The Best Way to Preserve 2 Columbus Circle? A Makeover.

New York

I have been watching, with wonder and disbelief, the beatification of 2 Columbus Circle, ne the Huntington Hartford Museum, a k a the lollipop building (so-named, for better or worse, by me). This small oddity of dubious architectural distinction, designed by Edward Durell Stone, has been elevated to masterpiece status and cosmic significance by a campaign to save its marginally important, mildly eccentric, and badly deteriorated facade -- a campaign that has escalated into a win-at-any-cost-and-by-any-means vendetta in the name of "preservation."