Daniel Gross

Reinventing Columbus Circle Daniel Gross

At the southwest corner of Central Park lies one of ManhattanÂ’s most trafficked intersections, and one of its greatest anomalies: Columbus Circle, the only roundabout in a city of right angles. Since its construction in the 1850Â’s, the circle has become one of the boroughÂ’s most iconic landmarks, immediately recognizable since 1982 by the grand, pillared monument to Christopher Columbus that dominates its center. But just as iconic is the building that mirrors it: a two-towered amalgam of glass, steel, and concrete, unveiled in 2003 as Time Warner Center.