Midtown Manhattan Landmarks

Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan

Columbus Circle is the traffic circle at the southwest corner of Central Park, where Broadway, Central Park West, Eighth Avenue and 59th Street meet. It is named for the Christopher Columbus monument at its center, and just across the street at the park entrance stands the gilded U.S.S. Maine Monument.

The Columbus Monument column at Columbus Circle, topped by a statue of Christopher Columbus — Photo: Marcel René Kalt (Groovio) · Public domain · Source

Quick facts

Where: Southwest corner of Central Park, at Broadway, Central Park West, Eighth Avenue and 59th Street
Columbus Monument: dedicated October 12, 1892, by sculptor Gaetano Russo
Maine Monument: dedicated May 30, 1913, by architect H. Van Buren Magonigle and sculptor Attilio Piccirilli
Circle redesign: begun in 1987 and completed in 2005, with a new plaza by Olin Partnership
Named for: Christopher Columbus

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History

Olmsted and Vaux's park plan included traffic circles at both southern corners as major entrances. By 1869 the circle had been laid out as a turnabout for horse-drawn vehicles. In 1892 the Columbus monument was dedicated in time for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas. It was a gift from the Italian-American community, and the Italian-language newspaper Il Progresso and its editor, Carlo Barsotti, ran the fundraising campaign. A Carrara marble statue by Sicilian sculptor Gaetano Russo stands on a granite column decorated with bronze ship prows, and the column is pierced by three ships, the Niña, Pinta and Santa María. The subway tunnel and Columbus Circle station, built in 1902, were constructed around the monument's foundations.

The Conservancy notes that since the 1970s the public and scholars have re-examined Columbus's legacy, and that critics object to honoring a figure linked to the exploitation of Indigenous people.

The Maine Monument stands at the park's southwest entrance. It commemorates the battleship U.S.S. Maine, destroyed in Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898, and a plaque notes that its bronze was cast from metal recovered from the ship. The monument has a gilded group at the top, with a figure representing Columbia or the Americas riding a chariot, and reclining figures of the Atlantic and Pacific at its base. Public donations paid for it, and William Randolph Hearst launched the campaign in his newspaper.

The circle was redesigned over many years, from 1987 to 2005, with new traffic patterns and an expanded plaza around the fountain by Olin Partnership.

What to look for

The Columbus column with its three ships
The gilded chariot group and reclining ocean figures of the Maine Monument
The bilingual inscriptions on the Columbus monument
The fountains and benches of the redesigned plaza

Visiting Columbus Circle

The Plaza Hotel lies east along Central Park South. Nearby buildings include the Deutsche Bank Center and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and tenants change. The Conservancy lists no restrooms at the circle or the Maine Monument.