Current Status:

Complete

Completed:

2004

Architect:

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill
(David Childs, Design Partner)

Address:

10 Columbus Circle between East 58th and East 60th Streets

Also Known As:

One Central Park

Height:

750 feet (two towers)

Number of Stories:

55

Building Info:

The Time Warner Center is a mixed-use skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. The complex consists of two 750 ft towers bridged by a multi-story atrium containing upscale retail shops. Construction began in November 2000, following the demolition of the New York Coliseum, and a topping-out ceremony was held on February 27, 2003.

Originally constructed as the “AOL Time Warner Center,” the building surrounds half of Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan. The total floor area of 2.8 million ft is divided between offices (notably the offices of Time Warner Inc.), residential condominiums, and the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The Shops at Columbus Circle is an upscale shopping mall located in a curving arcade at the base of the building, with a large Whole Foods Market grocery store in the basement. The complex is also home to a 1,200 seat theater for Jazz at Lincoln Center as well as CNN studios, from where Anderson Cooper 360° and Lou Dobbs Tonight, among other shows, are broadcast live.

The design of Time Warner Center pays homage to the streets of New York: The curvature of the base helps frame Columbus Circle, the angle of the two towers aligns with Broadway, and the space between the towers gives the illusion that 59th Street passes through. In addition, the rectangular patterns on the glass curtain wall overlooking Columbus Circle suggest the Manhattan street grid.

The interiors of the hotel were designed by Brennan Beer Gorman, and six other architects—including the eminent Rafael Viñoly, who designed performance spaces for Jazz at Lincoln Center at the top of the atrium—were involved in various parts of the building. David Childs had to cope with all of them while he wrestled with the problems of making a decent piece of commercial architecture in the middle of New York City. Viñoly seems to have made the most of the building’s strong points. The firm of Elkus/Manfredi was put in charge of the atrium’s retail space.

Components:

The Shops at Columbus Circle

The Shops at Columbus Circle is an urban shopping mall in the Time Warner Center. It is located at Columbus Circle, next to the southwestern corner of Central Park. It includes mostly upscale stores selling luxury brands, including Armani, Davidoff, L’Occitane, Hugo Boss, Tumi, Coach, Cole Haan, Thomas Pink, Tourneau, and Stuart Weitzman. The mall also has several restaurants such as the Michelin 3-star Per Se and Masa (allegedly the most expensive restaurant in New York), a Borders Books and Music store, a Samsung Electronics showroom, the East Coast flagship of Williams-Sonoma, and a Whole Foods Market.

For further information, visit the official website: The Shops At Columbus Circle.

Time Warner Restaurants

A Voce (3rd Floor)
Phone: 212.545.8555

Bar Masa (4th Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9800

Bouchon Bakery (3rd Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9366

Landmarc (3rd Floor)
Phone: 212.823.6123

Masa (4th Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9800

Per Se (4th Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9335

Porter House New York (4th Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9500

Stone Rose Lounge (4th Floor)
Phone: 212.823.9769

For further information, see the official website: Circle of Taste.

Located on the top of the Time Warner Center at the Southwest tip of Central Park.  248 rooms and suites.

One Central Park / CondominiumResidences

For further information, visit One Central Park.

Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Luxury, five-star hotel occupying the northern tower with views overlooking Central Park. The hotel has 298 rooms and suites.

For further information, see the official website: Mandarin Oriental New York.

Jazz at Lincoln Center

Jazz at Lincoln Center (JALC) is a constituent of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc., whose performing arts complex, Frederick P. Rose Hall, is is housed inside of the Time Warner Center at 60th Street and Broadway in New York City, slightly south of the main Lincoln Center campus and directly adjacent to Columbus Circle.

JALC’s Frederick P. Rose Hall consists of three main music performance venues:

• Rose Theater, with 1,233 seats.
• The Allen Room, with 483 seats, featuring a 50 by 90-foot window overlooking Central Park.
• Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, with 140 seats, an intimate jazz club named after the famous jazz artist Dizzy Gillespie.

The hall also contains the Irene Diamond Education Center with rehearsal and recording rooms and the Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame (NEJHF), a multimedia installation featuring an 18-foot video wall, interactive computer kiosks and touch-activated virtual plaques. Visitors can celebrate the lives, artistry and music of the jazz greats so integral to the art form and industry.

For further information, see the official website: Jazz at Lincoln Center

Discuss the Time Warner Center discussion at Wired Wired New York Forum.

Discuss The Shops at Columbus Circle discussion at Wired New York Forum.

Discuss the Mandarin Oriental Hotel New York discussion at Wired New York Forum.

Discuss Jazz at Lincoln Center discussion at Wired New York Forum.