustin-davidson/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201729/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104711320/facing-a-turning-pointjustin-davidson/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At different times of day, the panels give the impression that they are slightly changing in color.<ref name="nyt-2007-06-05">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=June 5, 2007 |title=Renovation Slowly Adds Some Light to Lollipops |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/arts/design/05muse.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630222059/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/arts/design/05muse.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Behind the terracotta panels are horizontal openings, which measure {{convert|30|in}} wide and are carved into the outer bearing walls.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /><ref name="p2460119854">{{cite news |last=Hales |first=Linda |date=May 29, 2004 |title=At Columbus Circle Going Round & Round Over a Building's Fate |page=C1 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|2460119854}}}}</ref> To reduce [[Deflection (engineering)|deflection]], the grooves are spanned by large metal pins. There are one-story-high vertical panels of [[fritted glass]], which connect the grooves on each floor.<ref name="Architectural Record 2009" /> The glass strips and grooves create continuous strips on each [[Elevation (architecture)|elevation]] of the facade and are designed in a manner resembling a [[Zigzag|switchback]].<ref name="Architectural Record 2009" /><ref name="n104711320" /> There are also glass strips at the northwest and northeast corners of the lower stories, which illuminate the galleries inside.<ref name="nyt-2008-09-25">{{Cite news |last=Ouroussoff |first=Nicolai |date=September 25, 2008 |title=New Face, Renewed Mission |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/arts/design/26desi.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=October 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111025045622/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/arts/design/26desi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The top stories use the most glass and are illuminated by transparent, translucent, and fritted glass panels.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04" /> Cloepfil said he wanted the new design "'to emphasize its role as a marker on Columbus Circle in juxtaposition to all the noise around it".<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> Against Cloepfil's wishes, MAD's board and its director [[Holly Hotchner]] ordered that a band of windows be added near the top of the facade. This horizontal element connected two vertical strips of windows on the Columbus Circle elevation, creating an "H" shape; another vertical strip on the Eighth Avenue elevation was designed in an "I" shape. The windows appeared to spell out the word "HI" from the northwest.<ref name="Architectural Record 2009" /> 

=== Interior ===
Originally, the building contained {{Convert|60000|ft2}} of floor area across nine stories.<ref name="p1325752164" /> The elevators originally served alternate floors, which Hartford proposed "for variety's sake".<ref name="AF 1964-03" /> There were also two emergency-exit stairs at the rear corners of the building.<ref name="nyt-2008-09-25" /> The elevators and emergency-exit stairs (which were required under local building codes) occupied a significant portion of the building. As a result, the landings of the staircases were widened to create intermediate [[mezzanine]] levels, with smaller display rooms surrounding the double-height main galleries.<ref name="nyt-1964-02-25">{{Cite news |date=February 25, 1964 |title=Architecture Huntington Hartford's Palatial Midtown Museum; Columbus Circle Gallery Will Open in Mid-March; The Gallery of Modern Art, on the edge of Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/25/archives/architecture-huntington-hartfords-palatial-midtown-museum-columbus.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624235948/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/25/archives/architecture-huntington-hartfords-palatial-midtown-museum-columbus.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 672">{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=672}}</ref> The mezzanines also had smoking lounges, as well as rooms with pipe-organ music.<ref name="p1328052083" /><ref name="nyt-1959-06-14" /> The Gallery of Modern Art had an [[Aeolian-Skinner]] organ,<ref name="p1325752164" /><ref name="p116450146" /> which measured {{Convert|23|ft}} high and was placed on the mezzanine above the second floor.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="nyt-1964-02-25" /> That space was subsequently converted to the Gallery 3D theater, and the organ had been removed by the 2000s.<ref name="nyt-2002-07-12">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=July 12, 2002 |title=Craft Project at Columbus Circle; Museum Plans $30 Million Makeover and Expansion |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/12/nyregion/craft-project-at-columbus-circle-museum-plans-30-million-makeover-and-expansion.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222835/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/12/nyregion/craft-project-at-columbus-circle-museum-plans-30-million-makeover-and-expansion.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

MAD occupies {{convert|54000|ft2}} across ten above-ground floors and two basement levels.<ref name="p257174930">{{cite news |last=Klimkiewicz |first=Joann |date=September 28, 2008 |title=M.A.D.'s New Digs: Museum Unveils $90 Million Makeover |page=F1 |work=The Hartford Courant |id={{ProQuest|257174930}}}}</ref> The mezzanines were removed when the building was renovated.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /><ref name="n104669072">{{Cite news |date=November 25, 2003 |title=Group joins fight to save 2 Columbus Circle |pages=93 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104669072/group-joins-fight-to-save-2-columbus/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201728/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104669072/group-joins-fight-to-save-2-columbus/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Each of the main floors was enlarged to {{convert|3650|ft2}},<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /> more than double the size of the original main floors.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> To make way for the expanded floor slabs, the mechanical spaces were placed behind the elevators, while the restrooms were relocated to the basement and sixth floor.<ref name="nyt-2007-06-05" /> The old emergency staircases were removed and a new staircase was built around the elevator core.<ref name="nyt-2008-09-25" /> The interior spaces are illuminated by glass channels measuring 30 inches wide.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> There are also glass columns, which contain a square cross-section and measure {{convert|3|or|4|ft}} across. To accommodate these columns, the engineers had to construct square openings within each of the floor slabs.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /> Because the superstructure is made of concrete, the engineers could only place openings through about 30 percent of the floor area.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> The glass channels and columns allow natural light to illuminate the interior.<ref name="nyt-2007-06-05" /> In addition, a six-story-high staircase was built along the Broadway elevation, connecting the museum spaces.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /> 

==== Museum spaces <span class="anchor" id="Gallery of Modern Art, New York City"></span>====
When the building was used as the ''Gallery of Modern Art'', the galleries were on the second through fifth floors.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="PA 1964-06">{{cite magazine |last=Perry |first=Ellen |date=Apr 1964 |title=Stone's New Gallery of Art Opens |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1964-04.pdf |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=45 |pages=71 |access-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729112913/https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1964-04.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The Gallery of Modern Art had 14 galleries in total.<ref name="p116450146" /> The second and third floors were devoted to temporary exhibits, while the fourth and fifth floors contained Huntington's collection.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="PA 1964-06" /> Each story contained a main gallery measuring {{convert|13|ft}} tall, as well as two smaller galleries.<ref name="nyt-1960-12-04">{{Cite news |last=Deschin |first=Jacob |date=December 4, 1960 |title=Center for Photography; Medium To Have Place In Hartford Gallery Of Modern Art |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/04/archives/center-for-photography-medium-to-have-place-in-hartford-gallery-of.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210426/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/12/04/archives/center-for-photography-medium-to-have-place-in-hartford-gallery-of.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The main gallery on each floor faced Columbus Circle, while the smaller galleries faced Broadway and Eighth Avenue.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="nyt-1964-02-25" /> The main halls on the second and third stories measured {{convert|60|by|25|ft}}, while the secondary halls each measured {{convert|18|by|20|ft}}.<ref name="nyt-1965-02-21">{{Cite news |last=Deschin |first=Jacob |date=February 21, 1965 |title=Hartford Gallery Exhibit |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/02/21/archives/hartford-gallery-exhibit.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205600/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/02/21/archives/hartford-gallery-exhibit.html |url-status=live }}</ref> There were also walls with gray-blue fabric and walnut paneling, as well as floors with French [[parquetry]].<ref name="p116450146" /> [[Abe Feder]] designed the lighting inside each gallery,<ref name="p1325752164" /><ref name="p116450146" /><ref name="PA 1964-06" /> which was designed over a two-year period.<ref name="PA 1964-09">{{cite magazine |date=Sep 1964 |title=Gallery Lighting |url=https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1964-09.pdf |magazine=Progressive Architecture |volume=45 |pages=195 |access-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-date=July 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729113311/https://usmodernist.org/PA/PA-1964-09.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The original lighting system was composed of diagonal [[Troffer|troffers]] in the ceiling, which faced the outer walls of each gallery; the troffers surrounded a [[dropped ceiling]] at the center of each gallery.<ref name="PA 1964-09" />

Following the 2000s renovation, MAD has four floors of exhibition galleries across {{convert|14000|ft2}}, about double the size of the exhibition space at MAD's previous building.<ref name="nyt-2006-03-22">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=March 22, 2006 |title=The Museum of Arts and Design Prepares for Its New Home |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/arts/design/22desi.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213425/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/22/arts/design/22desi.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The space is large enough to house the museum's permanent collection, which numbered 2,000 objects at the time of the renovation.<ref name="p219131562">{{cite magazine |last=Kreinin Souccar |first=Miriam |date=February 6, 2006 |title=Crafting a museum |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=22 |issue=6 |page=2 |id={{ProQuest|219131562}}}}</ref> The space also allowed MAD to host multiple temporary exhibits simultaneously; by contrast, the museum's previous building was so small that it had to be closed every time a temporary exhibition was installed.<ref name="nyt-2006-03-22" /><ref name="p219131562" /> At the time of the building's reopening in 2008, two of the four exhibition floors were used for rotating exhibits.<ref name="p399118244">{{cite news |last=Browning |first=Dominique |date=December 10, 2008 |title=Eye on 2 Columbus Circle: A Collection in Need of Definition |page=D15 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|399118244}}}}</ref>

==== Other spaces ====
In the basement was an auditorium with 154 seats.<ref name="p1325752164" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671">{{harvnb|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|ps=.|p=671}}</ref> The auditorium measured {{convert|26|ft}} deep and contained golden draperies, as well as a red-carpeted floor that extended to the back wall.<ref name="p1325752164" /> The golden draperies doubled as sound insulation.<ref name="nyt-1964-03-22">{{Cite news |date=March 22, 1964 |title=Huntington Hartford's White Marble Tower Is Open; Modern Art Gallery Receives 3,358 on Its First Day; Opulent Interior and 350 Tchelitchews Stir Interest |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/22/archives/huntington-hartfords-white-marble-tower-is-open-modern-art-gallery.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624235950/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/22/archives/huntington-hartfords-white-marble-tower-is-open-modern-art-gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The auditorium, subsequently named the Mark Goodson Theater, was the only part of the original design to be preserved in the 2000s renovation.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=April 1, 2003 |title=A New Look for a 10-Story Oddity |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/01/arts/a-new-look-for-a-10-story-oddity.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222833/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/01/arts/a-new-look-for-a-10-story-oddity.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The renovation also preserved the bronze doors leading to the auditorium.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> When MAD moved into the building in 2008, it started renting out the auditorium for events.<ref name="p219186826">{{cite magazine |last=Kreinin Souccar |first=Miriam |date=August 25, 2008 |title=Little museum takes giant step |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=24 |issue=34 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|219186826}}}}</ref>

The original lobby's floor contained marble circles that had been cut out of the facade's portholes.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="p1325752164" /> In the 2000s, the lobby was enlarged and a museum store for MAD was placed at ground level.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04" /> The museum store covers {{convert|1400|ft2}}.<ref name="nyt-2006-03-22" />

The Gallery of Modern Art's offices were on the sixth floor, while the storage and restoration spaces were on the seventh floor.<ref name="p1325752164" /> There were {{Convert|3500|ft2}} of storage space, as well as two terraces.<ref name="p116450146" /> When the Museum of Art and Design moved into the building, the sixth and seventh stories were converted to art studios, event spaces, and classrooms.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /> One story was dedicated solely to educational programs, and there were also three artists' studios.<ref name="nyt-2006-03-22" /> 

On the Gallery of Modern Art's eighth floor was a cocktail lounge,<ref name="p1014830428" /><ref name="nyt-1964-03-22" /> which had 60 seats.<ref name="PA 1964-06" /> The eighth floor was decorated with rare [[Macassar ebony]], which had to be sourced from a merchant in London,<ref name="p1325752164" /> as well as Danish-wool sofas and Oceanic art.<ref name="PA 1964-06" /> The ninth floor contained the Gauguin Room, a 52-seat restaurant with custom tables and tableware;<ref name="PA 1964-06" /> it featured a {{convert|75|ft|m|-wide|adj=mid}} terrace facing north.<ref name="nyt-1959-06-14" /> The Gauguin Room served Polynesian food.<ref name="AF 1964-03" /><ref name="nyt-1964-02-25" /> The ninth-floor restaurant space was renovated in the mid-2000s, with windows on three sides.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04" /> The restaurant, which reopened as Robert in 2009, serves American cuisine.<ref name="Gallagher 2009">{{cite web |last=Gallagher |first=Aileen |date=December 17, 2009 |title=Robert Opens at MAD |url=https://www.grubstreet.com/2009/12/robert_opens_at_mad.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Grub Street |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630235129/https://www.grubstreet.com/2009/12/robert_opens_at_mad.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The space contains 138 seats and can be accessed without entering the museum.<ref name="nyt-2009-12-16">{{Cite news |last=Fabricant |first=Florence |date=December 16, 2009 |title=Off the Menu |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16off.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630235146/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/dining/16off.html |url-status=live }}</ref> It is decorated in an orange, purple, and vermilion color scheme, which in turn is illuminated by orange LED lighting.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Louie |first=Elaine |date=January 13, 2010 |title=Don't Forget to Look Out the Windows |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/garden/14rooms.html |access-date=July 1, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620072058/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/garden/14rooms.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==History==
===Development===

==== Planning and disputes ====
Huntington Hartford announced plans for the 10-story Gallery of Modern Art on the south side of Columbus Circle in June 1956. The building would contain a modern-art collection belonging to Hartford and his wife [[Marjorie Fitzgibbon|Marjorie Steele]], as well as ground-story retail space and a rooftop garden. Hartford had paid nearly $1 million for the land; he estimated that the gallery would cost $1.5 million to construct and would be completed in 1958.<ref name="nyt-1956-06-11" /><ref name="p1327314359" /> ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote of the plans: "If in that spot there can now rise something of architectural beauty, the whole face of the Circle, the approach to the Park, and the area near the [[New York Coliseum|Coliseum]]{{Efn|At the time, the [[New York Coliseum]] occupied the west side of Columbus Circle, now the site of the Deutsche Bank Center.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 667">{{harvnb|ps=.|Stern|Mellins|Fishman|1995|p=667}}</ref>}} will have been definitely 'lifted'."<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 12, 1956 |title=A New Art Museum |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/12/archives/a-new-art-museum.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624191236/https://www.nytimes.com/1956/06/12/archives/a-new-art-museum.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' said that the planned structure "can be a valuable contribution to New York's architectural scene".<ref name="p1325254938">{{cite news |date=June 13, 1956 |title=Mr. Hartford's Art Gallery |page=22 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1325254938}}}}</ref> Hartford initially collaborated with [[Hanford Yang]], a Chinese-born architecture student at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], on the design of the museum. Yang's initial proposal called for an 11-story structure with a pair of interlocked concrete cylinders, sheathed in a plastic facade.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /><ref name="AF 1964-03" />

[[Winslow Ames]] was hired as the museum's director in September 1957,<ref name="p1326995422">{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=John G. |date=May 22, 1961 |title=Modern Art Gallery Head Resigns Post: Ames Says Hartford Invades His Field |page=13 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1326995422}}}}</ref> and Hartford said two months later that the project would begin "within six months to a year".<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 5, 1957 |title=Art Museum Nearer; Huntington Hartford Pushes Columbus Circle Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/05/archives/art-museum-nearer-huntington-hartford-pushes-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210423/https://www.nytimes.com/1957/11/05/archives/art-museum-nearer-huntington-hartford-pushes-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In May 1958, Hartford hired Stone as the architect, since Yang was not registered to practice architecture in New York state. By then, the museum was to cost $3 million and be completed in a year.<ref name="p1327266033">{{cite news |last=Sugrue |first=Francis |date=May 19, 1958 |title=E. De Stone to Design Gallery of Modern Art |page=11 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1327266033}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=May 19, 1958 |title=Architect Picked for Art Museum; E. D. Stone, Public Building Designer, to Plan Gallery for Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1958/05/19/archives/architect-picked-for-art-museum-e-d-stone-public-building-designer.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210426/https://www.nytimes.com/1958/05/19/archives/architect-picked-for-art-museum-e-d-stone-public-building-designer.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Stone initially retained Yang as a project manager but soon revised the design drastically.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /><ref name="AF 1964-03" /> Stone's first proposal filled the whole block and consisted largely of a blank facade, with windows arranged in a narrow vertical strip and along the top floor. His second proposal was published in 1959; it called for a mesh-like facade, with an exposed superstructure at the bottom and top, as well as a rooftop terrace. Both of Stone's proposals were intended to complement the neoclassical 5 Columbus Circle diagonally to the southeast.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /> Stone and Hartford spent ten days just on refining various [[Architectural model|architectural models]] for the building.<ref name="AF 1964-03" />

The [[Museum of Modern Art]] (MoMA) requested an injunction in early 1959 to prevent Hartford from using the "Gallery of Modern Art" name.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 21, 1959 |title=What Is a Modern Art Museum? 2 City Galleries Fight for Name |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/01/21/archives/what-is-a-modern-art-museum-2-city-galleries-fight-for-name.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210425/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/01/21/archives/what-is-a-modern-art-museum-2-city-galleries-fight-for-name.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Hartford ultimately was allowed to keep the "Gallery" name.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=September 10, 1975 |title=Cultural Center to Close After 11 Years |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/10/archives/cultural-center-to-close-after-11-years.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626020408/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/10/archives/cultural-center-to-close-after-11-years.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Stone filed plans for the gallery with the [[New York City Department of Buildings]] (DOB) in April 1959, as the naming dispute was ongoing.<ref name="p1324243465">{{cite news |last=de Gremont |first=Sanche |date=April 28, 1959 |title=Huntington Hartford Files Plans for 10-Story Museum |page=A4 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1324243465}}}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1959-04-29">{{Cite news |date=April 29, 1959 |title=New Museum Here to Be Started Soon |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/04/29/archives/new-museum-here-to-be-started-soon.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210424/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/04/29/archives/new-museum-here-to-be-started-soon.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Most tenants had left by July 1959, and demolition was supposed to have begun in August, with the gallery being completed in early 1961. The last remaining tenant was a shoe store, whose owner argued that he could only be evicted if an office building was built on the site. Though the [[New York Supreme Court]] ruled against the shoe store, the store's owner appealed the decision to the [[New York Court of Appeals]], prompting Hartford to postpone the gallery's opening by one year.<ref name="nyt-1959-12-15">{{Cite news |date=December 15, 1959 |title=Store Delays Start on New Art Museum |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/12/15/archives/store-delays-start-on-new-art-museum.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210425/https://www.nytimes.com/1959/12/15/archives/store-delays-start-on-new-art-museum.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="p1324230454">{{cite news |date=December 15, 1959 |title=Shoe Store Blocks Big Art Gallery: Fights Eviction; See Year Delay |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1324230454}}}}</ref> The Court of Appeals refused to hear the store's appeal in February 1960, and the shoe store finally vacated the site.<ref name="p1327170647">{{cite news |date=February 29, 1960 |title=Gallery Wins, Shoe Store to Go: Columbus Circle Impasse Broken |page=1 |work=New York Herald Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1327170647}}}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 29, 1960 |title=Final Bar Removed For Museum of Art At Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/02/29/archives/final-bar-removed-for-museum-of-art-at-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624210422/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/02/29/archives/final-bar-removed-for-museum-of-art-at-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Construction ====
Hartford procured numerous works of art for the new museum, including a large mural by [[Salvador Dalí]] entitled ''[[The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 13, 1960 |title=New Dali 'Nuclear-Metaphysical' Canvas Unveiled |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1960/01/13/archives/new-dali-nuclearmetaphysical-canvas-unveiled.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624224858/https://www.nytimes.com/1960/01/13/archives/new-dali-nuclearmetaphysical-canvas-unveiled.html |url-status=live }}</ref> After his divorce from Steele in 1960, he bought five of his ex-wife's paintings for the museum.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Manson |first=Mike |date=March 19, 1961 |title=Oh, Well, There Goes Another $2 1/2 Million |pages=5, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104360478/ 26] |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104360426/oh-well-there-goes-another-2-1-2/ |access-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624224858/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104360426/oh-well-there-goes-another-2-1-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In total, the museum was to contain at least 30 sculptures and 75 paintings from Hartford's personal art collection.<ref name="p116450146" /> Hartford wanted his gallery to represent an alternative view of modernism; his art collection included works by [[Rembrandt]], [[Monet]], [[Manet]], [[J. M. W. Turner|Turner]], and Dalí.<ref name="AF 1964-03" />  Ames announced in December 1960 that the museum would set aside two stories of galleries to photography exhibits. An advisory board would select the photography exhibits, which would be changed every 18 to 24 months.<ref name="nyt-1960-12-04" /> In 1961, Ames resigned from his position as the museum's director; the ''Herald Tribune'' reported that Ames and Hartford had disagreed over artistic taste.<ref name="p1326995422" /> Hartford was also greatly involved in the design aspect of the building.<ref name="AF 1964-03" />

The museum's exterior was completed by January 1962, at which point construction costs had increased to $5 million.<ref name="nyt-1962-01-31" /> The building's small site had significantly slowed down construction due to the lack of a suitable [[staging area]].<ref name="nyt-1962-01-31" /><ref name="p1325752164" /> The project engineer J. Gilbert Parker attributed the construction delays to the building's lack of right angles, saying: "It was like making a watch out of concrete".<ref name="p116450146" /> Originally, the eighth floor was supposed to have contained offices for Hartford and for the museum's curator, but these were scrapped in favor of a gallery.<ref name="p1325752164" /> Hartford hired Carl J. Weinhardt Jr. as the museum's new director in 1963, two years after Ames's resignation.<ref name="nyt-1963-08-28">{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=August 28, 1963 |title=Hartford Names His Gallery Head; Youngest Director of Major Art Museum Gets Post Collection a Mystery Building Is Controversial |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/08/28/archives/hartford-names-his-gallery-head-youngest-director-of-major-art.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624224857/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/08/28/archives/hartford-names-his-gallery-head-youngest-director-of-major-art.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="p182797437">{{cite news |date=August 29, 1963 |title=Weinhardt to Direct A. & P. Heir's Gallery |page=15 |work=Chicago Tribune |id={{ProQuest|182797437}}}}</ref> Margaret Potter was hired as the museum's curator.<ref name="p116450146" /> The museum's staff planned to use the rotating exhibitions to showcase "certain relatively neglected phases" of 19th-and 20th-century art.<ref name="nyt-1963-12-23">{{Cite news |last=O'Doherty |first=Brian |date=December 23, 1963 |title=Gallery Selects First Exhibition; Huntington Hartford Opens Building in Mid-March A Neo-Romantic in 30's |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1963/12/23/archives/gallery-selects-first-exhibition-huntington-hartford-opens-building.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624235949/https://www.nytimes.com/1963/12/23/archives/gallery-selects-first-exhibition-huntington-hartford-opens-building.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In late 1963, Weinhardt selected the museum's first temporary exhibition, a showcase of surrealist paintings by [[Pavel Tchelitchew]]. At the time, the museum's staff had already moved into the building.<ref name="nyt-1963-12-23" /> The construction cost had increased to $7.4 million, about five times the original budget, by the time the museum was completed.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10" />

=== Opening and museum use ===

==== Gallery of Modern Art ====
In advance of the museum's opening, in mid-March 1964, [[WABC-TV]] and [[WNBC-TV]] broadcast "No. 2 Columbus Circle", an hour-long video tour of the museum.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 7, 1964 |title=Color Previews Set for Museum; A.B.C. and N.B.C. Will Show Hartford Gallery March 15 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/07/archives/color-previews-set-for-museum-abc-and-nbc-will-show-hartford.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624235951/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/03/07/archives/color-previews-set-for-museum-abc-and-nbc-will-show-hartford.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="n104370859">{{Cite news |date=March 7, 1964 |title=Around the Dial |pages=240 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104370859/around-the-dial/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205601/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104370859/around-the-dial/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to the official opening, the museum had several preview events with guests such as [[Ivan Sergeyevich Obolensky]] and [[Prince Aschwin of Lippe-Biesterfeld]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Randolph |first=Nancy |date=March 22, 1964 |title=Chic-Chat |pages=28 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104371019/chic-chatnancy-randolph/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205600/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104371019/chic-chatnancy-randolph/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Gallery of Modern Art opened to the public on March 21, 1964, with 3,358 visitors on its first day. At the time, the museum had 25 staff members and 45 guards; its operating costs were estimated at $600,000 per year.<ref name="nyt-1964-03-22" /> The museum had almost 40,000 guests in its first two weeks.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 2, 1964 |title=4,719 at Modern Gallery Set Attendance Record |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/02/archives/4719-at-modern-gallery-set-attendance-record.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 24, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220624235952/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/04/02/archives/4719-at-modern-gallery-set-attendance-record.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum's early exhibits included retrospectives of the work of artists [[Jean Hélion]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 3, 1964 |title=Art: Two Shows in Modern Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/03/art-two-shows-in-modern-gallery.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205603/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/11/03/art-two-shows-in-modern-gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Reginald Marsh (artist)|Reginald Marsh]],<ref name="p115942552">{{cite news |last=Preston |first=Stuart |date=December 5, 1964 |title=Gallery Has Prints, Oils and Drawings: City Scenes High in Historical Value |page=27 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|115942552}}}}</ref> and Salvador Dalí,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=December 18, 1965 |title=Art: Dali's Postnatal Retrospective; 300 Works on View at Hartford Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/12/18/archives/art-dalis-postnatal-retrospective-300-works-on-view-at-hartford.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625215443/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/12/18/archives/art-dalis-postnatal-retrospective-300-works-on-view-at-hartford.html |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as a set of paintings depicting New York City over a 50-year period.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=October 19, 1965 |title=Art: Display Tries to Capture City's Last 50 Years; Gallery of Modern Art Has Diffuse Show |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/19/archives/art-display-tries-to-capture-citys-last-50-years-gallery-of-modern.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205601/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/19/archives/art-display-tries-to-capture-citys-last-50-years-gallery-of-modern.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum also hosted short recitals by contemporary musicians.<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 7, 1964 |title=Art and Music Mix at Modern Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/07/archives/art-and-music-mix-at-modern-gallery.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205603/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/07/archives/art-and-music-mix-at-modern-gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Gallery of Modern Art began screening rare and classic films three times daily in April 1965,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Crowther |first=Bosley |date=April 19, 1965 |title=Modern Art Gallery Sets Daily Showing Of Classic Movies |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/19/archives/modern-art-gallery-sets-daily-showing-of-classic-movies.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205602/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/04/19/archives/modern-art-gallery-sets-daily-showing-of-classic-movies.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and the photography gallery opened the next month.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Deschin |first=Jacob |date=May 16, 1965 |title=Gallery Exhibits On View |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/05/16/archives/gallery-exhibits-on-view.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205601/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/05/16/archives/gallery-exhibits-on-view.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Grace Glueck]] of ''The New York Times'' wrote that Hartford's art "did not exactly draw rave notices from the critics".<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10" /> 

Not long after its opening, the Gallery of Modern Art was suffering financially. Though the museum charged an admission fee of $1 per person, it only had an average of 500 visitors on weekdays and 1,000 visitors on weekends, not enough to cover the annual operating expenses. This prompted Hartford to reorganize the museum as a nonprofit organization in mid-1965, appointing a board of trustees to manage the museum's programming and finances.<ref name="nyt-1965-05-15">{{Cite news |last=Shepard |first=Richard F. |date=May 15, 1965 |title=Hartford Seeks Aid for Gallery; Trustees to Direct Affairs and Help Raise Money |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/05/15/archives/hartford-seeks-aid-for-gallery-trustees-to-direct-affairs-and-help.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625215442/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/05/15/archives/hartford-seeks-aid-for-gallery-trustees-to-direct-affairs-and-help.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Hartford also asked officials at [[Columbia University]] and [[New York University]] if they were willing to help fund the museum, though neither university was interested in doing so. Over the following year, 750 people signed up as patrons of the museum, each paying $15 to $500 a year.<ref name="nyt-1966-04-02">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=April 2, 1966 |title=Reports Indicate Gallery for Sale; Huntington Hartford Is Said to Seek Buyer or Tenant |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/04/02/archives/reports-indicate-gallery-for-sale-huntington-hartford-is-said-to.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625215444/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/04/02/archives/reports-indicate-gallery-for-sale-huntington-hartford-is-said-to.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum opened a section "for the perpetuation and viewing of the best works of television" in late 1965.<ref name="p963066842">{{cite magazine |date=October 29, 1965 |title=Gallery Of Modern Art To Open TV Center |magazine=Back Stage |volume=6 |issue=44 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|963066842}}}}</ref> Weinhardt resigned as the museum's director that November,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 21, 1965 |title=Gallery Chief Resigns |pages=468 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104415593/gallery-chief-resigns/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625215442/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104415593/gallery-chief-resigns/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=October 19, 1965 |title=Director Leaves Modern Gallery; Weinhardt, Resigning, Cites 'Personal Reasons' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/19/archives/director-leaves-modern-gallery-weinhardt-resigning-cites-personal.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625215444/https://www.nytimes.com/1965/10/19/archives/director-leaves-modern-gallery-weinhardt-resigning-cites-personal.html |url-status=live }}</ref> leaving the museum without a director for the next five years.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10" /> The museum continued to host exhibits through 1966, including a series of animated shorts by [[Faith Hubley|Faith]] and [[John Hubley]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 28, 1966 |title=Modern Art Gallery to Show Cartoons by Magoo Creator |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/28/archives/modern-art-galley-to-show-cartoons-by-magoo-creator.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232953/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/05/28/archives/modern-art-galley-to-show-cartoons-by-magoo-creator.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a showcase of ancient Egyptian objects.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=June 25, 1966 |title=Art: Egyptian Exhibition; Gallery of Modern Art Displays Works Typifying Reign of Rameses II |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/25/archives/art-egyptian-exhibition-gallery-of-modern-art-displays-works.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232958/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/06/25/archives/art-egyptian-exhibition-gallery-of-modern-art-displays-works.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The museum continued to operate with a $580,000 annual deficit, and the museum had to spend $320,000 a year on paying off its mortgage. Hartford started selling off objects in his collection, raising $200,000 by April 1966. He planned to sell or lease 2 Columbus Circle, although a large art company had already declined an offer to lease the building because it was too large.<ref name="nyt-1966-04-02" /> In September 1966, Hartford offered to convey the building to [[Fordham University]], though Fordham was hesitant to assume the building's $3.8 million mortgage.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=September 29, 1966 |title=Fordham Offered Modern Gallery; Hartford Museum Could Be Communications Arts Unit |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/09/29/archives/fordham-offered-modern-gallery-hartford-museum-could-be.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625233000/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/09/29/archives/fordham-offered-modern-gallery-hartford-museum-could-be.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Fordham planned to move its communication-arts program in the building.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=September 30, 1966 |title=Fordham Details Museum Plans; Hartford Gallery Viewed as Desirable for Arts Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/09/30/archives/fordham-details-museum-plans-hartford-gallery-viewed-as-desirable.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232957/https://www.nytimes.com/1966/09/30/archives/fordham-details-museum-plans-hartford-gallery-viewed-as-desirable.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum still hosted exhibitions and events over the next two years. Among its offerings in 1967 and 1968 were a painting collection loaned by the [[Montreal Museum of Fine Arts]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=April 1, 1967 |title=Treasures From Montreal on View; Gallery of Modern Art Shows 102 Paintings ' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/04/01/archives/treasures-from-montreal-on-view-gallery-of-modern-art-shows-102.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232951/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/04/01/archives/treasures-from-montreal-on-view-gallery-of-modern-art-shows-102.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a set of paintings by former president [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canby |first=Vincent |date=June 29, 1967 |title=Eisenhower Sees His Pictures And Says Some Are for Burning; Early Work on View |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/29/archives/eisenhower-sees-his-pictures-and-says-some-are-for-burning-early.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232956/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/29/archives/eisenhower-sees-his-pictures-and-says-some-are-for-burning-early.html |url-status=live }}</ref> a showcase of 19th-century Russian antiques,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schwartz |first=Marvin D. |date=July 8, 1967 |title=Antiques: Russian Icons for the Potential Buyer; Museum Show Offers a Chance to Compare |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/07/08/archives/antiques-russian-icons-for-the-potential-buyer-museum-show-offers-a.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232958/https://www.nytimes.com/1967/07/08/archives/antiques-russian-icons-for-the-potential-buyer-museum-show-offers-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a selection of sports films.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 18, 1968 |title=Sports Films to Be Shown At Gallery of Modern Art |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/18/archives/sports-films-to-be-shown-at-gallery-of-modern-art.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232956/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/03/18/archives/sports-films-to-be-shown-at-gallery-of-modern-art.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== New York Cultural Center ====
Peter Sammartino, the chancellor of [[Fairleigh Dickinson University]] in New Jersey, expressed interest in the Gallery of Modern Art's exhibits in the late 1960s.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10" /> Hartford transferred ownership of 2 Columbus Circle to the university in July 1969, and the Gallery of Modern Art was renamed the New York Cultural Center.<ref name="nyt-1969-07-16">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=July 16, 1969 |title=Huntington Hartford's Museum Is Given to Fairleigh Dickinson; Huntington Hartford Gives His Museum to Fairleigh Dickinson |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/16/archives/huntington-hartfords-museum-is-given-to-fairleigh-dickinson.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232954/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/16/archives/huntington-hartfords-museum-is-given-to-fairleigh-dickinson.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 16, 1969 |title=Hunt Hartford Gives Gallery to University |pages=48 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104420796/hunt-hartford-gives-gallery-to/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232952/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104420796/hunt-hartford-gives-gallery-to/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As part of the agreement, Hartford would give at least $5 million to the university if it operated the New York Cultural Center for five years.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 23, 1969 |title=School Will Get $5-Million Fund in Hartford Pact |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/23/archives/school-will-get-5million-fund-in-hartford-pact.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232952/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/07/23/archives/school-will-get-5million-fund-in-hartford-pact.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Hartford also donated $1 million to the museum's operations, and [[Fairleigh S. Dickinson]] gave $2.5 million to help pay off the mortgage. In addition, both men agreed to cover a portion of the museum's deficit.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-10" /> The Cultural Center was operated by a seven-member board of trustees; the university had five seats and Hartford and his financial advisor had two seats.<ref name="nyt-1974-10-31">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=October 31, 1974 |title=Fairleigh Dickinson Leaving Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/31/archives/fairleigh-dickinson-leaving-gallery-agreement-expires.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626010653/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/31/archives/fairleigh-dickinson-leaving-gallery-agreement-expires.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The university hired [[Raymond Rohauer]] as the cultural center's film curator and director,<ref name="p962954910">{{cite magazine |date=June 11, 1969 |title=Pictures: Rohauer Back to N.Y. Modern Art Gallery |magazine=Variety |volume=255 |issue=4 |pages=5 |id={{ProQuest|962954910}}}}</ref> though Rohauer resigned after less than a year.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 21, 1970 |title=Rohauer Resigns Key Posts At New York Cultural Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/21/archives/rohauer-resigns-key-posts-at-new-york-cultural-center.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232953/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/21/archives/rohauer-resigns-key-posts-at-new-york-cultural-center.html |url-status=live }}</ref> 

The center appointed its first director, Donald H. Karshan, in January 1970.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 2, 1970 |title=Cultural Center Appoints Director |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/02/archives/cultural-center-appoints-director.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626010655/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/02/archives/cultural-center-appoints-director.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That month, John Canaday wrote for ''The New York Times'': "Since the change of name, the center has seemed to be willing to exhibit just about anything in order to keep the walls covered..."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=January 31, 1970 |title=A Graphic Display at Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/31/archives/a-graphic-display-at-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232955/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/01/31/archives/a-graphic-display-at-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Cultural Center hosted 150 shows in its five years of operation.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 672" /><!--

Among the center's early exhibits were Xerox copies of various texts,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Hilton |date=April 11, 1970 |title=Art: Xeroxophilia Rafies Out of Control |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/04/11/archives/art-xeroxophilia-rages-out-of-control-show-featuring-copied.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> photographs of the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=May 13, 1970 |title=Atomic Bomb in Japan Is Focus of Photo Show |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/13/archives/atomic-bomb-in-japan-is-focus-of-photo-show.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and architectural drawings by [[Adolf Hitler]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Hilton |date=September 10, 1970 |title=Cultural Center Shows Hitler's Architectural Designs |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/10/archives/cultural-center-shows-hitlers-architectural-designs.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>  During 1972 and 1973, the Cultural Center's exhibits included a collection loaned by the [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago|Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago]],<ref>{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=July 21, 1972 |title=A Quintuple Show at Cultural Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/21/archives/a-quintuple-show-at-cultural-center.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> a set of paintings by 19th-century Italian artists,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mellow |first=James R. |date=November 18, 1972 |title=Art: 19th‐Century Italian Work |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/18/archives/art-19thcentury-italian-work.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> an exhibition of paintings by prisoners,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mellow |first=James R. |date=May 26, 1973 |title=Art: ‘From Within,’ Prisoners’ Show |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/05/26/archives/art-from-within-prisoners-show-auburn-inmates-work-is-at-cultural.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and a selection of over 100 drawings by sculptors.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Mellow |first=James R. |date=January 27, 1973 |title=‘3D Into 2D’: Drawings by Sculptors |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/27/archives/3d-into-2d-drawings-by-sculptors.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

--> The auditorium also hosted musical performances<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ericson |first=Raymond |date=October 2, 1969 |title=Steber, Thebom Charm Audience; Met Veterans Open Series in Cultural Center Hall |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/02/archives/steber-thebom-charm-audience-met-veterans-open-series-in-cultural.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625232955/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/02/archives/steber-thebom-charm-audience-met-veterans-open-series-in-cultural.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and film retrospectives.<ref>{{Cite news |date=September 2, 1970 |title=Cultural Center Will Offer Two Film Retrospectives |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/02/archives/cultural-center-will-offer-two-film-retrospectives.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626010654/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/02/archives/cultural-center-will-offer-two-film-retrospectives.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Mario Amaya]] was hired as the Cultural Center's director in early 1972.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 18, 1972 |title=Amaya Named Head of Cultural Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/18/archives/amaya-named-head-of-cultural-center.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626010744/https://www.nytimes.com/1972/02/18/archives/amaya-named-head-of-cultural-center.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Under Amaya's leadership, daily attendance tripled from December 1971 to December 1972, with 130,000 annual visitors in that period.<ref name="nyt-1974-10-312">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=October 31, 1974 |title=Fairleigh Dickinson Leaving Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/31/archives/fairleigh-dickinson-leaving-gallery-agreement-expires.html |access-date=June 25, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626010653/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/31/archives/fairleigh-dickinson-leaving-gallery-agreement-expires.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The basement auditorium hosted its first [[Legitimate theatre|legitimate theatrical shows]] in mid-1972. Amaya planned to exhibit objects from obscure New York City museums, and he wished to expand the Cultural Center's film and musical offerings.<ref name="p119560899">{{cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=May 28, 1972 |title=Out Is In on Columbus Circle |page=D18 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|119560899}}}}</ref> ''The Wall Street Journal'' wrote that the auditorium hosted film screenings, organ recitals, and [[experimental theater]] performances.<ref name="p133872976">{{cite news |last=Hoelterhoff |first=Manuela |date=July 26, 1974 |title=A Cultural circus on Columbus Circle |page=6 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|133872976}}}}</ref>

In October 1974, Fairleigh Dickinson University indicated it would no longer operate the Cultural Center, citing increasing expenses, waning public support, and the expiration of its agreement with Hartford.<ref name="nyt-1974-10-31" /><ref name="p1401270762">{{cite magazine |date=November 13, 1974 |title=What Next At Columbus Circle? |magazine=Variety |volume=275 |issue=1 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|1401270762}}}}</ref> The New York Cultural Center's trustees began seeking a buyer for the property, considering bids only from organizations that could take "full responsibility, including purchase", of 2 Columbus Circle.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Glueck|first=Grace|date=November 22, 1974|title=Trustees Are Seeking a Buyer For New York Cultural Center|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/22/archives/trustees-are-seeking-a-buyer-for-new-york-cultural-center-family.html|access-date=August 31, 2021|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=August 31, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831235635/https://www.nytimes.com/1974/11/22/archives/trustees-are-seeking-a-buyer-for-new-york-cultural-center-family.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The trustees first put the building for sale in March 1975 for $6 million but subsequently lowered that price.<ref name="nyt-1976-12-092">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=December 9, 1976 |title=Gulf & Western Gives New York A Culture Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/09/archives/gulf-western-gives-new-york-a-culture-center-gulf-western-buying.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831234142/https://www.nytimes.com/1976/12/09/archives/gulf-western-gives-new-york-a-culture-center-gulf-western-buying.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum closed on September 14, 1975,<ref name="n104431199">{{Cite news |date=September 26, 1975 |title=Center closes |pages=4 |work=Wellsville Daily Reporter |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104431199/center-closes/ |access-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626020801/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104431199/center-closes/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Hilton |date=September 15, 1975 |title=...While the Cultural Center Closes Its Doors |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/15/archives/while-the-cultural-center-closes-its-doors.html |access-date=August 31, 2021 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831235634/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/15/archives/while-the-cultural-center-closes-its-doors.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a cocktail party commemorating the museum was hosted the following week.<ref name="nyt-1975-09-26">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=September 26, 1975 |title=Cocktail Danse Macabre Marks the Demise of Cultural Center |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/26/archives/cocktail-danse-macabre-marks-the-demise-of-cultural-center.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626020801/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/26/archives/cocktail-danse-macabre-marks-the-demise-of-cultural-center.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Art critic [[Hilton Kramer]] wrote that the museum's closure, "while very far from being in any way central or catastrophic to New York art life, is nonetheless saddening".<ref name=":0" /> Following the Cultural Center's closure, [[St. Vincent's Hospital (Manhattan)|St. Vincent's Hospital]] considered acquiring 2 Columbus Circle for $1 million and converting it into a nursing school, but the hospital dismissed the idea.<ref name="nyt-1976-12-092" /> Several other organizations also declined to occupy the building.<ref name="nyt-1977-01-16">{{Cite news |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=January 16, 1977 |title=A Choice Site, A Sale, a Gift, A Tax Issue |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/16/archives/a-choice-site-a-sale-a-gift-a-tax-issue.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627211059/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/16/archives/a-choice-site-a-sale-a-gift-a-tax-issue.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== New York City government use ===
[[File:220CPS_Oct26.jpg|thumb|Eastward view of Columbus Circle from the Deutsche Bank Center. Seen from left to right are [[240 Central Park South]], [[220 Central Park South]] (under construction), [[One57]] (in the background), and 2 Columbus Circle.]]
In December 1976, [[Gulf and Western Industries]] announced that it would purchase 2 Columbus Circle and donate the building to the [[government of New York City]], as part of an agreement with outgoing mayor [[Abraham Beame]]. The structure would be converted into offices for the [[New York City Department of Cultural Affairs]] (DCLA) and the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau.<ref name="nyt-1976-12-092" /><ref name="p1401303980">{{cite magazine |date=December 15, 1976 |title=Pictures: Gulf & Western Gifts Hartford Gallery Structure to N. Y. |magazine=Variety |volume=285 |issue=6 |pages=6 |id={{ProQuest|1401303980}}}}</ref><ref name="n104536834">{{Cite news |last=Mason |first=Bryant |date=December 9, 1976 |title=Gulf Donating a Museum Piece to City |pages=811 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104536834/gulf-donating-a-museum-piece-to/ |access-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627211059/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104536834/gulf-donating-a-museum-piece-to/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As part of the acquisition, the [[Title (property)|property title]] would first be transferred to [[Phoenix Mutual|Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance]], which held a $1 million first mortgage on the building. Gulf and Western would then pay off the first mortgage, acquire the building, and deed it to the city government.<ref name="nyt-1976-12-092" /> Gulf and Western would spend $700,000 in total,<ref name="p1401303980" /> paying $300,000 for renovations and $400,000 in maintenance costs.<ref name="nyt-1977-01-16" /><ref name="n104536834" /> Gulf and Western chairman [[Charles Bluhdorn]] explained his decision to buy 2 Columbus Circle: "More than ever, this is the time for confidence and credibility in our country and our city."<ref name="nyt-1976-12-092" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 777">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=777}}</ref> At the time, Gulf and Western was housed at [[Trump International Hotel and Tower (New York City)|15 Columbus Circle]], immediately to the north.<ref name="nyt-1977-01-16" />

The city government would have paid no property taxes, prompting complaints from two private developers who had separately wanted to buy 2 Columbus Circle, paying $100,000 a year in property taxes.<ref name="nyt-1977-01-16" /> The plan was delayed for two years after [[Ed Koch]] took over as city's mayor in 1977; the building stood empty during this time.<ref name="nyt-1979-05-20">{{Cite news |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=May 20, 1979 |title=A Former Arts Center, Unoccupied Since '75, To Open for City's Use; |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/20/archives/a-former-arts-center-unoccupied-since-75-to-open-for-citys-use.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=August 31, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210831234131/https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/20/archives/a-former-arts-center-unoccupied-since-75-to-open-for-citys-use.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The delay was in part because Gulf and Western had to negotiate with both mayoral administrations over maintenance costs.<ref name="nyt-1980-11-07">{{Cite news |last=Fraser |first=C. Gerald |date=November 7, 1980 |title=Columbus Circle Museum Gets a New Cultural Life |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/07/archives/columbus-circle-museum-gets-a-new-cultural-life.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627211058/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/11/07/archives/columbus-circle-museum-gets-a-new-cultural-life.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Additionally, though the building was being renovated at the time, the Koch administration would not commit to the project in the wake of the [[1975 New York City fiscal crisis]]. Other organizations expressed interest in 2 Columbus Circle, including the [[Parsons School of Design]].<ref name="p123835236">{{cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=February 3, 1978 |title=Art People |page=C17 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|123835236}}}}</ref> Gulf and Western ultimately agreed to spend $900,000 on maintenance over four years.<ref name="nyt-1980-02-27">{{Cite news |date=February 27, 1980 |title=Cultural Affairs Unit Given Hartford Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/27/archives/cultural-affairs-unit-given-hartford-gallery.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627211059/https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/27/archives/cultural-affairs-unit-given-hartford-gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Cultural Affairs commissioner [[Henry Geldzahler]] and his partner Christopher Scott oversaw the renovation, which left the building's materials and open spaces largely intact.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" />

The city government announced in May 1979 that the DCLA and the Convention and Visitors Bureau would move into the building later that year.<ref name="nyt-1979-05-20" /> The [[New York City Board of Estimate]] voted to accept Gulf and Western's donation of 2 Columbus Circle to the city in February 1980.<ref name="nyt-1980-02-27" /> Under the terms of the gift, the New York City government was obliged to use the building solely for "cultural purposes".<ref name="nyt-1997-02-15">{{Cite news |last=Kimmelman |first=Michael |date=February 15, 1997 |title=An Old Dream For the Arts, A New Chance For the City |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/15/arts/an-old-dream-for-the-arts-a-new-chance-for-the-city.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224156/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/15/arts/an-old-dream-for-the-arts-a-new-chance-for-the-city.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This stipulation was part of a "reversionary interest" clause that ran for thirty years; if the city government did not use the building for cultural purposes during that period, Gulf and Western could take back ownership.<ref name="nyt-2002-05-23">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=May 23, 2002 |title=Blocks; Fate of 2 Columbus Circle Is Hidden Behind Marble Walls |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/23/nyregion/blocks-fate-of-2-columbus-circle-is-hidden-behind-marble-walls.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202500/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/23/nyregion/blocks-fate-of-2-columbus-circle-is-hidden-behind-marble-walls.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Koch dedicated the DCLA's offices at 2 Columbus Circle in November 1980.<ref name="nyt-1980-11-07" /><ref name="n104538634">{{Cite news |date=November 16, 1980 |title=In Short |pages=108 |work=Newsday (Nassau Edition) |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104538634/in-short/ |access-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627211058/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104538634/in-short/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The DCLA occupied four stories and rented out the restaurant and auditorium, and the Visitors Bureau had an information booth in the lobby and offices on three other floors.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 777" />

The city government opened the City Gallery on the second story in April 1981.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 777" /><ref name="nyt-1981-04-17">{{Cite news |last=Glueck |first=Grace |date=April 17, 1981 |title=Art: 'Working Process' at Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/17/arts/art-working-process-at-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224158/https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/17/arts/art-working-process-at-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Among the City Gallery's exhibits were artwork by New Yorkers,<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 20, 1982 |title='Made in New York' Art Coming to City Gallery |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/20/arts/made-in-new-york-art-coming-to-city-gallery.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224154/https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/20/arts/made-in-new-york-art-coming-to-city-gallery.html |url-status=live }}</ref> paintings by elderly citizens,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brenson |first=Michael |date=December 9, 1983 |title=Elderly Prove That Art Is Ageless |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/arts/elderly-prove-that-art-is-ageless.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224153/https://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/09/arts/elderly-prove-that-art-is-ageless.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and a showcase of works from the city's [[Percent for art]] program.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McGill |first=Douglas C. |date=January 23, 1988 |title=How Public Art Is Changing New York City |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/23/arts/how-public-art-is-changing-new-york-city.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=April 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406160818/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/23/arts/how-public-art-is-changing-new-york-city.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Visitors Bureau had 250,000 annual visitors.<ref name="nyt-1999-03-06">{{Cite news |last=Finkelstein |first=Katherine E. |date=March 6, 1999 |title=New York Puts On a More Hospitable Face |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/06/nyregion/new-york-puts-on-a-more-hospitable-face.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202453/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/06/nyregion/new-york-puts-on-a-more-hospitable-face.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The building's small size continued to pose a hindrance for its occupants, at least from the public's point of view.<ref name="Stern (2006) pp. 777-778">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|pp=777–778}}</ref> In 1991, [[Paul Goldberger]] wrote in the ''Times'' that the city government offices fit "no better into its awkward, cramped galleries than Mr. Hartford's pictures did."<ref name="Stern (2006) pp. 777-778" /><ref name="nyt-1991-09-22">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=September 22, 1991 |title=Architecture View; A Post-Modern Museum for Television, Sans Irony |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/22/arts/architecture-view-a-post-modern-museum-for-television-sans-irony.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224157/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/22/arts/architecture-view-a-post-modern-museum-for-television-sans-irony.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]], which had acquired Gulf and Western in the 1990s, inherited the building's reversionary interest. As part of a $15 million tax-incentive agreement with Viacom in 1994, the [[New York City Economic Development Corporation]] (EDC) acquired the reversionary interest in 2 Columbus Circle. Consequently, the city government was no longer obligated to use the building solely for cultural purposes.<ref name="nyt-2002-05-23" />

=== Sale and redevelopment ===

==== Early efforts ====
By October 1995, under mayor [[Rudy Giuliani|Rudolph Giuliani]], the New York City government was planning to sell or lease the building back to the private sector.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 777" /><ref name="nyt-1995-10-082">{{Cite news |date=October 8, 1995 |title=Postings: Building May Be Sold, Leased or Given Away; City Plans to Give Up Site at Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/08/realestate/postings-building-may-be-sold-leased-given-away-city-plans-give-up-site-columbus.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224155/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/08/realestate/postings-building-may-be-sold-leased-given-away-city-plans-give-up-site-columbus.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The government had yet to find new space for the DCLA and the Visitors Bureau.<ref name="nyt-1995-10-082" /> In July 1996, faced with the increasing difficulty of selling off the neighboring New York Coliseum for development, the city government also offered 2 Columbus Circle for redevelopment.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=778}}</ref><ref name="nyt-1996-07-24">{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=July 24, 1996 |title=Officials Offer Expanded Plans to Rebuild Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/24/nyregion/officials-offer-expanded-plans-to-rebuild-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224152/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/24/nyregion/officials-offer-expanded-plans-to-rebuild-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That year, [[Robert A. M. Stern]] cited 2 Columbus Circle as one of 35 modern-style buildings that he thought should be designated as city landmarks.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 17, 1996 |title=A Preservationist's List of 35 Modern Landmarks-in-Waiting |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/17/realestate/a-preservationist-s-list-of-35-modern-landmarks-in-waiting.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=November 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117090051/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/17/realestate/a-preservationist-s-list-of-35-modern-landmarks-in-waiting.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since it was more than thirty years old, the building was technically old enough to be designated as a city landmark. A four-member committee of the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC) had declined to consider designating the building as a landmark in June 1996.<ref name="nyt-2005-08-18">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 18, 2005 |title=For 2 Columbus Circle, a Growing Fan Club |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/18/nyregion/for-2-columbus-circle-a-growing-fan-club.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220627224156/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/18/nyregion/for-2-columbus-circle-a-growing-fan-club.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Although architecture critic [[Herbert Muschamp]] believed there was little chance of 2 Columbus Circle's survival,<ref name="nyt-1996-07-31">{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=July 31, 1996 |title=The Short, Scorned Life Of an Esthetic Heresy;Designed in Defiance of Modernist Tenets, 2 Columbus Circle Awaits Its Fate |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/nyregion/short-scorned-life-esthetic-heresy-designed-defiance-modernist-tenets-2-columbus.html |access-date=June 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163248/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/31/nyregion/short-scorned-life-esthetic-heresy-designed-defiance-modernist-tenets-2-columbus.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the building received a high amount of attention from preservationists.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" />

In February 1997, the EDC announced that it had received seven proposals for the site, most of which called for the building's renovation.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /><ref name="nyt-1997-02-26">{{Cite news |last=Lueck |first=Thomas J. |date=February 26, 1997 |title=For a Building A Bit Unusual, Ideas to Match |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/26/nyregion/for-a-building-a-bit-unusual-ideas-to-match.html |access-date=June 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163248/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/26/nyregion/for-a-building-a-bit-unusual-ideas-to-match.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Among those interested in the building were the [[Dahesh Museum of Art]], as well as developer [[Donald Trump]], who was renovating the nearby Gulf and Western Building.<ref name="nyt-1997-02-15" /> The Dahesh Museum proposed converting 2 Columbus Circle back into a museum, expanding its own space considerably in the process.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /><ref name="nyt-1997-02-26" /><ref name="p219135320">{{cite magazine |last=DeNitto |first=Emily |date=October 6, 1997 |title=Tiny museum is a model for growth |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=13 |issue=40 |page=30 |id={{ProQuest|219135320}}}}</ref> Trump, who had spoken negatively of 2 Columbus Circle,<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /> planned to demolish the building to make way for the hotel; he was the only bidder who proposed destroying the building.<ref name="nyt-1997-02-26" /> That April, the [[New York City Council]]'s Land Use Committee voted to prevent the DCLA, the building's only tenant, from leasing office space elsewhere. The committee expressed concern that the Giuliani administration did not even disclose general details about the site's future.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levy |first=Clifford J. |date=April 17, 1997 |title=Council Seeks Delay in Sale Of Building In Midtown |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/17/nyregion/council-seeks-delay-in-sale-of-building-in-midtown.html |access-date=June 28, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163246/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/17/nyregion/council-seeks-delay-in-sale-of-building-in-midtown.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Siegel |first=Joel |date=April 17, 1997 |title=Council squares off against Circle sale |pages=36 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104579953/council-squares-off-against-circle/ |access-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163246/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104579953/council-squares-off-against-circle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Giuliani administration claimed that, because the EDC owned 2 Columbus Circle's reversionary interest, the building did not have to undergo public review, which typically was required as part of the [[Uniform Land Use Review Procedure]].<ref name="nyt-2002-05-23" />

The visitor center in the building closed in September 1997,<ref name="nyt-1999-03-06" /> and the DCLA vacated 2 Columbus Circle in April 1998.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /> Filmmakers occasionally used the empty building for film shoots, painting over portions of the wood paneling inside.<ref name="nyt-2002-07-12" /> EDC officials had not yet picked a developer for 2 Columbus Circle because they wanted the site to be redeveloped along with the Coliseum;<ref name="nyt-1998-10-02">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=October 2, 1998 |title=Inside Art; Calder Works On the Move |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/02/arts/inside-art-calder-works-on-the-move.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629184017/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/02/arts/inside-art-calder-works-on-the-move.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the city selected a developer for the Coliseum project, which became Time Warner Center, in July 1998.<ref name="p398677248">{{cite news |date=July 29, 1998 |title=Time Warner Group Wins Bid to Develop New York Coliseum |page=B5B |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398677248}}}}</ref> That October, the [[Alexander Calder]] Foundation proposed renovating 2 Columbus Circle's facade.<ref name="nyt-1998-10-02" /> At the time, the most expensive offer for the site was Dahesh Museum's $10 million proposal,<ref name="Rice 2000">{{cite web |last=Rice |first=Andrew |date=May 15, 2000 |title=Columbus Circle Saga Goes On, as Lebanese Seek Hartford Gallery |url=https://observer.com/2000/05/columbus-circle-saga-goes-on-as-lebanese-seek-hartford-gallery/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=Observer |archive-date=April 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413043256/http://observer.com/2000/05/columbus-circle-saga-goes-on-as-lebanese-seek-hartford-gallery/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which had received considerable support from the public.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /> Among the supporters of Dahesh's bid were Huntington Hartford's daughter Juliet Hartford; New York state senator [[Thomas K. Duane]]; sculptor [[Richard Lippold]]; historian [[Robert Rosenblum]]; and local community group Committee for Environmentally Sound Development.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /> Conversely, the Giuliani administration preferred Trump's proposal to demolish the building.<ref name="n104656676">{{Cite news |last=Herman |first=Eric |date=June 21, 2002 |title=Museum to Columbus Circle American Craft tops Trump |pages=45 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104656676/museum-to-columbus-circle-american/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629221420/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104656676/museum-to-columbus-circle-american/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The project remained stalled through the end of the 1990s.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" />

==== Selection of developer ====
[[File:Museum of Arts and Design crop.jpg|thumb|upright|2 Columbus Circle with its new facade, February 2011]]In March 2000, the Giuliani administration again started soliciting bids for 2 Columbus Circle. The previous redevelopment effort had been abandoned because it had been planned in conjunction with Time Warner Center, which was already underway.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /><ref name="nyt-2000-03-07">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=March 7, 2000 |title=On Columbus Circle, Hints of an End to an Enigma |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/07/nyregion/on-columbus-circle-hints-of-an-end-to-an-enigma.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202500/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/07/nyregion/on-columbus-circle-hints-of-an-end-to-an-enigma.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This time, the city government sought to replace the building entirely, with the EDC describing 2 Columbus Circle as a "prime location for residential apartments".<ref name="nyt-2000-03-07" /> The city received thirteen bids by the deadline of May 2, 2000, including two bids from [[Joseph Moinian]] and the Dahesh Museum, who both proposed preserving the exterior as-is.<ref name="Rice 2000" /> Several major developers, such as hotelier [[Ian Schrager]], had declined to submit bids for 2 Columbus Circle.<ref name="p219195085">{{cite magazine |last=Kramer |first=Louise |date=July 30, 2001 |title=New hotbed of inn activity |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=17 |issue=31 |page=3 |id={{ProQuest|219195085}}}}</ref> Preservationists continued advocating for the building to be designated as a city landmark.<ref name="Rice 2000" /><ref name="nyt-2000-05-15">{{Cite news |last=Wakin |first=Daniel J. |date=May 15, 2000 |title=Modern Architecture Has a Midlife Crisis; Preservationists Help an Old Foe |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/15/nyregion/modern-architecture-has-a-midlife-crisis-preservationists-help-an-old-foe.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202457/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/05/15/nyregion/modern-architecture-has-a-midlife-crisis-preservationists-help-an-old-foe.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Even though the LPC had indicated that it would not hold landmark hearings for the building,<ref name="nyt-2000-05-15" /> many supporters of 2 Columbus Circle's preservation had coalesced behind Dahesh's bid.<ref name="Rice 2000" />

Though city officials had initially promised that the building would be sold quickly, the EDC had still not selected a winning bid after over a year.<ref name="p219195085" /><ref name="Rice 2001" /> In March 2001, the Giuliani administration directed the Columbus Circle advisory board to review the proposals for 2 Columbus Circle.<ref name="Rice 2001">{{cite web |last=Rice |first=Andrew |date=June 4, 2001 |title=2 Columbus Circle Is Given Hard Look By Schrager's Team |url=https://observer.com/2001/06/2-columbus-circle-is-given-hard-look-by-schragers-team/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |website=Observer |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202616/https://observer.com/2001/06/2-columbus-circle-is-given-hard-look-by-schragers-team/ |url-status=live }}</ref> At the end of Giuliani's tenure as mayor in December 2001, there were rumors that Giuliani had selected Trump as the site's developer, but the EDC denied the allegations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 27, 2002 |title=Postings: The Future of 2 Columbus Circle; Will the Site Go to Trump? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/realestate/postings-the-future-of-2-columbus-circle-will-the-site-go-to-trump.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222842/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/27/realestate/postings-the-future-of-2-columbus-circle-will-the-site-go-to-trump.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Trump claimed in 2002 that Giuliani had promised to designate him as the site's developer.<ref name="nyt-2002-07-12" /> By early 2002, a decision was still pending, and members of the public expressed concerns about the lack of [[Transparency (behavior)|transparency]] surrounding the project.<ref name="nyt-2002-05-23" /> 

Under the administration of newly elected mayor [[Michael Bloomberg]], the EDC announced in June 2002 that it would sell 2 Columbus Circle to the American Craft Museum (later the [[Museum of Arts and Design]], or MAD).<ref name="n104656676" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=June 21, 2002 |title=2 Columbus Circle Will Be a Museum Again |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/21/nyregion/2-columbus-circle-will-be-a-museum-again.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222835/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/21/nyregion/2-columbus-circle-will-be-a-museum-again.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum had not been one of the original bidders.<ref name="nyt-2002-07-12" /> Its bid of $15–20 million was slightly lower than Trump's bid, but EDC president [[Andrew Alper]] said Trump's proposal had been rejected because there were already two hotels next to Columbus Circle.<ref name="n104656676" /> The city government planned to sell 2 Columbus Circle for $17 million and allocate another $4.5 million in funding to the project.<ref name="nyt-2005-06-30">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=June 30, 2005 |title=Permit Issued for Long-Disputed Work at 2 Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/nyregion/permit-issued-for-longdisputed-work-at-2-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213543/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/30/nyregion/permit-issued-for-longdisputed-work-at-2-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The American Craft Museum planned to spend at least $30 million on renovations, including replacement of the deteriorating facade.<ref name="nyt-2002-07-12" /><ref name="n104656676" /> The museum invited small architectural firms to submit proposals for redesigning 2 Columbus Circle,<ref name="AR 2002-12 2">{{cite magazine |last=Czarnecki |first=John E. |date=Dec 2002 |title=Taking a leap of faith |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-12.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=190 |pages=73 |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001522/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-12.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and eleven firms expressed interest.<ref name="AR 2002-12">{{cite magazine |date=Dec 2002 |title=Cloepfil, Allied Works selected for New York museum |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-12.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=190 |pages=24 |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001522/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-12.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In mid-2002, the American Craft Museum selected four finalists{{Efn|[[Zaha Hadid]], Smith/Miller + Hawkinson Architects, [[Toshiko Mori]], and [[Allied Works Architecture]]<ref name=nyt-2002-08-22/><ref name="AR 2002-09"/>}} to participate in an [[architectural design competition]] for the building.<ref name=nyt-2002-08-22>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 22, 2002 |title=Metro Briefing &#124; New York: Manhattan: Architect Finalists Chosen |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/22/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-architect-finalists-chosen.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222835/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/22/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-architect-finalists-chosen.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="AR 2002-09">{{cite magazine |date=Sep 2002 |title=Off the record |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-09-I.pdf |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=190 |pages=34 |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001207/https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-2002-09-I.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum rebranded itself as the Museum of Arts and Design that October.<ref name="nyt-2002-10-03">{{Cite news |last=Vogel |first=Carol |date=October 3, 2002 |title=In New Name, Museum Goes Contemporary |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/03/arts/in-new-name-museum-goes-contemporary.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222832/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/03/arts/in-new-name-museum-goes-contemporary.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Preservation controversy ====
MAD hired [[Brad Cloepfil]] of the firm Allied Works Architecture to redesign 2 Columbus Circle in November 2002.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /><ref name="AR 2002-12 2" /><ref name="nyt-2002-11-05">{{Cite news |last=Bohlen |first=Celestine |date=November 5, 2002 |title=Oregon Firm to Design for Museum |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/05/arts/oregon-firm-to-design-for-museum.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629222839/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/05/arts/oregon-firm-to-design-for-museum.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Cloepfil's design for the headquarters of [[Wieden+Kennedy]] and [[Portland Institute for Contemporary Art]], as well as that for the [[Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis]], had influenced museum officials to hire him.<ref name="p219183509">{{cite magazine |last=Goff |first=Lisa |date=January 13, 2003 |title=NY museums gambling on new talent |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=19 |issue=2 |page=36 |id={{ProQuest|219183509}}}}</ref> Cloepfil, who was based in [[Portland, Oregon]], opened an office in New York City specifically to oversee the building's renovation.<ref name="p227855104">{{Cite magazine |last=Beck |first=Ernest |date=Aug 2007 |title=Open Office |volume=96 |issue=9 |page=56-59 |id={{proQuest|227855104}} |magazine=Architect}}</ref> Meanwhile, preservationist groups continued to advocate for retaining Stone's design.<ref name="nyt-2002-10-27" /> These included Landmark West and the [[American Institute of Architects]], which sponsored a [[panel discussion]] about 2 Columbus Circle in early 2003.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=February 11, 2003 |title=Future of 2 Columbus Circle |pages=25 |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104664386/future-of-2-columbus-circle/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001500/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104664386/future-of-2-columbus-circle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> By then, the facade was in such bad shape that a [[sidewalk shed]] had been erected around the building to protect pedestrians from falling debris.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /> Architectural critic [[Ada Louise Huxtable]], who criticized the preservation efforts, said the metal pieces behind the facade's marble slabs had rusted so severely that the entire facade would have to be replaced anyway.<ref name="wsj-2004-01-07">{{Cite news |last=Huxtable |first=Ada Louise |date=January 7, 2004 |title=The Best Way to Preserve 2 Columbus Circle? A Makeover. |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107344578910162500 |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=September 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909040016/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107344578910162500 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Cloepfil presented designs for the building's renovation to the [[New York City Planning Commission]] in March 2003.<ref name="nyt-2003-04-01" /> The announcement was controversial, and several opponents wrote editorials about the design.<ref name="Stern (2006) pp. 778-779">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|pp=778–779}}</ref> Preservationists requested that the LPC hold public hearings for 2 Columbus Circle, but the commissioners were reluctant to do so, as they did not believe the building had cultural, architectural, or historical merit.<ref name="nyt-2003-12-15">{{Cite news |last=Purnick |first=Joyce |date=December 15, 2003 |title=Metro Matters; A Building Still Looking For Respect |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/nyregion/metro-matters-a-building-still-looking-for-respect.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001212/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/15/nyregion/metro-matters-a-building-still-looking-for-respect.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In November 2003, several groups and individuals filed a lawsuit in the [[New York Supreme Court]] to prevent the building's sale from being finalized.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /><ref name="n104669072" /><ref name="nyt-2003-11-08">{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=James |date=November 8, 2003 |title=Groups Sue to Prevent Sale Of Columbus Circle Building |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/08/nyregion/groups-sue-to-prevent-sale-of-columbus-circle-building.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001453/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/08/nyregion/groups-sue-to-prevent-sale-of-columbus-circle-building.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The plaintiffs requested a [[environmental impact assessment]] for 2 Columbus Circle.<ref name="nyt-2003-12-15" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 779">{{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|ps=.|p=779}}</ref> The same month, the [[Preservation League of New York State]] placed 2 Columbus Circle on its "Seven to Save", its annual list of the state's most endangered historic sites.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 779" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=November 24, 2003 |title=Critic's Notebook; A Building's Bold Spirit, Clad in Marble and Controversy |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/24/arts/critic-s-notebook-a-building-s-bold-spirit-clad-in-marble-and-controversy.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201728/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/24/arts/critic-s-notebook-a-building-s-bold-spirit-clad-in-marble-and-controversy.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[National Trust for Historic Preservation]] also described 2 Columbus Circle as being one of the United States' "most endangered historic places" in 2004.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderton |first=Frances |date=June 3, 2004 |title=Currents: California -- Preservation; Endangered: Seabiscuit's Home, 2 Columbus Circle and Vermont |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/garden/currents-california-preservation-endangered-seabiscuit-s-home-2-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001457/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/garden/currents-california-preservation-endangered-seabiscuit-s-home-2-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="n104711392">{{Cite news |last=Hutchinson |first=Bill |date=May 25, 2004 |title=W. Side 'tomb' on 'risk' list |pages=16 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104711392/w-side-tomb-on-risk-listbill/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201728/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104711392/w-side-tomb-on-risk-listbill/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 

Cloepfil revised his design in January 2004.<ref name="nyt-2004-01-22" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 779" /> A state judge ruled against the preservationists that April, allowing the sale to proceed.<ref name="nyt-2004-04-16">{{Cite news |last=Barron |first=James |date=April 16, 2004 |title=Metro Briefing &#124; New York: Manhattan: Sale Of 2 Columbus Circle Advances |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/16/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-sale-of-2-columbus-circle-advances.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001208/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/16/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-sale-of-2-columbus-circle-advances.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum had difficulties fundraising for its new quarters;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Purnick |first=Joyce |date=June 3, 2004 |title=Metro Matters; Lollipops And Circles Of Influence |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/nyregion/metro-matters-lollipops-and-circles-of-influence.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630201958/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/03/nyregion/metro-matters-lollipops-and-circles-of-influence.html |url-status=live }}</ref> the museum's budget had risen to $50 million by mid-2004, but MAD had only raised half that amount.<ref name="p2460119854" /> Meanwhile, the vacant interior spaces had deteriorated considerably, and some areas had been damaged by burst water pipes.<ref name="p2460119854" /><ref name="n104711320" /> Other parts of the building had buckled or warped wooden floors and moisture-damaged walls.<ref name="n104711320" /> Fences had been erected around the ground-floor loggia to deter homeless people from sleeping there.<ref name="p2460119854" />  

Manhattan borough officials approved the sale of the building to MAD for $17 million in August 2004.<ref name="p305903131">{{cite news |last1=Croghan |first1=Lore |last2=Dunaief |first2=Daniel |date=August 25, 2004 |title=2 Columbus Circle Deal Gets Okay |page=62 |work=New York Daily News|id={{ProQuest|305903131}}}}</ref> Landmark West and the National Trust for Historic Preservation sued in an attempt to nullify the approval, but a state judge upheld the previous ruling in early 2005.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=February 25, 2005 |title=Museum Wins a Court Battle on Columbus Circle Renovation |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/25/nyregion/museum-wins-a-court-battle-on-columbus-circle-renovation.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213424/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/25/nyregion/museum-wins-a-court-battle-on-columbus-circle-renovation.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="p305935682">{{cite news |last=Peterson |first=Helen |date=February 25, 2005 |title=Judges Stick to 'Lollipop' Bldg. Plan |page=22 |work=New York Daily News|id={{ProQuest|305935682}}}}</ref> Preservationists, joined by residents of the nearby [[Parc Vendome]] development, then filed a lawsuit to force the LPC to hold a public hearing for 2 Columbus Circle.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=March 24, 2005 |title=In Preservation Wars, a Focus on Midcentury |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/arts/design/in-preservation-wars-a-focus-on-midcentury.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213538/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/arts/design/in-preservation-wars-a-focus-on-midcentury.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Croghan |first=Lore |date=March 22, 2005 |title=Legal wrangling over 'lollipop' |pages=67 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104718101/legal-wrangling-over-lollipoplore/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213539/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104718101/legal-wrangling-over-lollipoplore/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The LPC refused to host another hearing on the matter, and MAD signed a contract in May 2005 to finalize its purchase.<ref name="nyt-2005-05-26">{{Cite news |date=May 26, 2005 |title=Museum to Buy Contested Site |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/arts/design/museum-to-buy-contested-site.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213431/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/arts/design/museum-to-buy-contested-site.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Croghan |first=Lore |date=May 26, 2005 |title=Lollipop sale set |pages=76 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104718036/lollipop-sale-setlore-croghan/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213541/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104718036/lollipop-sale-setlore-croghan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Preservationists next accused LPC chairman Robert Tierney of colluding with MAD, filing a lawsuit in an attempt to remove him from his position.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=May 27, 2005 |title=Group Seeks Removal of Landmarks Chairman |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/nyregion/group-seeks-removal-of-landmarks-chairman.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213432/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/27/nyregion/group-seeks-removal-of-landmarks-chairman.html |url-status=live }}</ref> That June, the [[World Monuments Fund]] (WMF) cited Stone's design as being among the [[2006 World Monuments Watch|world's 100 most endangered sites for 2006]].<ref>{{cite journal |date=Summer 2005 |title=100 Most Endangered Sites 2006 |url=https://www.wmf.org/sites/default/files/article/pdfs/Watch_Catalog_2006.pdf |journal=World Monuments Fund |page=47 |access-date=October 14, 2017 |archive-date=September 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210908044236/https://www.wmf.org/sites/default/files/article/pdfs/Watch_Catalog_2006.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=June 21, 2005 |title=2 Columbus Circle Makes Group's List of Threatened Sites |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/arts/design/2-columbus-circle-makes-groups-list-of-threatened-sites.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213425/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/arts/design/2-columbus-circle-makes-groups-list-of-threatened-sites.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Museum of Arts and Design use ===

==== Renovation ====
On June 29, 2005, a week after the WMF list was published, the DOB approved an alteration permit for renovations to 2 Columbus Circle.<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 779" /><ref name="nyt-2005-06-30" /> Members of the LPC continued to disagree publicly over the merits of designating the building as a city landmark.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=August 9, 2005 |title=Unanimity on a Building Is a Facade, Insiders Say |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/nyregion/unanimity-on-a-building-is-a-facade-insiders-say.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213424/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/09/nyregion/unanimity-on-a-building-is-a-facade-insiders-say.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Observer 2005">{{cite web |date=August 9, 2005 |title=Ranks Break at Landmarks Over 2 Columbus Circle |url=https://observer.com/2005/08/ranks-break-at-landmarks-over-2-columbus-circle/ |access-date=June 28, 2022 |website=Observer |archive-date=June 28, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220628163249/https://observer.com/2005/08/ranks-break-at-landmarks-over-2-columbus-circle/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Sarah Bradford Landau]], one of the four LPC commissioners who had voted not to hold a full hearing for the building in 1996, was among those in favor of hosting a public hearing.<ref name="nyt-2005-08-18" /> A state court ruled in favor of MAD in September 2005.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tavernise |first=Sabrina |date=September 2, 2005 |title=Metro Briefing &#124; New York: Manhattan: Judge Rules Against Preservationists |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-judge-rules-against.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213424/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/02/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-judge-rules-against.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The museum finalized its purchase of 2 Columbus Circle the next month.<ref name="p219131562" /><ref name="nyt-2005-10-21" /> At this point, MAD had raised $48 million of its $65 million capital fund.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-21">{{Cite news |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=October 21, 2005 |title=Arts, Briefly; 2 Columbus Circle Is Sold |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/arts/movies/arts-briefly-2-columbus-circle-is-sold.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213424/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/21/arts/movies/arts-briefly-2-columbus-circle-is-sold.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Seven legal challenges, which included five lawsuits and two appeals, had increased the project's budget to $40 million.<ref name="nyt-2006-03-22" /> MAD director Holly Hotchner saw a benefit to the legal disputes, saying: "The controversy has given us $5 million of free advertising."<ref name="p219131562" />

Landmark West filed its eighth legal challenge against the project in October 2005, as construction was starting.<ref name="nyt-2005-10-04" /><ref name="Albertson 2005">{{cite web |last=Albertson |first=Joshua |date=October 4, 2005 |title=2 Columbus Update: Uh, Can't Hear You, We're Hammering |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2005/10/4/10612088/2-columbus-update-uh-cant-hear-you-were-hammering |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630222100/https://ny.curbed.com/2005/10/4/10612088/2-columbus-update-uh-cant-hear-you-were-hammering |url-status=live }}</ref> The group failed to halt the project and, in November 2005, installed a "shame cam" that [[Livestreaming|livestreamed]] the work on the facade.<ref name="Steele 2005">{{cite web |last=Steele |first=Lockhart |date=November 11, 2005 |title=2 Columbus Circle ShameCam |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2005/11/11/10611146/2-columbus-circle-shamecam |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Curbed NY |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701161532/https://ny.curbed.com/2005/11/11/10611146/2-columbus-circle-shamecam |url-status=live }}</ref> Work on the building was temporarily halted in early 2006 after workers were caught using a small bulldozer to demolish portions of the structure that were supposed to have been deconstructed manually.<ref name="p306137084">{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Greg B. |date=July 22, 2007 |title=Demolition Firm 'Wrecks' Havoc. Falling Bricks & Broken Walls Plague Neighbors |page=23 |work=New York Daily News|via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104721582/ |access-date=June 30, 2022 |id={{ProQuest|306137084}} |archive-date=July 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701161533/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104721582/firm-wreaks-havoc/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Most of 2 Columbus Circle's marble facade had been removed by April 2006. To raise additional money for the museum, a billboard for the film ''[[The Da Vinci Code (film)|The Da Vinci Code]]'' had been erected on the scaffolding around the building.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=April 8, 2006 |title=A Museum Clad in Billboards? The Critics Are Not Pleased |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/nyregion/a-museum-clad-in-billboards-the-critics-are-not-pleased.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630221757/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/08/nyregion/a-museum-clad-in-billboards-the-critics-are-not-pleased.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The billboard's presence prompted controversy soon after it was erected, especially among preservationists who had opposed the renovation, and MAD disassembled the sign within two weeks.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=April 15, 2006 |title=Big 'Da Vinci Code' Billboard Removed at Columbus Circle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/nyregion/big-da-vinci-code-billboard-removed-at-columbus-circle.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630222058/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/15/nyregion/big-da-vinci-code-billboard-removed-at-columbus-circle.html |url-status=live }}</ref> By mid-2007, the exterior marble cladding and portholes had been removed, and workers had made incisions in the concrete floors and walls.<ref name="nyt-2007-06-05" />

==== Reopening and occupancy ====
MAD's capital fund had increased to $95 million by mid-2008, of which $85 million had been raised.<ref name="p219186826" /> The museum also renamed 2 Columbus Circle the Jerome and Simona Chazen Building, after the capital campaign's chairman [[Jerome Chazen]] and his wife Simona.<ref name="header-logo 2007">{{cite web |date=October 16, 2007 |title=Museum Opens at Columbus Circle in September 2008 |url=https://madmuseum.org/press/releases/museum-opens-columbus-circle-september-2008 |access-date=June 30, 2022 |website=Museum of Arts and Design |archive-date=July 27, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727195438/http://madmuseum.org/press/releases/museum-opens-columbus-circle-september-2008 |url-status=live }}</ref> MAD opened its new location at 2 Columbus Circle on September 27, 2008.<ref name="p257174930" /> At the time, the restaurant atop the building was projected to open early the next year.<ref name="p219186826" /><ref name="p257174930" /> The renovation of 2 Columbus Circle was one of several projects to be completed around Columbus Circle in the 2000s, including the Time Warner Center and a reconstruction of the circle itself.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Lubell|first1=Sam|last2=Goldin|first2=Greg|date=2017-10-30|title=10 Places That Define New York City, Reimagined|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/travel/10-places-that-define-new-york-city-reimagined.html|access-date=2022-07-01|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

The ninth-floor restaurant was named Robert, after event planner [[Robert Isabell]], who had been involved in its development before his death in mid-2009. Robert ultimately opened in December 2009.<ref name="Gallagher 2009" /><ref name="nyt-2009-12-16" /> In part because of the Columbus Circle location, MAD had 500,000 visitors in 2009 alone, far surpassing its projections of 300,000 annual visitors.<ref name="p741387391">{{cite magazine |last=Garmhausen |first=Steve |date=July 19, 2010 |title=Museum shows staying power |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=26 |issue=29 |page=15 |id={{ProQuest|741387391}}}}</ref> {{As of|2021}}, MAD continued to occupy 2 Columbus Circle; one former director, [[Glenn Adamson]], described the building as being "expensive to operate".<ref name=nyt-2021-07-27>{{Cite news|last=Small|first=Zachary|date=2021-07-27|title=Design Museum Hopes 11th Director's the Charm|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/arts/design/musem-arts-design-director-resignations.html|access-date=2022-07-01|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Robert restaurant and the gift shop generated $1.8 million in annual income, more than the amount raised through museum subscriptions in 2019.<ref name=nyt-2021-07-27/>

== Reception ==

=== Original structure ===
[[File:2ColumbusConstruction.jpg|thumb|upright|During facade reconstruction]]When 2 Columbus Circle was built, there was much criticism of its design. The ''Times'' reported in 1963 that the building had been likened to a [[seraglio]] and a [[traffic island]].<ref name="nyt-1963-08-28" /> Ada Louise Huxtable derided 2 Columbus Circle as a "die-cut Venetian palazzo on {{Not a typo|lolly|pops}}",<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /><ref name="nyt-1964-02-25" /> leading the building to be nicknamed "The Lollipop Building".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=January 8, 2013 |title=Ada Louise Huxtable, Champion of Livable Architecture, Dies at 91 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/arts/design/ada-louise-huxtable-architecture-critic-dies-at-91.html |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=March 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321000740/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/arts/design/ada-louise-huxtable-architecture-critic-dies-at-91.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The critic Alfred Frankfurter took issue with the wood paneling in the museum and the "spurious South Sea atmosphere" of the restaurants.<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 672" /><ref name="Art News 1964-03">{{cite magazine |last=Frankfurter |first=Alfred |date=March 1964 |title=Caviare?—New York's Newest Museum |volume=63 |pages=32-34, 59-61 |magazine=Art News}}</ref> Even the building's architectural style was disputed. The critic Stuart Preston compared the building to a Venetian palazzo, but Frankfurter wrote: "To attribute a 'Venetian' style to the design is to libel on the grandeur of the Queen of the Adriatic."<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 672" /> Architectural critic [[Herbert Muschamp]] said much of the controversy arose from the fact that "this cultural campanile violated the modernist taboo against historically derived decoration".<ref name="nyt-1994-03-27">{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=March 27, 1994 |title=An Appraisal; Columbus Circle's Changing Face: More Than Geometry |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/27/nyregion/an-appraisal-columbus-circle-s-changing-face-more-than-geometry.html |access-date=June 27, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=September 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210901183502/https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/27/nyregion/an-appraisal-columbus-circle-s-changing-face-more-than-geometry.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Conversely, when 2 Columbus Circle opened, Thomas V. Ennis of the ''Times'' wrote that the building was a "bright spot" on the midtown section of Eighth Avenue.<ref name="p115876403">{{cite news |last=Ennis |first=Thomas V. |date=July 12, 1964 |title=2 New Apartments Brighten the Future Of Shabby 8th Ave. |page=R1 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |id={{ProQuest|115876403}}}}</ref> Olga Gueft, writing for ''Interiors'' magazine, said the colonnades and portholes "are too winsome for heavyweight criticism",<ref name="Stern (1995) p. 671" /><ref name="Gueft1964">{{Cite magazine |last=Gueft |first=Olga |date=June 1964 |title=Non-Conformity on Columbus Circle |magazine=Interiors |volume=123 |page=95}}</ref> contrasting with the "glittering ice-cage architecture" that was prevalent across New York City at the time.<ref name="nyt-2002-10-27" /><ref name="Gueft1964" /> ''[[Newsday]]'' wrote that the building "represents a vivid departure from the steel-and-glass towers that have dominated many of New York's avenues in recent years."<ref name="n104370676">{{Cite news |date=March 16, 1964 |title=New Museum in Town |pages=69 |work=Newsday (Suffolk Edition) |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104370676/new-museum-in-town/ |access-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-date=June 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220625205602/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104370676/new-museum-in-town/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ellen Perry of ''Progressive Architecture'' wrote: "This gallery is Stone-work, from what might be called the Middle Stone Age".<ref name="PA 1964-06" /><ref name="Stern (1995) p. 672" />

In 1974, [[Manuela Hoelterhoff]] wrote for ''The Wall Street Journal'': "Slowly, that architectural oddity [...] is recovering from its peculiar birth in the middle of a traffic island 10 years ago", largely because of the Cultural Center's diverse offerings.<ref name="p133872976" /> The next year, [[John Canaday]] wrote in ''The New York Times'' that the building was a "[[white elephant]]", constricted largely by its small lot area and designed "in a weak moment" for Stone.<ref name="nyt-1975-03-23">{{Cite news |last=Canaday |first=John |date=March 23, 1975 |title=Days Are Numbered For a White Elephant |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/23/archives/days-are-numbered-for-a-white-elephant-days-are-numbered-for-a.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220626020802/https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/23/archives/days-are-numbered-for-a-white-elephant-days-are-numbered-for-a.html |url-status=live }}</ref> According to novelist [[Tom Wolfe]], the building was so widely disliked that Stone had to resort "to saying such things as, 'Every taxi driver in New York will tell you it's his favorite building.'"<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /> By the late 1990s, Huxtable said she got "a little lift, a sense of pleasure" when she walked past 2 Columbus Circle, as it was the circle's "only identifiable object".<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /> Muschamp called the building "a latter-day tribute to John Ruskin and the road not taken by modern architects after the collapse of the Gothic Revival in the late 19th century".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=April 2, 2000 |title=Art/Architecture; Huntington Hartford's Generous Folly |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/02/arts/art-architecture-herbert-muschamp-huntington-hartford-s-generous-folly.html |access-date=June 29, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629202452/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/02/arts/art-architecture-herbert-muschamp-huntington-hartford-s-generous-folly.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2003, Laurie Kerr of ''The Wall Street Journal'' compared 2 Columbus Circle to the original [[World Trade Center (1973–2001)|World Trade Center]], saying that neither project "ever fit into any of the architectural narratives of the city" as [[Lever House]] and the [[Plaza Hotel]] did.<ref name="p398920875">{{cite news |last=Kerr |first=Laurie |date=December 2, 2003 |title=How 2 Columbus Circle Saved the World |page=D10 |work=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398920875}}}}</ref>  

==== Commentary on renovation ====
When 2 Columbus Circle was proposed for redevelopment in the late 1990s, there was much commentary in favor of preservation. Robert A. M. Stern believed the building merited landmark protection "by any and every standard of what a landmark is",<ref name="Leonard 1996">{{Cite news |last=Leonard |first=Devin |date=October 21, 1996 |title=Columbus Circle Chic: Preservation Drive Puzzles City Official |pages=1, 28 |work=The New York Observer}} Cited in {{harvnb|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=778}}.</ref> and he described the structure as "important, thoughtful and carefully articulated".<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /> Tom Wolfe also spoke in favor of preservation, saying: that the building "really is a jewel. It's this lovely white [...] piece of drama!"<ref name="Leonard 1996" /> [[David Childs]], the architect of the Time Warner Center, expressed support for preserving Stone's design at 2 Columbus Circle.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /><ref name="Stern (2006) p. 778" /> Other commentators favored the building's redevelopment. Donald Trump said 2 Columbus Circle "has got to be the worst building in the city of New York" and that it was "universally disliked" until the redevelopment plans were announced.<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" /> The Calder Foundation's director Alexander S. C. Rower said: "We don't like Ed Stone's portholes."<ref name="nyt-1998-12-11" />

Controversy continued after Cloepfil was announced as the renovation architect in 2002.<ref name="p2460119854" /><ref name="n104711320" /> [[Bernard Tschumi]] of the [[Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation]] held an unfavorable view of the facade's renovation, saying that Stone's original design should either be preserved or the entire structure should be razed.<ref name="nyt-2002-11-05" /> Kate Wood of Landmark West said the plan "utterly erases Stone's vision for 2 Columbus Circle" in discarding the portholes and loggias, while Wolfe wrote a two-part ''New York Times'' editorial detailing his objections to the new design.<ref name="Stern (2006) pp. 778-779" /> By contrast, MAD director [[Holly Hotchner]] likened the existing design to a mausoleum, while MoMA curator [[Terence Riley (curator)|Terence Riley]] compared the building to "a patient that has been on life support for so long that none of the doctors are still alive".<ref name="p2460119854" />   

The LPC's refusal to hold public hearings for the building was itself a subject of contention. Muschamp described the LPC's decision as "a shocking dereliction of public duty",<ref name="Stern (2006) p. 779" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Muschamp |first=Herbert |date=December 28, 2003 |title=Architecture: the Lows; Banner Year For Lost Opportunities |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/arts/architecture-the-lows-banner-year-for-lost-opportunities.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630202000/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/arts/architecture-the-lows-banner-year-for-lost-opportunities.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Nicolai Ouroussoff]] cited the building as an example of the LPC's inability "to distinguish between preserving the city's architectural legacy and embalming it".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ouroussoff |first=Nicolai |date=May 26, 2005 |title=Commission Preserves the Past at the Cost of the Future |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/arts/design/commission-preserves-the-past-at-the-cost-of-the-future.html |access-date=June 30, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630213427/https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/arts/design/commission-preserves-the-past-at-the-cost-of-the-future.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Wolfe expressed a similar view against the LPC commissioners at a press conference in 2004, saying: "When anyone asks about 2 Columbus Circle, the commissioners dive under their desks."<ref name="p305919028">{{cite news |last=Croghan |first=Lore |date=October 21, 2004 |title=Landmarking's Blasted Lollipop, Harlem in Jeopardy |page=41 |work=New York Daily News|id={{ProQuest|305919028}}}}</ref> Conversely, Justin Davidson opposed the efforts to designate the building as a city landmark, saying it "minimizes flexibility and privileges the status quo, which in this case is dilapidation and uselessness".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Justin |date=December 10, 2003 |title=Preserving the Past or Building the Future |pages=78, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104665886/ 79], [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104665909/ 85] |work=Newsday |via=newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104665861/preserving-the-past-or-building-the/ |access-date=June 29, 2022 |archive-date=June 30, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630001454/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104665861/preserving-the-past-or-building-the/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Huxtable concurred with this view, writing in ''The Wall Street Journal'' that opponents seemed "to be operating by tunnel vision and a blind resistance to change".<ref name="wsj-2004-01-07" /> According to Huxtable, the attempts at preservation amounted to "an unworthy performance that did little credit to anyone who cares about preservation and can only serve as an object lesson of how not to go about it."<ref name="wsj-2008-12-11">{{Cite news |last=Huxtable |first=Ada Louise |date=December 11, 2008 |title=Setting the Record Straight About Ed Stone and Brad Cloepfil |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122886443122792931 |access-date=June 24, 2022 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=January 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117050735/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122886443122792931 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Renovated structure ===
James Gardner, architecture critic for the ''[[New York Sun]]'' wrote that the original building "was indubitably a landmark; the best that can be said for its replacement is that, if we're lucky, no one will ever notice it."<ref>{{cite news|last=Gardner|first=James|title=Missing the Marble at 2 Columbus Circle|work=New York Sun|date=April 15, 2008|url=http://www.nysun.com/arts/missing-the-marble-at-2-columbus-circle/74723/|access-date=September 5, 2009|archive-date=January 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115003920/http://www.nysun.com/arts/missing-the-marble-at-2-columbus-circle/74723/|url-status=live}}</ref> Five years after the renovation was complete, Gardner maintained that the redesigned structure was "far inferior" to Stone's original design.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gardner|first=James|date=February 22, 2013|title=Architecture review: The Stone curse|url=https://therealdeal.com/2013/02/22/architecture-review-the-stone-curse/|access-date=June 29, 2022|website=The Real Deal New York|language=en-US|archive-date=November 15, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115231936/https://therealdeal.com/2013/02/22/architecture-review-the-stone-curse/|url-status=live}}</ref> Francis Morrone, also of the ''Sun'', wrote: "Where Stone's original building read as neatly scaled to its setting, Mr. Cloepfil's redesign reads as a piece of abstract sculpture that, at building scale, seems all wrong."<ref>{{cite news|last=Morrone|first=Francis|title=Taking a Fresh Look at Columbus Circle|work=New York Sun|date=August 7, 2008|url=http://www.nysun.com/calendar/taking-a-fresh-look-at-columbus-circle/83318/|access-date=September 5, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005080059/http://www.nysun.com/calendar/taking-a-fresh-look-at-columbus-circle/83318/|archive-date=October 5, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Witold Rybczynski]] wrote in [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] that the new design "feels like an alien presence",<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rybczynski|first=Witold|date=January 14, 2009|title=Goodbye, 2 Columbus Circle|journal=Slate|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2208529|access-date=September 5, 2009|archive-date=June 25, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090625192149/http://www.slate.com/id/2208529|url-status=live}}</ref> and architecture critic [[Justin Davidson]] said, "This version won't satisfy those who thought it should never have been touched."<ref>{{cite journal|date=September 7, 2008|title=Museum Date|journal=New York|url=http://nymag.com/arts/architecture/reviews/49939/|access-date=September 9, 2008|archive-date=September 9, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080909113711/http://nymag.com/arts/architecture/reviews/49939/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2008, Ouroussoff named the renovated building as one of seven buildings in New York City that should be torn down because they "have a traumatic effect on the city".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ouroussoff|first=Nicolai|date=2008-09-26|title=New York City, Tear Down These Walls|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/arts/design/28ouro.html|access-date=2022-07-01|issn=0362-4331|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120617032826/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/arts/design/28ouro.html|archive-date=June 17, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some critics defended the new facade. Huxtable wrote that "criticism of the structure has been alarmingly out of proportion and flagrantly out of control".<ref>{{cite news|last=Huxtable|first=Ada Louise|title=Setting the Record Straight About Ed Stone and Brad Cloepfil|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=December 10, 2008|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122886443122792931|access-date=September 5, 2009|archive-date=January 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117050735/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB122886443122792931|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Paul Goldberger]] praised the new building's "functional, logical, and pleasant" interior in a review in ''[[The New Yorker]]'', even though the "proportions and composition seem just as odd and awkward as they ever did".<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Goldberger|first=Paul|date=August 25, 2008|title=Hello, Columbus|magazine=The New Yorker|url=http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2008/08/25/080825crsk_skyline_goldberger|access-date=September 5, 2009|archive-date=September 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901203649/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/skyline/2008/08/25/080825crsk_skyline_goldberger|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==

=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{commons category}}
* {{Cite New York 1960}}
* {{Cite New York 2000}}

{{Broadway (Manhattan)}}
{{Midtown North, Manhattan}}

[[Category:1964 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Broadway (Manhattan)]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1964]]
[[Category:Columbus Circle]]
[[Category:Edward Durell Stone buildings]]
[[Category:Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)]]
[[Category:Midtown Manhattan]]
[[Category:Museums in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Gulf and Western Industries]]