A Roundabout Walk in Columbus Circle

Eno's subsequent advocacy for street safety led him to develop many innovations we now take for granted - the stop sign, speed limits, and one-way streets. His solutions for the horse-drawn age carried through to the age of the automobile. Eno is also the father of the rotary traffic circle, his solution for controlling the confusion presented by an intersection with multiple streets. In addition to designing Columbus Circle, Eno is the man responsible for devising the rotary traffic around the Arc de Triomphe at Place de l'Étoile in Paris. There, twelve avenues meet, and automobile traffic is often beyond a nightmare.
The pictures below, as shown in Eno's book, illustrate some of the the typical traffic problems in New York at the beginning of the 20th century.
One hundred years later, in 2005, the plaza at Columbus Circle in New York was renovated and greatly improved. The central plaza now features trees, seating spaces, seasonal plantings, and fountains. For pedestrians, Columbus Circle is much safer than in previous years.
View A Walk Around Columbus Circle in a larger map
Some highlights -
• The Monuments: The monument of Christopher Columbus is at the center of Columbus Circle.

• Time Warner Center, 2003-2004, designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill: An enormous complex with fashion and beauty stores, a large Williams-Sonoma store, shoe stores, gourmet markets and cafes and exceptional restaurants. The latter includes Landmarc, Per Se, and Porter House. CNN's New York bureau is here as well as the upscale Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Jazz at Lincoln Center. For a more thrilling walk, look for the places to see Columbus Circle from on high. Ride the escalators to the fourth floor of the Time Warner

Another novel form of traffic invention can be experienced in the customer checkout lanes at Whole Foods, the grocery store on the basement level of the Time Warner Center. A busy market popular with New Yorkers, the store features a nerve-wracking system to check out customers. While a robotic voice calls out the number of the next available register, a human person stands at the beginning of the lanes to insure that the customer heads in the right direction. It feels like a game show.
• Trump International Hotel and Tower. Built and renovated in 1997 over the skeleton of the

• 240 Central Park South: This 28-story building designed by Mayer & Whittlesley was erected in 1941. As quoted in The City Review's The Midtown Book, architecture historians Robert A. M. Stern, Thomas Mellins and David Fishman credit the building as "the first Manhattan apartment house to make extensive use of balconies." A specimen of late Art Deco, the building features cool street-level storefronts.
• Museum of Arts and Design, 2 Columbus Circle. The controversial redesign of Edward Durrell Stone's building

Columbus Circle makes a fun place to walk. It's also easy to escape the heavy corporate presence of Time Warner and Trump by fleeing on foot into Central Park. Or walk two blocks south and step into the lobby of the Hearst Tower at W. 57th and 8th Avenue. You can't ascend the escalator without being there on official business, but it's still possible to enjoy the minimalist beauty of "Ice Falls," a three-story public sculpture and water feature by James Carpenter Design Associates (also the designers of the Time Warner wall), from the mortal ground below. Also see nearby - the makeover of the old Newsweek Building, now rebranded as 3 Columbus Circle, on the east side of 8th Avenue between 57th and 58th, and the light green 56-story residential tower at 301 West 57th, Central Park Place, built in 1988. Overall, much of the building in this area of Manhattan is relatively new.
For those looking to walk in a straight line after strolling in a circle, one good option is to explore W. 57th Street by walking west to east from 8th Avenue to 5th Avenue. See A Cultural Guide to W. 57th Street: A Walk and a Map on this website.
If I could add anything to improve Columbus

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Note on the embedded map: Switching from the current view into Street View pulls up a pretty springtime day in Columbus Circle.
Black and white photo from Street Traffic Regulation by William Phelps Eno (The Rider and Driver Publishing Co., 1909). Color images by Walking Off the Big Apple from February 17, 2010. For additional images see this set on Flickr WOTBA.
Thank you for doing this blog on CC. You can make a small area a must see walk.
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