5 Columbus Circle

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. Neighboring buildings include Central Park Tower's base to the south; Central Park Tower and the American Fine Arts Society building to the 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. 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. 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". 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. 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 Carrère and Hastings. The building was erected by Norcross Brothers. 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. This is a contrast to many commercial structures of the time, which mostly contained facades of brick, limestone, or terracotta, 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. 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. The lowest two stories have a colonnade of Ionic columns, looking into the Nordstrom 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 United States Rubber Company (U.S. Rubber). This provided approximately of usable office space on each floor, with up to 17 offices on each floor. as well as two emergency staircases. The stairs were made of iron and steel with treads made of marble, slate, or rubber. Additionally, there was a lobby at the southeastern corner, which served two stairs and six elevators. 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 fireproofing measures were included in the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911. The corporate offices and the tire division in the basement were connected by a pneumatic tube 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. 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. with tenants moving there by May 1 of that year. the Timken Roller Bearing Company, the National Tuberculosis Association, and taxi operator Keystone Transportation Company. The Fitzgerald estate sold the Schulte Real Estate Company the site for $1.1 million in 1928, and property 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. 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 that October. 5 Columbus Circle was sold several times in subsequent years, 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 four decades later, Tannenbaum expressed regret for the renovation, saying, "It broke my heart to tear those beautiful Ionic columns out." while the NAACP 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 to renovate the space, and First Nationwide would continue to occupy eight floors. 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. 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 [5 Columbus Circle] is all debonair urbanism [...] but from afar the marble ornament is harder to see and it becomes a sleek skyscraper." 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". ==See also==