| 2 Columbus Circle | |
|---|---|
_-_NYC_(51395616531).jpg) | |
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| General information | |
| Status | Open |
| Type | Museum |
| Address | 2 Columbus Circle New York, NY 10019 |
| Town or city | New York City |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 40°46′02.5″N 73°58′55″W / 40.767361°N 73.98194°W |
| Current tenants | Museum of Arts and Design |
| Groundbreaking | 1960 |
| Opened | March 21, 1964 |
| Renovated | 2005–2008 |
| Client | Huntington Hartford |
| Landlord | Museum of Arts and Design |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Concrete bearing wall |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Edward Durell Stone Brad Cloepfil (new facade) |
| Structural engineer | Cosentini Associates |
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, Columbus Circle, Broadway, and Eighth Avenue. It was originally designed by Edward Durell Stone in the modernist style for 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 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 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 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.