Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art - Two Columbus Circle - New York City
Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art

2 Columbus Circle
58th Street and Eighth Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10019

 

Located on a trapezoidal plot just beyond the southwest corner of Central Park, the quirky, nine-story marble-clad building at Two Columbus Circle was erected in 1964 by George Huntington Hartford II, an heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, as the Huntington Hartford Gallery of Modern Art. Mr. Hartford, a philanthropist who was known variously as a playboy and giver of lavish parties, also amassed an impressive modern art collection. His gallery in New York City was built, in part, to house his collection, and to present non-abstract art that was not being displayed by other museums in the city, in particular the Museum of Modern Art. Designed by Edward Durell Stone—who also created the original Museum of Modern Art in 1938, and later, the General Motors Building and the Kennedy Center—the Post-Modernist, concave upright rectangle was conceived as a modern design exhibit on its own. Its edges are perforated with double rows of round holes arranged in squares of four, which allowed the art inside to be viewed, at least partially, in diffused natural light. At the top of Stone's building, behind the screen of the loggia, was the two-story Gauguin Room restaurant, which offered panoramic views of Central Park. The building was nicknamed "The Lollipop Building" in reference to a mocking review by architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable in which she called it a "die-cut Venetian palazzo on lollipops." It is a building New Yorkers love to hate.

Proposed Museum of Arts and Design - Two Columbus Circle - New York City  
Brad Clopefil's design for
the Museum of Arts and Design
  
Due to a declining personal fortune and lack of funding, Huntington Hartford was forced to close his gallery after only five years, and in 1969 Mr. Hartford turned the building over to Fairleigh Dickinson University, which used it to house the New York Cultural Center. Gulf+Western Industries purchased the building in 1975 and presented it to the city in 1980, which installed the Department of Cultural Affairs there and the city's visitors' bureau. Both moved out in 1998, leaving the building vacant and crumbling. In 2002 the city sold the building to the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), formerly known as the American Craft Museum. Architect Brad Clopefil's design will replace the mostly window-less crumbling marble facade with a veil of bleached terra cotta and glass. Architectural preservationists, including Robert A. M. Stern, have campaigned without success to save this example of Stone's work. In 2004, The National Trust named this building one of the most endangered in the nation.
               

Aeolian-Skinner Organ Co., Inc.
Boston, Mass. A – Opus 1400 (1964)
Electro-pneumatic action
3 manuals, 38 stops, 37 ranks, 2,125 pipes


The Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Hartford Gallery of Modern Art was installed in a chamber just off a landing on a stairway which connected all floors. William Self, then-organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Church, served as consultant and also presented the first public performance during a benefit party hosted by Mrs. Isaac Gimbel of Gimbel Brothers Department Stores. Virgil Fox promoted the use of this organ, which would have been otherwise neglected. The organ was moved around 1980 to the United Methodist Church in New Canaan, Conn.
               
Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes
16
  Flauto Dolce
CH/PED
4
  Rohrflöte
61
8
  Spitzprinzipal
61
2
 
Super Octave
preparation
8
  Bourdon
61
    Fourniture IV-VI ranks
294
4
  Octave
61
    Cymbelstern  

     

     
Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
  Rohrgedeckt
68
  Plein Jeu IV ranks
244
8
  Viola Pomposa
68
     Cymbale III ranks
183
8
  Viola Celeste
68
16
  Bombarde [ext.]
12
8
  Rohrgedeckt [ext.]
12
8
  Trompette
68
4
  Spitzflöte
68
4
  Clairon
68
2
 
Lieblichprinzipal
preparation
  Tremulant  
1 1/3
 
Larigot
preparation
     
               
Choir-Positiv Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes, Choir enclosed; Positiv to be unenc. with 56 notes
8
 
Gemshorn
preparation
2
 
Lieblichprinzipal
preparation
8
  Cor de Nuit
61
2
  Zauberflöte
61
8
  Flauto Dolce
61
1 3/5
  Tierce
61
8
  Flute Celeste [TC]
49
1 1/3
 
Larigot
preparation
4
  Prestant
preparation
    
Zimbel III ranks
preparation
4
  Koppelflöte
61
8
   Cromorne
61
2 2/3
   Rohrnasat
61
     Tremulant  

     

     
Pedal Organ – 32 notes
16
  Subbass
32
2
 
Lieblichprinzipal
preparation
16
  Rohrgedeckt
SW
     Mixture III ranks
96
16
  Flauto Dolce [ext. CH]
12
16
  Buccine [1/2 length Fagot]
32
8
  Octave
32
16
  Bombarde
SW
8
  Bourdon [ext.]
12
8
  Buccine [ext.]
12
8
   Flauto Dolce
CH
4
   Buccine [ext.]
12
4
  Choralbass [ext.]
12
4
   Cromorne
CH
4
   Rohrflöte
GT
        

               

Sources:
     Aeolian-Skinner Archives: http://aeolian-skinner.110mb.com/
     Callahan, Charles. Aeolian-Skinner Remembered: A History in Letters. Minneapolis: Randall M. Egan, 1996.
     Kinzey, Allen, and Sand Lawn, comps. E.M. Skinner/Aeolian-Skinner Opus List. New Rev. Ed. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 1997.