New & old at 42nd St., and the Columbus Monument

This building is rising on the northwest corner of 42nd St. and 6th Ave. The shapes of the corners look intriguing, particularly compared to the standard boxy International Style skyscrapers that line 6th Ave. in Midtown.

Arched ceiling and lamp (ca. 1900-1910) over the stairs inside New York Public Library's research branch at 42nd St. and Fifth Ave.

Columbus Monument viewed from inside the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle, intersection of 8th Ave., Central Park South and Broadway. The dark lines are the window mullions. Too bad the TWC was finished too late for me to include a photo like this in Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan.

Columbus Monument: OMOM Essay 35

In "About the Sculpture" I discuss how the many subsidiary elements of the Monument combine with the figure of Columbus to convey one distinct message about him. In Forgotten Delights: The Producers I had rather more fun with this section, proposing changes to the subsidiary details that completely changed the Monument's message. Alas, that was another section cut from Outdoor Monuments of Manhattan to keep it to a manageable length. (See the 1/2/07 blog entry on Cooper, OMOM Essay 10.)

"About the Subject" focuses on the combination of thoughts and actions that made Columbus unique.

The Forgotten Delights calendar shows a profile view of the Genius on the Monument's base.