5 Columbus Circle (also known as 1790 Broadway and formerly known as the United States Rubber Company Building) is an office building on the southeast corner of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and 58th Street in the

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildi ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, just south of

Columbus Circle Columbus Circle is a traffic circle and heavily trafficked intersection in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located at the intersection of Eighth Avenue, Broadway, Central Park South ( West 59th Street), and Central Park West, at the ...

. Designed by

Carrère and Hastings Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère ( ; November 9, 1858 – March 1, 1911) and Thomas Hastings (March 11, 1860 – October 22, 1929), was one of the outstanding American Beaux-Arts architecture firms. Located in New York City ...

in the Beaux-Arts style, it is tall with 20

stories Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (Briti ...

. The building contains a marble facade with a copper

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

above the 20th story. The windows are grouped into recessed

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

, separated horizontally by metal

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s and vertically by narrow

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

. The base contains part of a

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

for

Nordstrom Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, and ...

, which extends into

Central Park Tower Central Park Tower is a residential supertall skyscraper at 225 West 57th Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, along Billionaires' Row. Designed by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the building rises with ...

and another building. 5 Columbus Circle was originally built as the headquarters of the

United States Rubber Company The company formerly known as the United States Rubber Company, now Uniroyal, is an American manufacturer of tires and other synthetic rubber-related products, as well as variety of items for military use, such as ammunition, explosives, chemic ...

(U.S. Rubber) in 1912. It was part of Broadway's "Automobile Row" during the early 20th century. U.S. Rubber moved to a new headquarters in 1940, and the building was sold several times before being acquired by the West Side Federal Savings and Loan Association. The First Nationwide Savings Bank, which acquired the West Side Federal Savings and Loan Association, sold the building in 1985 to John Phufas and John O'Donnell, and small renovations were undertaken in subsequent years. The

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

designated the building as a city landmark in 2000.

Site

5 Columbus Circle is on the southeastern corner of

and 58th Street, one block south of

and

Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...

in the

neighborhood of

. The building carries the addresses 1784–1790 Broadway and 234 West 58th Street. The site measures . Neighboring buildings include

's base to the south; Central Park Tower and the

American Fine Arts Society The Art Students League of New York Building (also the American Fine Arts Society and 215 West 57th Street) is a building on 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh in the Frenc ...

building to the east;

240 Central Park South 240 Central Park South is a residential building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Albert Mayer and Julian Whittlesey, it was built between 1939 and 1940 by the J.H. Taylor Construction Company, an enterprise of the Mayer fami ...

Gainsborough Studios Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The com ...

, and

220 Central Park South 220 Central Park South is a residential skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, situated along Billionaires' Row on the south side of Central Park South between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 220 Central Park South was designed by ...

across 58th Street to the north; and 2 Columbus Circle to the northwest across both Broadway and 58th Street. In the 20th century, the area was part of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

's "Automobile Row", a stretch of Broadway extending mainly between

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

at 42nd Street and

Sherman Square Sherman Square is a pocket park bounded by Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and West 70th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It was named in 1891 for William Tecumseh Sherman who lived in the area and died that year. ...

at 72nd Street. Before the first decade of the 20th century, the area was occupied mostly by equestrian industries and was described by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' as "thoroughly lifeless". By 1907, the ''Times'' characterized this section of Broadway as having "almost a solid line of motor vehicle signs all the way from Times Square to Sherman Square". In the late 1900s and early 1910s, several large automobile showrooms, stores, and garages were built on Broadway, including the B.F. Goodrich showroom (later part of Central Park Tower) and

224 West 57th Street 224 West 57th Street, also known as the Argonaut Building and formerly as the Demarest and Peerless Company Building, is a commercial building on the southeast corner of Broadway and 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, just south ...

just south of 5 Columbus Circle. During that time, 5 Columbus Circle was one of several such major developments in the area. 5 Columbus Circle in particular was the first tall building on Broadway north of Times Square, being surrounded by tenements when it was completed.

Architecture

5 Columbus Circle is tall, with 20 stories and a penthouse, as well as two basement levels. The largely marble-clad building was designed by

. The building was erected by

Norcross Brothers Norcross Brothers Contractors and Builders was a nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for their work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White. The company was founded by J ...

. For their design of 5 Columbus Circle, Carrère and Hastings took inspiration from their past work, which was largely in the

French Renaissance The French Renaissance was the cultural and artistic movement in France between the 15th and early 17th centuries. The period is associated with the pan-European Renaissance, a word first used by the French historian Jules Michelet to define th ...

style, including the former

Blair Building The Blair Building, also known as the Blair and Company Building, was one of New York City's earliest skyscrapers. History It was constructed in 1902–1903. It was located at 24 Broad Street in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York ...

in Manhattan's

Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies and other related finance corporations have their head offices. In major cities, financial districts are often home to s ...

. There is also a "

light court In architecture, a lightwell,light well, light-well sky-well,skywell, sky well or air shaft is an unroofed or roofed external space provided within the volume of a large building to allow light and air to reach what would otherwise be a dark or ...

" on the eastern side of the building, facing Central Park Tower; it allowed sunlight to reach the interior offices at the time of 5 Columbus Circle's construction.

Facade

5 Columbus Circle has a curtain wall facade made mainly of Vermont marble. This is a contrast to many commercial structures of the time, which mostly contained facades of brick, limestone, or terracotta, 5 Columbus Circle's main elevations, or sides, face 58th Street to the north and Broadway to the west. The two primary elevations are connected by a curved corner; the marble cladding served to emphasize the thinness of the curtain wall. The curved corner, similar to one on the Flatiron Building, is clad with smooth stone to soften the acute angle facing 58th Street and Broadway. On each floor, there are seven

facing Broadway and eight facing 58th Street. The eastern and southern facades are faced in plain brick with some window openings on either side. The northern and western facades' windows have kalamein frames and sashes, while the eastern and southern facades have wire glass. Columbus Circle area Oct 2020 41

The main entrance to the building, in the southernmost bay facing Broadway, contains a double door of bronze and glass beneath a glass transom. A freight entrance is in the two eastern bays on 58th Street. The lowest two stories have a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or cur ...

of Ionic columns, looking into the

store in the base. There are arched windows on the 1st and 2nd stories, looking from the street into the Nordstrom store. These are replicas of the original windows that looked into the salesroom of the building's namesake, the

(U.S. Rubber). After the 1958 renovation, there was a door at the corner of Broadway and 58th Street, leading to a ground-level banking space. The remainder of the 1st floor contained double-height

display window A display window, also a shop window (British English) or store window (American English), is a window in a shop displaying items for sale or otherwise designed to attract customers to the store. Usually, the term refers to larger windows in the f ...

s. The 2nd floor was clad with gray marble panels, with a stone band course running above it. These modifications were removed starting in 2018, when the base was restored to its original design. On the 3rd through 19th stories, the outermost bays on Broadway and 58th Street are clad with rusticated stone, while the center bays are recessed between flat stone

. The outermost bays have

sash window A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...

s topped by stone

voussoir A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault. Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. T ...

s on the 3rd through 6th stories and by elaborate carvings on the 7th story. The center bays have elaborate stone surrounds around the 3rd-story windows and sash windows with metal

s on the 4th through 7th stories. The 8th story is treated as a transitional story, with band courses below and above it. The outer bays of the 8th story contain rounded pediments that are part of the band course above. A balustrade wraps around the 9th story, atop the band course. The 9th through 19th stories contain rectangular sash windows in the side bays (with spandrels between each pairing of two stories). The center bays have sash windows with metal railings, which are recessed between piers, as well as metal spandrel panels between the windows on each floor, except for stone panels above the 10th and 16th floors. There is a band course above the 19th story. The 20th story has twelve sash windows on each side, with carved window surrounds in the outer bays. The facades on Broadway and 58th Street are topped by a large copper cornice. The roof was originally made of tile measuring atop a layer of waterproofing.

Interior

5 Columbus Circle has of floor space. This provided approximately of usable office space on each floor, with up to 17 offices on each floor. Like other buildings of its era, 5 Columbus Circle has a steel

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

and inverted floor arches made of

architectural terracotta Architectural terracotta refers to a fired mixture of clay and water that can be used in a non-structural, semi-structural, or structural capacity on the exterior or interior of a building. Terracotta pottery, as earthenware is called when not use ...

. 5 Columbus Circle was erected with ten

Otis Otis may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Otis (Superman), in the films ''Superman'' and ''Superman II'' and related DC Comics media ** Otis Graves, in the TV series ''Supergirl'' * Otis (''The Walking Dead''), in the Image Comics ...

elevators and lifts, as well as two emergency staircases. Three passenger elevators were designed as "local" elevators for lower stories, while three others were "express" elevators for upper stories. In addition, there was a private passenger elevator, two freight elevators (one each for U.S. Rubber and other tenants), and a dumbwaiter. The stairs were made of iron and steel with treads made of marble, slate, or rubber. , the building has six passenger and two freight elevators. When completed in 1912, 5 Columbus Circle was intended exclusively for office and mercantile use. U.S. Rubber had a salesroom on the ground level and a basement and subbasement for tire storage. The subbasement floor is below street level and contained the boiler room. The salesroom had a rubber-tiled floor, Botticino marble wall bases, Caen stone walls, and plastered ceilings. Additionally, there was a lobby at the southeastern corner, which served two stairs and six elevators. The lobby had a similar decoration to the salesroom. , the lower stories contain part of Nordstrom's

, which extends into Central Park Tower and 1776 Broadway. The portion of the store within 5 Columbus Circle covers and contains a bar. The second through 13th floors were intended for rent and could be split up into modules of . The 14th through 20th floors were for U.S. Rubber's use. The 15th through 17th floors were used as the company's general offices. On these floors, each office is separated by hollow-tile or metal partitions, although fireproof wood is used in "special rooms" on two of the upper stories. Most of the interior trim is made of hollow metal, while the floor surfaces used masonry, marble, or rubber tiling. African mahogany was used for the fireproof wood trim. Doorways next to mahogany wood trim were colored to match the trim, and other doors were colored gray. The upper four floors contain fireplaces. The fireproofing measures were included in the aftermath of the

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...

in 1911. The corporate offices and the tire division in the basement were connected by a

pneumatic tube Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, a ...

communication system.

History

Construction and early use

In the years after its founding in 1892, U.S. Rubber came to control 70 percent of the United States' rubber footwear market and also became a top seller of tires. Prior to the completion of 5 Columbus Circle, U.S. Rubber was headquartered in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city in and the seat of government of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In April 1911, U.S. Rubber leased the lot at the southeast corner of Broadway and 58th Street from Mary A. Fitzgerald for 21 years at a cost of $4,000 per year (). Carrère and Hastings drew up plans for a 20-story office building on the site, which would provide sufficient space for a new headquarters. When the plans were released in August 1911, the planned building was described by the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'' and ''The New York Times'' as the tallest structure on Broadway north of Times Square. Demolition of the site had begun in May 1911 after the site had been acquired. The U.S. Rubber Building was completed and ready for occupancy in mid-1912, with tenants moving there by May 1 of that year. Upon the building's completion, U.S. Rubber occupied the ground-floor showroom, basements, and ten of the upper floors. The 15th through 17th floors were used as the company's general offices. The other floors were rented to various tenants, including the Society of Automobile Engineers, the

Timken Roller Bearing Company The Timken Roller Bearing Company was one of the first to introduce roller bearings for railroad cars. Railroad cars owned and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway were some of the first to use roller bearings rather than "oil wa ...

, the

National Tuberculosis Association National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

, and taxi operator Keystone Transportation Company. The Fitzgerald estate sold the Schulte Real Estate Company the site for $1.1 million in 1928 and title was then passed to businessman

August Heckscher August Heckscher (August 26, 1848 – April 26, 1941) was a German-born American capitalist and philanthropist. Early life Heckscher was born in Hamburg, Germany. He was the son of Johann Gustav Heckscher (1797–1865) and Marie Antoinette B ...

. U.S. Rubber acquired the land under the building outright in 1932, upon the expiration of the original lease. At the time of U.S. Rubber's land purchase, the

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, wi ...

had a mortgage loan of $800,000 against the property.

Later owners

In December 1939, U.S. Rubber sold 1790 Broadway after acquiring space at the then-new

1230 Avenue of the Americas Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

Rockefeller Center Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

, paying off its mortgage on 1790 Broadway. U.S. Rubber moved its offices to Rockefeller Center three months later in March 1940, and the 8th through 14th floors at 5 Columbus Circle were rented to the

National Health Council The National Health Council (NHC) is a nonprofit association of health organizations. Its members are national health-related organizations, including leading patient advocacy groups such as the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Associ ...

that October. 5 Columbus Circle was sold several times in subsequent years, including to Richard M. Lederer in 1944. The building was acquired in 1951 by the West Side Federal Savings and Loan Association bank, which hired Herbert Tannenbaum to remodel the ground level, second floor, and basement for its use. In 1959, the bank hired Tannenbaum again to redesign the lowest two stories of the facade in 1959, replacing the original cladding with a glass and gray-marble insert. In an interview with journalist

Christopher Gray Christopher Stewart Gray (April 24, 1950 – March 10, 2017) was an American journalist and architectural historian,Schneider, Daniel B (August 27, 2000)"F.Y.I. Hell's Kitchen in the Raw" '' The New York Times''. March 4, 2010. noted for his wee ...

four decades later, Tannenbaum expressed regret for the renovation, saying, "It broke my heart to tear those beautiful Ionic columns out." During the mid-20th century, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other na ...

leased several floors at 5 Columbus Circle, while the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&n ...

also had its headquarters in the building from 1967 to 1982. The First Nationwide Savings Bank, which acquired West Side Federal Savings, sold the building in 1985 to John Phufas and John O'Donnell for $29.25 million. Phufas and O'Donnell hired

Beyer Blinder Belle Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners LLP (BBB) is an international architecture firm. It is based in New York City and has an additional office in Washington, DC. The firm's name is derived from the three founding partners: John H. Beyer, Ri ...

to renovate the space, and First Nationwide would continue to occupy eight floors. The renovation was complicated by the fact that no drawings of the original lobby design could be found. Nevertheless, the original ceiling rosettes and frieze were concealed above the

dropped ceiling A dropped ceiling is a secondary ceiling, hung below the main (structural) ceiling. It may also be referred to as a drop ceiling, T-bar ceiling, false ceiling, suspended ceiling, grid ceiling, drop in ceiling, drop out ceiling, or ceiling tile ...

, and they were restored after a Beyer Blinder Belle associate discovered them. The facade was also cleaned, but First Nationwide did not follow through with a plan to restore the lower section of the facade, which was estimated to cost at least $1 million. In early 2000, the building's owner 1790 Broadway Associates added windows to the second story of the facade. The

(LPC) designated 5 Columbus Circle, along with 224 West 57th Street and the Studebaker Building in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, as official city landmarks on December 19, 2000. Columbus Circle area Nov 2020 05

Nordstrom signed a lease for retail space at the neighboring Central Park Tower in 2012 during that tower's construction. As part of the lease, Nordstrom would also occupy some space at 1776 Broadway and 5 Columbus Circle. In 2018, 1790 Broadway Associates announced plans to renovate the building's facade. The lowest two stories were re-clad with marble, and the elevators, boilers and cooling towers, and windows were replaced at a cost of $10 million. The Nordstrom store opened in late 2019, and Kaplan, Inc. also took space in the building that year.

Critical reception

In 1989, Christopher Gray wrote for ''The New York Times'' that "Up close Columbus Circleis all debonair urbanism ..but from afar the marble ornament is harder to see and it becomes a sleek skyscraper."

David W. Dunlap David W. Dunlap (born 1952) is an American journalist who worked as a reporter for '' The New York Times''. He wrote a regular column, Building Blocks, that looked at the New York metropolitan area through its architecture, infrastructure, spaces ...

wrote for the same paper in 2000 that 5 Columbus Circle was the "cynosure of Automobile Row", with its rounded corner resembling "an alabaster version of the Flatiron Building".

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

* * {{Broadway (Manhattan) 1912 establishments in New York City Beaux-Arts architecture in New York City Broadway (Manhattan) Carrère and Hastings buildings Columbus Circle New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Office buildings completed in 1912 Office buildings in Manhattan