At the rear of the Equitable Center at 787 Seventh Avenue, a passageway cuts through the block between 51st and 52nd Streets, the southernmost in a series of covered arcades that stretches north to 57th Street. These aligned passageways create a pedestrian route through the long midtown blocks, a secondary street comprised of linked interior and semi-interior spaces. Although many of the arcades added to corporate office towers under the 1961 Zoning Resolution were bland and uninspired, geometric murals by Sol LeWitt and bronze sculptures by Barry Flanagan enliven the nine-story atrium at the Equitable Center. But the arcade’s most dramatic effect is on circulation: it allows pedestrians a shortcut between the avenues that the 1811 grid does not provide. Even though the blocks on the Upper West Side are the longest in Manhattan, the arcade shortcuts built after the 1961 Zoning Resolution are concentrated in Midtown. There, high real estate values provided an extra incentive for developers to take advantage of the floor area bonuses that the resolution awarded in exchange for these public-oriented interventions. CY