5 Columbus Circle

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 and 58th Street in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, just south of Columbus Circle. Designed by Carrère and Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style, it is 286 feet (87 m) tall with 20 stories.

This article is about the office building at 1790 Broadway, known as 5 Columbus Circle. For the former theater at the address, see Majestic Theatre (Columbus Circle).

5 Columbus Circle
Former namesUnited States Rubber Company Building
Alternative names1790 Broadway
General information
TypeOffice
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
Address1790 Broadway
Town or cityManhattan, New York
CountryUnited States
Coordinates40°46′00″N 73°58′53″W
Groundbreaking1911
Opened1912
Height286 feet (87 m)
Technical details
Floor count20
Lifts/elevators8
Design and construction
ArchitectCarrère and Hastings
Main contractorNorcross Brothers
New York City Landmark
DesignatedDecember 19, 2000
Reference no.2078

The building contains a marble facade with a copper cornice above the 20th story. The windows are grouped into recessed bays, separated horizontally by metal spandrels and vertically by narrow piers. The base contains part of a flagship store for Nordstrom, which extends into Central Park Tower and another building.

5 Columbus Circle was originally built as the headquarters of the United States Rubber Company (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 bank, 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 designated the building as a city landmark in 2000.

Site

5 Columbus Circle is on the southeastern corner of Broadway and 58th Street, one block south of Columbus Circle and Central Park in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building carries the addresses 1784–1790 Broadway and 234 West 58th Street.[1] The site measures 108 by 126 feet (33 by 38 m).[2][3] Neighboring buildings include Central Park Tower to the south and east; 240 Central Park South, Gainsborough Studios, and 220 Central Park South across 58th Street to the north; and 2 Columbus Circle to the northwest across both Broadway and 58th Street.[1]

In the 20th century, the area was part of Manhattan's "Automobile Row", a stretch of Broadway extending mainly between Times Square at 42nd Street and Sherman Square at 72nd Street.[4][5] Before the first decade of the 20th century, the area was occupied mostly by equestrian industries and was described by The New York Times as "thoroughly lifeless".[6] 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".[6] 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 just south of 5 Columbus Circle.[7][8] During that time, 5 Columbus Circle was one of several such major developments in the area.[9]

Design

5 Columbus Circle is 286 feet (87 m) tall, with 20 stories and a penthouse,[10] as well as two basement levels.[11] The largely marble-clad building was designed by Carrère and Hastings.[12][13] For their design of 5 Columbus Circle, Carrère and Hastings took inspiration from their past work, which was largely in the French Renaissance style, including the former Blair Building in Manhattan's Financial District.[12] The building was erected by Norcross Brothers.[14] There is also a "light court" 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.[15][16]

Facade

Unlike many commercial structures of the time, which mostly contained facades of brick, limestone, or terracotta, 5 Columbus Circle has a curtain wall facade made mainly of Vermont marble.[17] 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, and the marble cladding served to emphasize the thinness of the curtain wall.[18][19] On each floor, there are seven bays facing Broadway and eight facing 58th Street.[20] The eastern and southern facades are faced in plain brick with some window openings on either side.[20]

Third story detail

The main entrance to the building is in the southernmost bay facing Broadway, and contains a double door of bronze and glass beneath a glass transom. A freight entrance is in the two eastern bays on 58th Street.[15][16] The lowest two stories have a colonnade of Ionic columns, looking into the Nordstrom store in the base.[21] 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 United States Rubber Company (U.S. Rubber).[18] 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 windows. The 2nd floor was clad with gray marble panels, with a stone band course running above it.[20] These modifications were removed starting in 2018, when the base was restored to its original design.[22]

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 piers. The outermost bays have sash windows topped by stone voussoirs 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 spandrels 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.[20]

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.[20] The facades on Broadway and 58th Street are topped by a large copper cornice.[18]

Interior

5 Columbus Circle has 196,000 square feet (18,200 m2) of floor space.[23] This provided approximately 6,300 square feet (590 m2) of usable office space on each floor, with up to 17 offices on each floor.[15][16] 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. On the other 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.[11][15][16] The upper four floors contain fireplaces.[22] 5 Columbus Circle was erected with ten Otis elevators,[24] as well as two emergency staircases.[15][16] As of 2018, the building has six passenger and two freight elevators.[22]

The lower stories contain part of Nordstrom's 360,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) flagship store, which extends into Central Park Tower and 1776 Broadway.[25][26] The portion of the store within 5 Columbus Circle covers 8,000 square feet (740 m2)[27] and contains a bar.[28]

History

Construction and early use
The upper stories, viewed from Broadway and 58th Street

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.[7] Prior to the completion of 5 Columbus Circle, U.S. Rubber was headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey.[12] 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 (equivalent to $80,973 in 2019).[29] 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 and The New York Times as the tallest structure on Broadway north of Times Square.[15][16]

The U.S. Rubber Building was completed and ready for occupancy in mid-1912,[30] with tenants moving there by that July.[31] 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.[11][12][30] The other floors were rented to various tenants,[12] including the Society of Automobile Engineers,[31] the Timken Roller Bearing Company,[32] the National Tuberculosis Association,[33] and taxi operator Keystone Transportation Company.[34]

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. 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 had a mortgage loan of $800,000 against the property.[2][3]

Later owners

In December 1939, U.S. Rubber sold 1790 Broadway after acquiring space at the then-new 1230 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center, and paid off its mortgage on 1790 Broadway.[35] U.S. Rubber moved its offices to Rockefeller Center three months later in March 1940,[36][37] and the 8th through 14th floors at 5 Columbus Circle were rented to the National Health Council that October.[38][39] 5 Columbus Circle was sold several times in subsequent years,[17] including to Richard M. Lederer in 1944.[14] The building was acquired in 1951 by the West Side Federal Savings and Loan Association bank,[40] which hired Herbert Tannenbaum to remodel the ground level, second floor, and basement for its use.[41] 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.[18][42] In an interview with journalist Christopher Gray four decades later, Tannenbaum expressed regret for the renovation, saying, "It broke my heart to tear those beautiful Ionic columns out."[42]

During the mid-20th century, the United States Department of State leased several floors at 5 Columbus Circle,[43] while the NAACP also had its headquarters in the building from 1967 to 1982.[44][45] 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 to renovate the space, and First Nationwide would continue to occupy eight floors.[23] The renovation was complicated by the fact that no drawings of the original lobby design could be found.[21] Nevertheless, the original ceiling rosettes and frieze were concealed above the dropped ceiling, and were restored after a Beyer Blinder Belle associate discovered them.[4] 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.[42] In early 2000, the building's owner 1790 Broadway Associates added windows to the second story of the facade.[18][42] The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated 5 Columbus Circle, along with 224 West 57th Street and the Studebaker Building in Brooklyn, as official city landmarks on December 19, 2000.[46]

Reconstructed base, seen alongside the restored B. F. Goodrich Building facade at right, in 2020

Nordstrom signed a lease for retail space at the neighboring Central Park Tower in 2012 during that tower's construction.[47] As part of the lease, Nordstrom would also occupy some space at 1776 Broadway and 5 Columbus Circle.[48] 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.[22] The Nordstrom store opened in late 2019,[49][50] and Kaplan, Inc. also took space in the building that year.[51]

Critical reception

In 1989, Christopher Gray wrote for The New York Times that "Up close [5 Columbus Circle] is all debonair urbanism [...] but from afar the marble ornament is harder to see and it becomes a sleek skyscraper."[17] David W. Dunlap 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".[4]

See also

References

Citations
  1. "NYCityMap". NYC.gov. New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  2. "Broadway Corner Sold to U.s. Rubber; Owner of 20-story Building at Fifty-eighth Street Buys Fee to Land There" (PDF). The New York Times. March 3, 1932. p. R35. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  3. "U. S. Rubber Co. Buys Land Near Columbus Circle: Acquires Title to Headquarters Building Oil Men Seek Ehret Property". New York Herald Tribune. March 3, 1932. p. 34. ProQuest 1125428805. Retrieved November 3, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  4. Dunlap, David W. (July 7, 2000). "Street of Automotive Dreams". The New York Times. p. E27. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  5. "B. F. Goodrich Company Building" (PDF). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. November 10, 2009. p. 2. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  6. "Real Estate And the Automobile Trade" (PDF). The New York Times. January 6, 1907. p. 22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  7. Landmarks Preservation Commission 2000, p. 2.
  8. "Realty Still in Demand in Automobile District; Purchase of $300,000 Building East Week – Tendency of Large Concerns to Become Owners Instead of Tenants" (PDF). The New York Times. February 21, 1909. p. 10. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  9. "Normal Building Activity Regained". The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. 89 (2309): 1276. June 15, 1912 – via columbia.edu.
  10. "U.S. Rubber Company Building, New York City". Emporis. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  11. "The Metropolitan Office Building" (PDF). The Real Estate Record: Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. 91 (2340): 116–117. January 18, 1913 – via columbia.edu.
  12. Landmarks Preservation Commission 2000, p. 3.
  13. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
  14. "U.S. Rubber Co. Sells Building On Broadway". New York Herald Tribune. October 31, 1944. p. 31. ProQuest 1283107164. Retrieved October 28, 2020 – via ProQuest.
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  18. Landmarks Preservation Commission 2000, p. 4.
  19. Stern, Robert A. M.; Gilmartin, Gregory; Massengale, John Montague (1983). New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism, 1890-1915. New York: Rizzoli. p. 156. ISBN 0-8478-0511-5. OCLC 9829395.
  20. Landmarks Preservation Commission 2000, p. 5.
  21. Anderson, Susan Heller; Dunlap, David W. (August 18, 1986). "New York Day by Day; 74-year-old Marble Tower Regaining Some Splendor". The New York Times. p. B2. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  22. La Guerre, Liam (April 18, 2018). "Under Construction: 5 Columbus Circle is Going Back in Time". Commercial Observer. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  23. Kennedy, Shawn G. (January 7, 1986). "About Real Estate; Columbus Circle Area Getting New Life". The New York Times. p. B8. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  24. "Otis Elevator Co.: Contract Secured for Putting the "Lifts" in the Woolworth and U.s. Rubber Co. Buildings". Wall Street Journal. January 6, 1912. p. 5. ISSN 0099-9660. ProQuest 129391724. Retrieved October 3, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  25. Neamt, Ioana (February 18, 2016). "Nordstrom's Future New York Store is an Eyecatcher". Commercial Property Executive. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  26. Warerkar, Tanay (February 12, 2016). "Central Park Tower's Nordstrom Flagship Gets Its First Render". Curbed NY. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  27. "Nordstrom Unveils Manhattan Flagship Store Footprint And Exterior Design". Dow Jones Institutional News. February 11, 2016. ProQuest 2023332620. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
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  29. "The Real Estate Field; Big Deal in Times Square Section – Holding Company Buys Plot on 45th Street – U.s. Rubber Co. Leases Broadway Corner Near the Circle – West Side Activity" (PDF). The New York Times. April 22, 1911. p. 18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  30. "Soon Ready for Occupancy: United States Rubber Company's New Building at New York Has Twenty Stories". Los Angeles Times. August 11, 1912. p. VII4. ProQuest 159715388. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  31. "Removes Office Among New York Skyscrapers". Nashville Tennessean and the Nashville American. July 7, 1912. p. 10C. ProQuest 905305712. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
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  33. "Christmas Seals Use Lighthouse As 1941 Design: Theme of Anti-Tuberculosis Labels Conceived by Man Who Was Cured of Malady". New York Herald Tribune. November 16, 1941. p. A3. ProQuest 1284439788. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
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  35. "U.S. Rubber Sells Broadway Home; Leases Last of the Rockefeller Center Buildings and Will Move There in March Edifice to Bear Its Name Joint Announcement of Deal --buyer of Old Property Forming Corporation" (PDF). The New York Times. December 4, 1939. p. 33. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  36. "U.S. Rubber Plans to Move Executive Offices on Week-End". Wall Street Journal. March 29, 1940. p. 7. ISSN 0099-9660. ProQuest 131294348. Retrieved November 3, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  37. "Final Building At Rockefeller Center Opened: U. S. Rubber Moving to New Offices, Ending 12-Year, S100,000,000 Project". New York Herald Tribune. March 29, 1940. p. 21A. ProQuest 1320007429. Retrieved November 3, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  38. "Health Council Leases; National Group Takes 45,000 Sq. Ft. At 1790 Broadway" (PDF). The New York Times. October 13, 1940. p. R163. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  39. "Health Council Rents 7 Floors On Broadway: Takes 45,000 Feet of Space at Corner of 38th St. in Columbus Circle District". New York Herald Tribune. October 5, 1940. p. 26. ProQuest 1320025403. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  40. "Loan Group Buys Broadway Corner; West Side Federal to Move to New Quarters at 58th St.-- Other Manhattan Deals" (PDF). The New York Times. February 20, 1951. p. B42. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  41. "Savings and Loan Firm Moving to Broadway Home: West Side Federal Opening Modern Quarters at 53th St. Tomorrow Revised Plans for Hippodrome Site Building Released". New York Herald Tribune. October 14, 1951. p. 6C. ProQuest 1313643363. Retrieved November 4, 2020 – via ProQuest.
  42. Gray, Christopher (February 27, 2000). "Streetscapes / Herbert Tannenbaum on the Gorham and United States Rubber Buildings; At 90, Architect Reflects on Remodelings He Regrets". The New York Times. p. 11.7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
  43. "U.s. Leases Floor in 1790 Broadway; State Department to Expand Office Here Other Buildings Get New Tenants" (PDF). The New York Times. February 28, 1951. p. B47. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  44. "News of Realty: N.A.A.C.P. Moving; Executive Officers Get More Space at 1790 Broadway" (PDF). The New York Times. October 19, 1967. p. 80. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  45. "The City; N.A.A.C.P. Moving Offices to Brooklyn". The New York Times. July 12, 1982. p. B4. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  46. "Postings: 3 Early Showrooms Are Named Landmarks; Surviving Stars From Auto Row". The New York Times. December 24, 2000. p. 11.1. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
  47. Weiss, Lois (August 27, 2013). "Nordstrom buys land for tower in Midtown". New York Post. Retrieved October 30, 2020.
  48. Warerkar, Tanay (February 12, 2016). "Central Park Tower's Nordstrom Flagship Gets Its First Render". Curbed NY. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  49. Young, Michael (October 28, 2019). "Nordstrom's Manhattan Flagship Store Officially Opens for Business in Central Park Tower". New York Yimby. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  50. Schulz, Dana (November 1, 2019). "Check out the cocktail bar at Nordstrom's new Billionaires' Row flagship". 6sqft. Retrieved November 4, 2020.
  51. Manrodt, Alexis (June 20, 2019). "Kaplan Expands to Ionian & Catsimatidis' 5 Columbus Circle". The Real Deal. Retrieved November 4, 2020.

Sources
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