Two Columbus Circle opened in 1964 as the Gallery of Modern Art. It was built by Huntington Hartford, heir to the A&P supermarket fortune, to house his own collection and serve as a bulwark in his passionate fight against abstract art. The 1964 Gallery of Modern Art was designed by Edward Durell Stone1.
1. Dunlap, David. "For 2 Columbus Circle, a Growing Fan Club," New York Times, August 18, 2005.
The City Beautiful movement emerged in response to the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The fundamental idea expounded at the fair was that the city was no longer a symbol of economic development and industrialization, but could now be seen as enhancing the aesthetic environment of its many inhabitants.
The Committee for the Preservation of Structures of Historic and Esthetic Importance was a 13 member committee appointed by Mayor Wagner in June of 1961. This study committee's objective was to work towards obtaining landmark legislation. Under the leadership of Geoffrey Platt and Harmon Goldstone, the committee wrote a one-page memo regarding the state of preservation, and they concluded that New York City needed both a law and a commission in order to effectively protect its landmarks1
Appellants: Berman and other owners of a department store in Washington, D.C. Appellees: The National Capital Planning Commission, the Commissioners of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency. Appellant's Claim: The government's taking of their store was unconstitutional due to violation of the Fifth Amendment. Chief Lawyers for Appellants: James C. Toorney, Joseph H. Schneider, Albert Ginsburg.
Gardner Osborn, a historian and preservationist, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1893. He attended Yale University and graduated in 1915. After graduation, Osborn moved to New York where he began working for the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency. He later worked as the publicity director for Bloomingdale's, and then went on to do public relations for the Downtown Owners Committee1.
1. Clark, Alfred E. "Gardner Osborn, Preservationist, 86," New York Times, July 8, 1979.
