father duffy square before recent renovationsIt has been almost a year since Duffy Square was transformed from a virtual traffic island into a pulsating public space. During this time it has become apparent how successful the design solution has been in enlivening and revitalizing Times Square. This significant shift can be tracked by the seeds planted in a movement towards a more civic-minded environment amidst the visual spectacle of private enterprise. In the span of a year, we now see there is much to be learned from the public/private endeavor at Duffy Square, as we move forward with a new vision for Times Square.

Branded “The Cross Roads of the World” Times Square is in fact the collision of two roads crossing each other resulting in a physically exploded moment in the city fabric that is experientially powerful and visually dynamic. Due to the diagonal crossing of Broadway across the street grid, the roads extend from the Square in four distinct directions. It is a critical point in the city and as such a definitive part of its character. Despite all the openness created by the crossing of two roads, there is inherently little space for pedestrians besides the sidewalks to walk or stand. The experience of the Square is as much vehicular as it is pedestrian. Perhaps more so, when you visualize traveling south on Broadway late at night in a fast moving car, from relative

Dedication Ceremony 1937

Father Duffy Square 1999

Father Duffy Square 2008 darkness above the square into brilliant lights and visual excitements as you pass through and then back again to darkness as you leave the square to the south. It is a wonderful experience pulling you into an affirmation that the city is a live organism and you are part of it.

The history of Duffy Square could be chronicled from renovation to renovation over the last hundred years and speaks to a continual attempt to renew and assert its public identity in Times Square. Duffy Square is actually a designated park. Attempting to claim real space for public use has been elusive in an environment that is all illusion and spectacle of the material world. Efforts to establish public use for the plaza began in the Nineteen Seventies when a temporary ticket booth was erected over an abandoned public rest station. The ‘TKTS’ booth proved to be a valuable asset, bringing people and revenue to the area – and so it remained for over thirty years in what could be seen as one of the longest awkward moments in local history. Despite its lack of sensitivity in some areas, the booth was an innovative solution for what was originally intended as a temporary structure and its logo became an ingrained icon of the theater district and Times Square. But, as the booth gained a stronger presence, its temporary solution became more and more damaging to the square. Slammed right up against the Duffy Statue as if to push it away, the booth was an unfortunate redress of Father Duffy’s dignified repose. Its position further diminished the central importance of the statue and kept Duffy away from a diminishing number people familiar with or interested in his legacy.

In 1999, the Van Alen Institute in collaboration with The Theater Development Fund (TDF) sponsored a design competition to renovate the ‘TKTS’ booth. The winning design by Choi Ropiha Architects was a broad sweep of red colored red steps that ran up from the back of the Duffy Statue. It warped and extended the ground plane upward into the sky, was both a red backdrop to Duffy and public seating to visitors at Times Square. As it resolved several design issues simultaneously, it also served the interests of various entities vested in the Square: the TDF who badly needed a new structure and purpose to revitalize their presence, The Coalition for Father Duffy who as vicar of Duffy’s legacy were long concerned about the proper respect and dignity of the Statue’s setting and lastly the Times Square Alliance who as the arbiter of both Private and Public interests working to satisfy both of the other entities within the larger context of Times Square improvement and renovation.

Pedestrian traffic has long been an issue in Times Square and the natural extension of the design competition was to redesign the plaza as a whole and reconcile all the elements together in one coherent gesture. The design of the plaza increased the size by reclaiming parts of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, reconciled the Duffy statue with the red steps and provided a general purpose to Parks to proceed with the overall project. Ultimately, the success of this project was the focus of the vested partners to one purpose: the Reconstruction of Father Duffy Square with the red steps as an emblematic symbol of that effort. While the uses remain basically the same, the physical nature of the space has been transformed into a viable public space. It combines elements of the sacred and profane character of Times Square producing a usable, enjoyable public space. The effort was made possible by a diverse group of professionals and public servants who together form an effective force.

What began thirty years ago as a temporary collaboration between public and private interests has in the end solidified itself into a more permanent relationship not only in the physical form, but also in the cultural icon of both Duffy and the TKTS image. Formally, the half priced ticket booth is a leased concession by the Parks Department but its new structure, and its strong visual presence is here to stay. The new Duffy Square redefines the way we look at usable public space and provides a novel way in which to see a building and a landscape. Further, Duffy Square is a transformation of a place containing disparate elements and in some cases conflicting ones and integrating them into a new whole. The design of the plaza provides resolution for the Duffy Statue, the red steps and the expanded plaza into a new spatially centric environment where there was none. It is a grand public work.