2 Columbus Circle

2 Columbus Circle
The original design of the Edward Durell Stone building named 2 Columbus Circle.
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General information
Status	Open
Type	Mixed-use
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 / 40.767361; -73.98194Coordinates: 40°46′02.5″N 73°58′55″W / 40.767361°N 73.98194°W / 40.767361; -73.98194
Current tenants	Museum of Arts and Design
Opened	1964
Renovated	2005
Landlord	Museum of Arts and Design
Design and construction
Architect	Edward Durell Stone Brad Cloepfil (new facade)

2 Columbus Circle is a 12-story building located on a small, trapezoidal lot on the south side of Columbus Circle on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City. Bordered by 58th Street, 59th Street, Broadway, and Eighth Avenue, it stands on the site of the seven-story Grand Circle Hotel designed by William H. Cauvet. Opened in 1964 after A&P heir Huntington Hartford hired architect Edward Durell Stone to build a museum for him at the site. The building came under controversy in 2002 after the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) was designated as the building's developer. MAD subsequently significantly altered its design, including modifying its facade; since 1996, ideas had been put forward for the building to be landmarked, so its proposed landmark status was brought into question with this renovation.

The seven-story Grand Circle Hotel, designed by William H. Cauvet, stood at this address from 1874; later called the Boulevard Hotel, it was demolished in 1960.

In 1964, A&P heir Huntington Hartford hired architect Edward Durell Stone to build a museum for him at 2 Columbus Circle. At the time, Hartford had one of the world's greatest art collections with a Rembrandt, Claude Monets, Manet, Turner, Salvador Dalí. Hartford commissioned Salvador Dalí to paint a painting called The Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus for the opening. The opening attracted many celebrities, such as the Duke of Windsor. 2 Columbus Circle opened as the Gallery of Modern Art, displaying Hartford's collection. Until 2005, the building was a 12-story modernist structure, designed by Stone for Hartford, to display his art collection. As Stone designed it, the building was marble-clad with Venetian motifs and a curved façade. It had filigree-like portholes and windows that ran along an upper loggia at its top stories. With architect Philip L. Goodwin, Stone had previously designed the Rockefeller family's Museum of Modern Art in the International style, opened to the public on May 10, 1939. Hartford wanted his "Gallery of Modern Art" to represent an alternative view of modernism.