Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building,Template:Sfn is a 22-story,<ref name="nycland" /> Template:Convert steel-framed triangular building at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg, and sometimes called, in its early days, "Burnham's Folly", it was opened in 1902.<ref name="Alexiou p. 52" /> The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street—where the building's Template:Convert back end is located—with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. The name "Flatiron" derives from its triangular shape, which recalls that of a cast-iron clothes iron.<ref name="Alexiou p. 59">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Sfn

The Flatiron Building was developed as the headquarters of construction firm Fuller Company, which acquired the site from the Newhouse family in May 1901. Construction proceeded rapidly, and the building opened on October 1, 1902. Originally 20 floors,<ref name="Alexiou p. 52">Template:Harvnb</ref> a "cowcatcher" retail space (a low attached building so called for its resemblance to the device on rail locomotives) and penthouse were added shortly after the building's opening. The Fuller Company sold the building in 1925 to an investment syndicate. The Equitable Life Assurance Society took over the building after a foreclosure auction in 1933 and sold it to another syndicate in 1945. Helmsley-Spear managed the building for much of the late 20th century, renovating it several times. The Newmark Group started managing the building in 1997. Ownership was divided among several companies, which started renovating the building again in 2019. Jacob Garlick agreed to acquire the Flatiron Building at an auction in early 2023, but failed to pay the required deposit, and three of the four existing ownership groups took over the building. In October 2023, the building's owners announced that it would be converted to residential condominiums; the project is planned to be complete by 2026.

The Flatiron Building's facade is divided vertically into three sections, similarly to the components of a classical column. The three-story base is clad with limestone, while the upper stories are clad with glazed terracotta. The building's steel frame, designed by structural engineering firm Purdy and Henderson, was intended to withstand four times the maximum wind force of the area. Called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City",<ref name="treasure">Template:Cite AV media</ref> the building anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature, iconic building.Template:Efn The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966,<ref name="nycland">Template:Cite nycland</ref> was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979,<ref name="nrhpinv">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.<ref name="nhlsum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="nrhpphotos">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A survey in 2023 found that the Flatiron Building was the fourth-most-loved building in the United States.<ref name="buildworld" />

Site

The Flatiron Building occupies a triangular city block bounded by Fifth Avenue to the west, Broadway to the east, and 22nd Street to the south.<ref name="TL p. 53">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="NYCityMap" /> The western and eastern facades converge, forming a "peak" at its northern corner where Fifth Avenue and Broadway intersect with East 23rd Street.<ref name="LC p. 301">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="NYCityMap" /> The shape of the site arises from Broadway's diagonal alignment relative to the Manhattan street grid.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Supplement p. BS7">Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Efn The site measures Template:Convert on Fifth Avenue, Template:Convert on Broadway, and Template:Convert on 22nd Street.<ref name="NYCL p. 296">Template:Harvnb</ref> Above the ground level, all three corners of the triangle are rounded.<ref name="ER p. 296">Template:Harvnb</ref> Despite the building's name, the site is shaped like a scalene right triangle, rather than an isosceles triangle (as flatirons are shaped).<ref name="TL p. 53" />

Adjacent buildings include the Toy Center to the north, the Sohmer Piano Building to the southwest, the Scribner Building to the south, and Madison Green to the southeast.<ref name="NYCityMap">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Entrances to the New York City Subway's 23rd Street station, served by the Template:NYCS trains, are adjacent to the building.<ref>Template:Cite NYC neighborhood map</ref> The Flatiron Building is at the northern end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> which extends between 15th Street to the south and 24th Street to the north.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nyt-1990-07-22">Template:Cite news</ref> By the 1990s, the blocks south of the building had also become known as the Flatiron District.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Previous structures

The St. Germain Hotel (alternatively spelled St. Germaine) was built by 1855Template:Efn on the south end of the lot.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="nyt-2014-09-18">Template:Cite news</ref> It was one of several hotels built in the neighborhood during the mid-19th century.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Amos Eno purchased the entire block in 1857Template:Efn for $32,000,<ref name="Alexiou p. 26">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and he shortly built the Fifth Avenue Hotel on a site diagonally across from it.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> At some point after 1880, Eno tore down the St. Germain Hotel and replaced it with a seven-story apartment building, the Cumberland.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 26-27">Template:Harvnb</ref>Template:Efn On the remainder of the lot, he built four three-story buildings for commercial use.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 26-27" /> This left four stories of the Cumberland's northern face exposed, which Eno rented out to advertisers, including The New York Times, which installed a sign made up of electric lights.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="p1454027682">Template:Cite news</ref> The sign, the first of its kind in New York City, was a precursor to the Great White Way near Times Square.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Eno later put a canvas screen on the wall, projecting images from a magic lantern atop one of his smaller buildings, where he alternately presented advertisements and interesting pictures. Both the Times and the New-York Tribune began using the screen for news bulletins, and on election nights tens of thousands of people would gather in Madison Square, waiting for the latest results.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The site came to be known by many names, including "Eno's flatiron",<ref name="Alexiou p. 29">Template:Harvnb</ref> "Eno's corner", and "the cow catcher".<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02">Template:Cite news</ref> By the 1890s, the Eno family earned $42,000 a year from the site.<ref name="TL p. 53" /> Although Eno was one of the largest landowners in New York City by 1894,<ref name="Alexiou p. 26" /> he rejected all offers to purchase the flatiron site during his lifetime.<ref name="Alexiou p. 29" /> After his death in 1899, his assets were liquidated, and the lot went up for sale. The New York State Assembly appropriated $3 million for the city to buy it, but this fell through when a newspaper reporter discovered that the plan was a graft scheme by Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker.<ref name="Alexiou p. 32">Template:Harvnb</ref> Instead, the lot was bought at auction by William Eno, one of Amos's sons, for $690,000 in April 1899.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="n109110073" /> This was more than 20 times what the elder Eno had paid for the property four decades earlier.<ref name="nyt-1900-04-27">Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 1899, just three weeks after William had acquired the flatiron lot,<ref name="Alexiou p. 32" /><ref name="n109110073">Template:Cite news</ref> he resold it to Samuel and Mott Newhouse for $750,000<ref name="TL p. 53" /> or around $801,000.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-1900-04-27" /> At the time, the Newhouse family did not consider a skyscraper on the flatiron site to be feasible because of engineering and architectural constraints.<ref name="TL pp. 53–54">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Newhouses intended to erect a 12-story building with retail shops at street level and bachelor apartments above.<ref name="TL pp. 53–54" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 33">Template:Harvnb</ref> They announced plans for the building in November 1900,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> but the plans were not executed, even though the value of land lots in the city was increasing.<ref name="Alexiou p. 33" /> At the time, eight- to ten-story office and commercial buildings were being developed in the neighborhood, replacing older, shorter commercial structures.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

History

At the beginning of March 1901, media outlets reported that the Newhouse family was planning to sell "Eno's flatiron" for about $2 million to Cumberland Realty Company,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> an investment partnership created by Harry S. Black, CEO of the Fuller Company.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The Fuller Company was the first true general contractor that dealt with all aspects of buildings' construction (except for design), and they specialized in erecting skyscrapers.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 35-36">Template:Harvnb</ref> They were particularly experienced in designing towers on small sites, such as the Trinity and United States Realty Buildings in Lower Manhattan.<ref name="TL p. 54">Template:Harvnb</ref> Black intended to construct a new headquarters building on the site, despite the recent deterioration of the surrounding neighborhood.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> At the end of that March, the Fuller Company organized a subsidiary to develop a building on the site.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 35-36" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The sale was finalized in May 1901.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Development

Plans and site-clearing

Black hired Daniel Burnham's architectural firm to design a 21-story building on the site in February 1901.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> It would be Burnham's first in New York City,<ref name="treasure" /> the tallest building in Manhattan north of the Financial District,<ref name="LC p. 301" /> and the first skyscraper north of Union Square (at 14th Street).<ref name="Alexiou p. 60">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Northwestern Salvage and Wrecking Company began razing the site in May 1901, after the majority of existing tenants' leases had expired. Most of the Cumberland's remaining tenants readily vacated the building in exchange for monetary compensation.<ref name="Alexiou p. 55" /> The sole holdout was Winfield Scott Proskey, a retired colonel who refused to move out until his lease expired later that year.<ref name="Alexiou p. 55">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Cumberland Realty unsuccessfully attempted to deactivate Proskey's water and gas supply, and Proskey continued to live in the Cumberland while contractors demolished all of the surrounding apartments.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> By the end of May 1901, Cumberland Realty discovered that Proskey was bankrupt,<ref name="Alexiou pp. 57-58">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and his creditors took over the lease and razed the rest of the Cumberland that June.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 57-58" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The New York Herald published an image of the site on June 2, 1901, with the caption "Flatiron Building".<ref name="Alexiou p. 59" /> The project's structural engineer, Corydon Purdy, filed plans for a 20-story building on the site that August.<ref name="LC p. 302" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 73">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Flatiron Building was not the first building of its triangular ground-plan, although it was the largest at the time of its completion. Earlier buildings with a similar shape include one built in 1867 in Syracuse, New York;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> a triangular Roman temple built on a similarly constricted site in the city of Verulamium, Britannia;<ref>Noted, "Roman city in Britain had Flatiron Building", The Science News-Letter 24 No. 657 (November 11, 1933:311)</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bridge House, Leeds, England (1875);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the I.O.O.F. Centennial Building (1876) in Alpena, Michigan;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and the English-American Building in Atlanta (1897).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Real Estate Record and Guide published a drawing of the building in October 1901; though the drawing was captioned "The Cumberland", it was very similar to the Flatiron Building's final design.<ref name="LC p. 303" />Template:Efn

Construction

The Atlantic Terra Cotta Company began producing architectural terracotta pieces for the building in August 1901. Around the same time, the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) indicated that it would refuse to approve Purdy's initial plans unless the engineers submitted detailed information about the framework, fireproofing, and wind-bracing systems.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Purdy complied with most of the DOB's requests, submitting detailed drawings and documents, but he balked at the department's requirement that the design include fire escapes.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> For reasons that are unclear, the DOB dropped its requirement that the building contain fire escapes.<ref name="Alexiou p. 79">Template:Harvnb</ref> In addition, the building was originally legally required to contain metal-framed windows, although this would have increased the cost of construction.<ref name="Alexiou p. 79" /><ref name="nyt-1901-11-28" /> The city's Board of Building Commissioners had granted an exemption to Black's syndicate, prompting allegations of favoritism.<ref name="nyt-1901-11-28">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> A new Buildings Department commissioner was appointed at the beginning of 1902, promising to enforce city building codes; this prompted general contractor Thompson–Starrett Co. to announce that the building's window frames would be made of fireproof wood with a copper coating.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

File:Flatiron Building Construction, New York Times - Library of Congress, 1901-1902 crop.JPG

Construction phases

The building's steel frame was manufactured by the American Bridge Company in Pennsylvania.<ref name="LC p. 434" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The frame had risen above street level by January 1902.<ref name="treasure" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 95" /> Construction was then halted for several weeks, first because of a delay in steel shipments, then because of a blizzard that occurred in February.<ref name="Alexiou p. 95">Template:Harvnb</ref> Further delays were caused by a strike at the factory of Hecla Iron Works, which was manufacturing elevators and handrails for the building.<ref name="Alexiou p. 108">Template:Harvnb</ref> The steel was so meticulously pre-cut that, according to The New York Times, the steel pieces could be connected "without so much as the alteration of a bored hole, or the exchange of a tiny rivet".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Workers used air-powered tools to rivet the steel beams together, since such equipment was more efficient than steam-powered tools at conducting power over long distances.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-2004-08-01" /> The frame was complete by February 1902,<ref name="treasure" /> and workers began installing the terracotta tiles as the framework of the top stories was being finished.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 99-100" /> By mid-May, the building was half-covered by terracotta tiling.<ref name="treasure" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 106">Template:Harvnb</ref> The terracotta work was completed the next month,<ref name="Alexiou p. 109" /> and the scaffolding in front of the building was removed.<ref name="Alexiou p. 109">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="p571209603">Template:Cite news</ref> The Fifth Avenue Building Company had invested $1.5 million in the project.<ref name="p571209603" />

Officials of the Fuller Company announced in August 1902 that the structure would be officially named after George A. Fuller, founder of the Fuller Company and "father of the skyscraper", who had died two years earlier.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By then, the site had been known as the "flatiron" for several years;<ref name="nyt-2004-08-01">Template:Cite news</ref> according to Christopher Gray of The New York Times, Burnham's and Fuller's architectural drawings even labeled the structure as the "Flatiron Building".<ref name="nyt-1991-07-21">Template:Cite news</ref> Although the Fuller name was used for some time after the building's completion,<ref name="LC p. 302" /> locals persisted in calling it the Flatiron, to the displeasure of Harry Black and the building's contractors.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 106-107" /> In subsequent years, the edifice officially came to be known as the Flatiron Building,Template:Sfn<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /> and the Fuller name was transferred to a newer 40-story structure at 597 Madison Avenue.<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Fuller Company ownership

In the weeks before the official opening, the Fuller Company distributed six-page brochures to potential tenants and real-estate brokers.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 122-123">Template:Harvnb</ref> The brochures advertised the building as being "ready for occupancy" on October 1, 1902.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 122-123" /><ref name="nyt-2002-09-30">Template:Cite news</ref> The Fuller Company took the 19th floor for its headquarters.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> When completed, the Flatiron Building was much taller than others in the neighborhood; when New York City Fire Department officials tested the building's standpipes in November 1902, they found that "the 'flat-iron' building would be of great aid in fighting the fire" in any surrounding buildings.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It was the seventh-tallest building in Manhattan, behind the Park Row Building, Manhattan Life Insurance Building, St. Paul Building, American Surety Building, American Tract Building, and Empire Building.<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219">Template:Cite book</ref> Following the building's completion, the surrounding neighborhood evolved from an entertainment district to a commercial hub.<ref name="LC p. 304">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-1952-08-11">Template:Cite news</ref> Initially, the building was topped by a flagpole, which was maintained by one man, "Steeplejack" Kay, for four decades.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Henry Clay Frick expressed interest in purchasing the structure in 1904 for $5 million, but he ultimately withdrew his offer.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Modifications

During the building's construction, Black had suggested that the "cowcatcher" retail space be installed at the northern tip of the building, occupying Template:Convert of unused space at the extreme northern end of the lot. This would maximize use of the building's lot and produce some retail income.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Burnham initially refused to consider Black's suggestion, and, in April 1902, Black asked a draftsman at the Fuller Company to draw up plans for the retail space.<ref name="Alexiou p. 102">Template:Harvnb</ref> Black submitted plans for the annex to the DOB in May 1902. The DOB rejected the initial plans because the walls were too thin, but the department approved a revised proposal that June, to Burnham's disapproval.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 102-103" /> The retail space in the "cowcatcher" was leased by United Cigar Stores.<ref name="Alexiou p. 89" />

Another addition to the building not in the original plan was the penthouse, which was constructed after the rest of the building had been completed.<ref name="n108917576">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Alexiou pp. 201-202" /> By 1905, the Fuller Company needed to expand its technical drawing facilities. As a result, the company filed plans for a penthouse with the New York City Department of Buildings that March.<ref name="r-7031148_035_00000710">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The penthouse would cost $10,000 and would include fireproof partitions and a staircase from the existing 20th floor.<ref name="r-7031148_035_00000710" /><ref name="nyt-1905-03-23">Template:Cite news</ref> The penthouse, intended for use as artists' studios, was quickly rented out to artists such as Louis Fancher, many of whom contributed to the pulp magazines which were produced in the offices below.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 201-202">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Early tenants

Besides the Fuller Company, the Flatiron's other original tenants included publishers such as magazine publishing pioneer Frank Munsey<ref name="Alexiou p. 133" /> and American Architect and Building News.<ref name="Alexiou p. 138" /> An insurance company, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, leased nearly the entire third floor.<ref name="Alexiou p. 139" /><ref name="nyt-1902-07-062">Template:Cite news</ref> Small businesses also occupied the Flatiron, including a patent medicine company; the Western Specialty Manufacturing Company;<ref name="Alexiou p. 139" /> and Whitehead & Hoag, which made celluloid novelties.<ref name="Alexiou p. 141" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other tenants included an overflow of music publishers from "Tin Pan Alley" on 28th Street;<ref name="Alexiou p. 138" /> a landscape architect;<ref name="Alexiou p. 139">Template:Harvnb</ref> the Imperial Russian Consulate, which took up three floors;<ref name="p1454027682" /> the New York State Athletic Commission;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the Bohemian Guides Society;<ref name="Alexiou p. 139" /> the Roebling Construction Company, owned by the sons of Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker; and the crime syndicate Murder, Inc.<ref name="Alexiou p. 141">Template:Harvnb</ref> The puppeteer Tony Sarg had a studio in the Flatiron Building during the 1910s.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Harry Black moved the Fuller Company's offices in 1911 to the Trinity Building at 111 Broadway, where its parent company, U.S. Realty, had its offices.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> U.S. Realty moved its offices back to the Flatiron in 1916.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-1991-07-21" />

File:Colonel Donovan and staff of 165th Infantry, passing under the Victory Arch, New York City., 1919 - NARA - 533479.jpg

After the end of World War I, the 165th Infantry Regiment passes through the Victory Arch in Madison Square, with the Flatiron Building in the background (1919).

The building's vast cellar extended into the vaults that went more than Template:Convert under the surrounding streets.<ref name="Alexiou p. 89" /> Initial plans called for a ratskeller to be opened within the vaults, but Manhattan borough president Jacob A. Cantor had objected to the plans.<ref name="p571180508">Template:Cite news</ref> Ultimately, part of the basement was occupied by the Flatiron Restaurant, which could seat 1,500 patrons and was open from breakfast through late supper for those taking in a performance at one of the many theatres which lined Broadway between 14th and 23rd Streets.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In the building's early years, sightseeing buses would bring visitors to the Flatiron Restaurant and to the 21st-story observation deck.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> In 1911, the building introduced a restaurant/club in the basement. It was among the first of its kind that allowed a black jazz band to perform, thus introducing ragtime to affluent New Yorkers.Template:Sfn

Even before construction on the Flatiron Building had begun, the area around Madison Square had started to deteriorate somewhat. After U.S. Realty constructed the New York Hippodrome, Madison Square Garden was no longer the venue of choice, and survived largely by staging boxing matches. The base of the Flatiron became a cruising spot for gay men, including some male prostitutes.Template:Sfn Nonetheless, in 1911 the Flatiron Restaurant was bought by Louis Bustanoby, of the well-known Café des Beaux-Arts, and converted into a trendy 400-seat French restaurant, Taverne Louis. As an innovation to attract customers from another restaurant opened by his brothers, Bustanoby hired a black musical group, Louis Mitchell and his Southern Symphony Quintette, to play dance tunes at the Taverne and the Café. Irving Berlin heard the group at the Taverne and suggested that they should try to get work in London, which they did.Template:Efn The Taverne also welcomed a gay clientele, which then was unusual for a restaurant of its type.Template:Sfn The Taverne was forced to close after Prohibition negatively impacted restaurant business.Template:Sfn

When the U.S. entered World War I, the Federal government instituted a "Wake Up America!" campaign, and the United Cigar store in the Flatiron's cowcatcher donated its space to the U.S. Navy for use as a recruiting center. Liberty Bonds were sold outside on sidewalk stands.Template:Sfn

Rosenbaum and Equitable ownership

File:The Smart Set February 1922.jpg

The Flatiron Building on a magazine cover in 1922

In March 1925, Black agreed to sell the Flatiron Building to a syndicate led by Lewis Rosenbaum, which also owned numerous other notable buildings around the U.S. Although the sale price was not revealed, the building was valued at $2 million, about the same as what Black had paid to buy the lot and erecting the Flatiron.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The syndicate paid $500,000 in cash and covered the remainder of the purchase price with a long-term mortgage;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> the transaction provided cash for the financially struggling U.S. Realty Company.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Many pottery, glassware, and china firms leased space for display firms within the Flatiron Building through the late 1920s.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Additionally, drug-store chain Walgreens opened a store within the "cowcatcher" space in 1927, replacing the United Cigar store.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By then, many businesses were moving farther northward,<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /> including the Fuller Company, which left permanently for the Fuller Building on Madison Avenue in 1929.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Flatiron's operating costs were increasing, and its income decreased greatly with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929.<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /> The Flatiron had long since been surpassed in height by other structures, and its roof was "of interest chiefly for its historic associations".<ref name="nyt-1929-03-10">Template:Cite news</ref>

The Equitable Life Assurance Society sued to foreclose upon the building's mortgage in March 1933 after the owners defaulted on mortgage payments. The mortgage had an unpaid principal of more than $1 million, and the owners had not paid interest in more than a year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The building was placed for sale at a foreclosure auction,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and Equitable acquired the building on June 30 for $100,000, submitting the only bid at the auction.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> To attract tenants, Equitable upgraded some parts of the building in 1941.<ref name="p106080005">Template:Cite news</ref> The original cast-iron birdcage elevators, which consisted of rubber-tiled cabs built by Hecla Iron Works, were replaced with enclosed cabs; however, the hydraulic power system remained in place.<ref name="p106080005" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 264">Template:Harvnb</ref> In addition, the lobby's open grillwork partitions were replaced with marble partitions.<ref name="p106080005" /> The building's heat, light, and elevators were maintained by a team of eight engineers, who sometimes went on strike.<ref name="p1269899978">Template:Cite news</ref>

By the mid-1940s, the building was fully rented,<ref name="Alexiou p. 264" /> and clothing and toy companies took up much of the space.<ref name="treasure" /><ref name="p106080005" /> In addition, the building was occupied by firms such as a paper company, an advertiser, and Baseball Magazine.<ref name="p106080005" />

Helmsley-Spear management

Equitable sold the building in October 1945 to an investment syndicate led by lawyer Max Silverstein; at the time, the structure was valued at $1.05 million.<ref name="nyt-1945-10-26">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Harry Helmsley's firm Dwight-Helmsley (later Helmsley-Spear) brokered the sale and continued to manage the property.<ref name="Alexiou p. 265" /><ref name="nyt-1945-10-26" /> By 1946, the partnership of Flatiron Associates owned the building, and Dwight-Helmsley owned a minority stake in the partnership.<ref name="Alexiou p. 265">Template:Harvnb</ref> The new owners made some superficial changes in the early 1950s, such as adding a dropped ceiling to the lobby and replacing the original mahogany-paneled entrances with revolving doors.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Grant">Template:Cite news</ref> After architect George C. Rudolph remodeled the main entrance, the 23rd Street Association gave Dwight-Helmsley an award in 1953, recognizing the firm's "contribution to the development of the Twenty-third Street area".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By then, the surrounding area had become largely industrial, with many companies in the publishing, clothing, toy, and manufacturing industries.<ref name="nyt-1952-08-11" />

File:Flatiron Building 252930243 a57b1b3f78.jpg

A view from the inside of a "point" office

In 1959, St. Martin's Press moved into the building, and gradually its parent company, Macmillan, rented other offices as they became available.<ref>Template:Cite enc-nyc2</ref> During its tenancy, Macmillan renovated some of the Flatiron Building's floors<ref name="era">Template:Cite news</ref> for its imprints such as Tor/Forge, Picador and Henry Holt and Company.<ref name="macmillan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> St. Martin's Press president Thomas McCormack had an office within the building's prow.<ref name="nyt-1983-03-25">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to McCormack, the company's authors were "fascinated" by the building; he said it was "the only office I know of where you can stand in one place and see the East River, the Hudson and Central Park without moving".<ref name="nyt-1983-03-25" /> Macmillan wrote about the building:

The Flatiron's interior is known for having its strangely-shaped offices with walls that cut through at an angle on their way to the skyscraper's famous point. These "point" offices are the most coveted and feature amazing northern views that look directly upon another famous Manhattan landmark, the Empire State Building.<ref name="macmillan" />

The Helmsley/Flatiron Associates ownership structure was a tenancy-in-common, in which all co-owners had to agree on any action, as opposed to a straightforward partnership, in which only a majority of co-owners needed to agree.<ref name="p219153356">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Alexiou pp. 266-267" /> Hence, it was difficult to get permission for necessary repairs and improvements, and the building declined during the Helmsley/Flatiron Associates era.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 266-267">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Grant" /> The surrounding neighborhood declined for several decades, and many of the area's longtime commercial tenants had started to move out.<ref name="Alexiou p. 268">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="nyt-1990-07-22" /> An "anonymous-looking importing firm" occupied the "cowcatcher" retail space, for which there was relatively little demand.<ref name="nyt-1990-07-22" /> The 21st floor and several stories below it were slightly damaged during a fire in 1972.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> By the late 1980s, one broker said that "the elevators are bad and the facade is dirty" at the Flatiron Building;<ref name="p219116848" /> in particular, there was graffiti across the base, while the rest of the facade was covered in soot.<ref name="Alexiou p. 268" /> Several of Helmsley's other buildings were similarly rundown.<ref name="p219116848">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The facade of the Flatiron Building was restored in 1991 by the firm of Hurley & Farinella.<ref name="nyt-1991-07-21" /><ref name="aia">Template:Harvnb</ref> As part of the project, the lobby was renovated, and the terracotta details were also repaired.<ref name="nyt-1993-07-11">Template:Cite news</ref> In addition, C.P. Company leased the ground floor and renovated the space into a clothing store,<ref name="nyt-1990-08-16" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> which opened in February 1991.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Bentley LaRosa Salasky designed the store's facade, while Cordero Progetti redesigned the interior, exposing the columns at the building's prow.<ref name="nyt-1990-08-16">Template:Cite news</ref> The surrounding neighborhood's reputation had started to improve, and all of the Flatiron Building's space was under lease.<ref name="nyt-1990-07-22" /> Numerous publishing firms relocated to the area in the late 20th century, and, by the early 1990s, the building's two largest tenants were publishing firms. St. Martin's Press renewed its lease for ten stories of the building in 1993, with an option to expand into smaller tenants' space when their leases expired. Simultaneously, Springer–Verlag renewed its lease for six stories and secured an option for four additional stories.<ref name="nyt-1993-07-11" /> The C.P. Company store only operated until 1996.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Newmark management and split ownership

By 1995, some of the partners at Flatiron Associates wanted to hire real-estate firm Newmark & Company to replace Helmsley-Spear as the property's managing agent. The dissenting co-owners claimed that Helmsley-Spear was overpaying for elevator maintenance and cleaning. However, the Helmsley family owned a stake in the building, and, because of the tenancy-in-common ownership structure, could block the other owners' attempts to hire Newmark.<ref name="p219153356" /> In 1997, some of the investors sold their 52 percent stake in the building to Newmark, which replaced Helmsley-Spear as the building's managing agent.<ref name="Alexiou p. 270">Template:Harvnb</ref> Shortly after Helmsley's death in January 1997, Helmsley's widow, Leona Helmsley, also sold her ownership stake in the building.<ref name="Alexiou p. 270" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Newmark made significant improvements to the property, including installing new electric elevators, replacing the antiquated cabs, which were the last hydraulic elevators in New York City.<ref name="Alexiou p. 270" /><ref name="Grant" />

Macmillan expansion and conversion proposals

The Flatiron Building was popular among service companies in the early 2000s, causing rental rates at surrounding buildings to increase.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The rent increases occurred amid the gentrification of the surrounding area. By then, St. Martin's Press and Springer–Verlag collectively occupied 90 percent of the space; some of the remaining small tenants had moved away because rents at the Flatiron were too expensive.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> Macmillan's parent company Holtzbrinck Publishing Group leased additional space in the building in 2004, expanding its presence from 12 to 18 floors. In addition, Holtzbrinck bought an option to lease the two remaining office stories.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The building's owners had contemplated converting the building into apartments, but, after Holtzbrinck leased most of the space, the owners instead decided to restore the building's historical details.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A 15-story vertical advertising banner covered the facade of the building in 2005, during the renovation, but it was removed after protests from many New York City residents.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Italian real estate investment firm The Sorgente Group bought a majority stake in the Flatiron Building in June 2008;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> it had previously owned less than 20 percent of the building.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The following January, Sorgente announced plans to turn it into a luxury hotel. The value of the Flatiron Building, whose zoning allowed a hotel conversion, was estimated to be $190 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jeffrey Gural, chairman of Newmark, sold a stake in the building to the Sorgente Group in November 2009 for $51.8 million, although Gural and several partners still owned part of the building.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Afterward, Sorgente owned a 52 percent stake in the building, while various real estate families owned the remaining stake.<ref name="wsj-2013-06-10">Template:Cite news</ref> By 2010, Macmillan occupied all of the building's space, except for the ground floor.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-25">Template:Cite news</ref>

The hotel conversion plans were hampered by the fact that Macmillan's existing lease did not expire until 2018.<ref name="Arak 2010" /><ref name="nyt-2015-03-31">Template:Cite news</ref> In a 2010 interview, Veronica Mainetti, who led the Sorgente Group's United States division, did not indicate whether Sorgente still planned to convert the building into a hotel.<ref name="Arak 2010">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mainetti subsequently said in 2015 that, when Macmillan's lease expired, "There possibly is going to be an upgrade and the building could make also a good potential hotel conversion, which we're not completely taking off the table."<ref name="nyt-2015-03-31" /> Due to high demand for office space, the building's value increased 30 percent from 2009 to 2013, when it was worth between $250 million and $300 million.<ref name="wsj-2013-06-10" /> In July 2017, Macmillan announced it was consolidating its New York offices to the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Knotel, an operator of coworking spaces, subsequently announced in January 2019 that it wanted to lease all of the building's office space.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Knotel agreement was never finalized.<ref name="Monahan 2023" />

2010s and 2020s renovation

By June 2019, Macmillan had left the building, and all 21 office floors were vacant.<ref name="era" /> GFP Real Estate announced that it would upgrade the building's interior, since the structure would be almost completely vacant,<ref name="era" /><ref name=":0" /> except for a T-Mobile store at the base.<ref name="Cheng 2023 r428" /> GFP planned to install a central air and heating system, strip away all interior partitions, put in a new sprinkler system and a second staircase, upgrade the elevators, and renovate the lobby for $60–80 million. The project was estimated to take a year.<ref name="era" /><ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The owners were interested in renting the entire building to a single tenant, hiring a high-profile real estate agency to find a suitable tenant.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="era" /> The executive director of the ownership company said: "The building was born as a commercial property, and we want to keep it as such."<ref name="era" /> The building was empty by November 2020, and the full renovation was expected to last for at least two more years.<ref name="Herzenberg">Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Flatiron Building February 2023.jpg

The Flatiron Building under renovation, seen here in February 2023

The full renovation was delayed until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.<ref name="Cheng 2023 r428" /> By 2021, four of the building's five co-owners wished to sell off their combined ownership stakes due to disputes over the renovation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A New York state judge ruled in June 2022 that the four co-owners could buy out the stake of the fifth co-owner, Nathan Royce Silverstein,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> who owned a 25 percent stake in the building and was in disagreement with the other co-owners.<ref name="Monahan 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Jeffrey Gural, Silverstein had first wanted to find a new tenant without renovating the building. Silverstein then suggested dividing the Flatiron Building into five physically separate properties, which according to Gural was infeasible for several reasons, including the fact that it was landmarked.<ref name="Monahan 2023" /> Silverstein, by contrast, claimed that the building's renovation costs were being inflated.<ref name="Monahan 2023" />

Sale and conversion

First auction

In March 2023, a New York Supreme Court judge ordered that the Flatiron Building be put up for sale at a public auction. The sale was announced after the owners had failed to settle their differences regarding the building's renovation.<ref name="Monahan 2023" /><ref name="Hallum 2023" /> An opening bid of $40,000 was announced;<ref name="Hallum 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the auction, which took place on March 22, 2023, was open for anyone to bid.<ref name="Larsen 202303" /><ref name="Rivoli 2023" /> It was reported that the majority owners – GFP Real Estate, Newmark, and ABS Real Estate, which collectively own 75% of the building – wished to hold on to the building.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The building was ultimately sold for $190 million to a 31-year-old man, Jacob Garlick, who beat out the previous owners.<ref name="Larsen 202303">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Rivoli 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After the auction, Garlick – who owned a venture-capital firm, Abraham Trust, for which there was no contact information available<ref name="kilgannon" /> – said that owning the Flatiron Building had been "a lifelong dream of mine since I'm 14 years old ... I've worked every day of my life to be in this position".<ref name="Rivoli 2023" /><ref name="backin" />

For the sale to be finalized, Garlick had to make a 10 percent down payment of $19 million by the close of day on March 24, but Garlick failed to do so, causing some confusion about what would happen next.<ref name="kilgannon">Template:Cite news</ref> According to Jeffrey Gural, who came in second in the bidding, immediately after the auction on the steps of the New York County Courthouse, Garlick asked him if he wanted to partner in the building, later offering a 10% stake in return for putting up the $19 million down payment.<ref name="backin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After Garlick missed the deadline for the down payment, the building was offered to Gural at $189.5 million, $500,000 less than Garlick's bid (bidding at the end of the auction was made in half-million dollar increments).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three of the building's current owners passed on their option to buy the building for that amount.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A bankruptcy expert noted that bidders at the auction were not required to provide a deposit before bidding, which they said was "highly unorthodox" at such events.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Because the runner-up passed on the option to buy the building, a new auction was required, though Garlick was still responsible for the missed $19 million down payment.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Real-estate publications noted in mid-April that Garlick is a "distant relative" of current co-owner Nathan Silverstein and that Garlick's purpose in bidding may have been to push up the purchase price so that Silverstein would receive a larger payout from the auction, though The Real Deal found no evidence of collusion. Garlick still maintained that he wanted to buy the building, both the auctioneer and the court-appointed referee denied any awareness of Garlick's intent,<ref name="backin" /> and the court-appointed referee for the auction said that Garlick had defaulted and could no longer purchase the building.<ref>Rogers, Jack (April 26, 2023) "Flatiron Building Auction Referee to Jacob Garlick: Time's Up" GlobeSt.com</ref> On May 5, the majority owners, led by Gural, sued Garlick and his investment firm, Abraham Trust, claiming that his bid was fraudulent.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Also in May 2023, city officials approached the building's owners amid the New York City migrant housing crisis, seeking to use the building as shelter space. Since the building had been gutted, and there were no bathrooms, Gural rejected the request.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Second auction and residential conversion

A second auction was scheduled for May 23, 2023, after Gural and his partners declined to exercise their option to buy the building for $189.5 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was reported that prospective bidders would be required to have a check for $100,000 on hand in order to participate.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the second auction on May 23, the majority owners group, composed of Gural, Newmark, Sorgente Group, and ABS Partners,<ref name="Hallum 202305">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> purchased full control of the building with a winning bid of $161 million.<ref name="Spectrum News NY1 New York City 2023">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Garlick was not a bidder.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Gural and his partners announced plans to convert all or part of the building to residences; they needed a permit from the city to proceed with the conversion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Spectrum News NY1 New York City 2023" /> Daniel Brodsky's Brodsky Organization bought a stake in the building in October 2023 and announced that, in partnership with GFP and Sorgente, he would convert the structure to residential condominiums.<ref name="Bockmann 2023 m791">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In August 2024, the building's developers filed plans to convert the stories above the ground floor into 60 condos; the conversion was planned to be completed in 2026.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The next month, Brodsky applied for a zoning variance from the city government, which would allow the building to be converted to residences. Under the existing zoning, no more than half of the building could be used for residential purposes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> That October, Brodsky and his partners received a $357 million loan for the building's renovation from Tyko Capital.<ref name="Coen j735">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}; {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Architecture

The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham as a vertical Renaissance palazzo with Beaux-Arts styling.<ref name="aia" /><ref>Gillon, Edmund Vincent (photographs) and Reed, Henry Hope (text). Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York: A Photographic Guide Template:Webarchive New York: Dover, 1988. p. 26</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Unlike New York's early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower, blockier mass, such as the contemporary Singer Building (completed in 1908),Template:Efn the Flatiron Building was designed in the style of the Chicago school.<ref name="LC p. 301" /> The palazzo-style design was intended to reassure passersby by giving an appearance of strength.<ref name="TL p. 54" /> Filling its entire land lot, the building was constructed as a slab without any setbacks.<ref name="Stern (1983) p. 164">Template:Harvnb</ref> Originally, the structure was Template:Convert tall,<ref name="Alexiou p. 73" /><ref name="ER p. 296" /> with 20 stories and an attic.<ref name="nyt-1905-03-23" /> After an expansion in 1905, the building stood Template:Convert tall,<ref name="LC p. 301" /><ref name="p571209603" /><ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> with 22 stories;<ref name="nycland" /><ref name="nyt-1905-03-23" /> if the attic is excluded, the expanded building only contains 21 stories.<ref name="LC p. 301" /><ref name="NYCL p. 296" /><ref name="ER p. 296" /> Some sources mistakenlyTemplate:Efn describe the building as one of the world's first skyscrapers or steel-framed buildings.<ref name="The Skyscraper Museum">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Though Burnham maintained overall control of the design process, he was not directly connected with the details of the structure as built. That task was performed by his designer Frederick P. Dinkelberg, a Pennsylvania-born architect in Burnham's office.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 47-48">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="LC p. 303" /><ref name="Zukowsky" /> The men had worked together since the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is unknown where the working drawings for the Flatiron Building are stored, though renderings were published at the time of construction in The American Architect and Architectural Record.<ref name="Zukowsky">Template:Harvnb; a perspective drawing by Jules Guérin (not a member of Burnham's office) for Century Magazine (The New York Times, August 1902), now at the Art Institute of Chicago, occasioned the article in Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies.</ref>

Facade

Similar to the parts of a classical Greek column, the Flatiron Building's facade is divided into a base, shaft, and capital.<ref name="NYCL pp. 297-298">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="NPS p. 2">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="LC pp. 303-304">Template:Harvnb</ref> The Fifth Avenue and Broadway elevations of the facade are both eighteen bays wide, while the 22nd Street elevation is eight bays wide; the bays are arranged in pairs.<ref name="NYCL pp. 297-299">Template:Harvnb</ref> The southwest and southeast corners are curved, with one rounded window on each story above the base.<ref name="NYCL p. 299">Template:Harvnb</ref> In addition, each story of the curved prow on 23rd Street contains three sash windows; the central window is wider than the other two.<ref name="NYCL p. 298">Template:Harvnb</ref> Many of the Flatiron Building's tenants referred to the prow as "the Point".<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" />

The facade of the three-story baseTemplate:Efn is made of limestone.<ref name="aia" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 74" /><ref name="NYCL p. 297">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each of the openings at the base is two bays wide.<ref name="NYCL pp. 297-299" /> There are entrances on either end of the 22nd Street elevation, as well as at the centers of the Fifth Avenue and Broadway elevations.<ref name="ER p. 296" /><ref name="NYCL pp. 297-299" /> Above the base, the facade is made of glazed terracotta from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company in Tottenville, Staten Island.<ref name="aia" /><ref name="LC p. 434">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Alexiou p. 74">Template:Harvnb</ref> The building also contains decorative details such as cornices, moldings, and oriel windows.<ref name="ER p. 296" /><ref name="LC p. 304" /> These materials were intended to give the impression of "general unity in treatment", while also giving the facade a textured appearance.<ref name="LC p. 304" /> Early sketches by Daniel Burnham show an unexecuted clock face and a far more elaborate crown than was ultimately built.<ref name="Zukowsky" />

Base

At ground level, the entrances on Fifth Avenue and Broadway are each flanked by four storefront windows to the north and south.<ref name="NYCL pp. 297-298" /> The storefront windows are separated from each other by vertical piers with horizontal bands of smooth-faced and vermiculated limestone.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL p. 297" /> There are revolving doors at the southwestern and southeastern corners of the building.<ref name="NYCL p. 299" /> The entrances on Fifth Avenue and Broadway are flanked by a pair of engaged columns, which are vertically fluted and are overlaid by smooth and vermiculated bands of limestone. The columns support an entablature decorated with alternating roundels and triglyphs; immediately above the entablature, on the second story, are oculus windows with console brackets on either side.<ref name="NYCL pp. 297-298" /> The entablatures above both entrances are connected by a projecting cornice that wraps around the ground floor.<ref name="NYCL p. 297" /> On the second and third stories, each opening generally contains two sash windows.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL pp. 297-298" /> A frieze with dentils runs above the third story.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 99-100">Template:Harvnb</ref>

File:Flatiron Art Space.jpg

The "cowcatcher" retail space in front of the prow

Template:AnchorThe prow of the building, facing 23rd Street, includes a pair of two-story-high Classical columns.<ref name="Alexiou p. 102" /><ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> These were echoed at the top of the building by two columns that supported the cornice.<ref name="Alexiou p. 102" /> The single-story "cowcatcher" retail space in front of the prow, added to the plans in 1902, was not part of Burnham or Dinkelberg's design.<ref name="Alexiou p. 102" /><ref name="LC p. 302">Template:Harvnb</ref> The "cowcatcher" structure measured Template:Convert long and Template:Convert tall, with a metal roof.<ref name="Alexiou p. 102" /> Burnham initially did not want to add the "cowcatcher" space, since he believed it would ruin the symmetry of the prow's design, but he was forced to accept the addition on Black's insistence.<ref name="Alexiou pp. 102-103">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Upper stories

The 4th story is designed as a transitional story, with eight sash windows on 22nd Street, as well as 18 sash windows each on Broadway and Fifth Avenue. The windows are flanked by alternating wide and narrow piers, each of which contains terracotta panels with decorations such as foliate motifs, masks, lozenges, and wreaths. Above the 4th story is a frieze with roundels, as well as a cornice.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" />

The 12-story midsection spans the 5th through 16th stories.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> The 5th and 6th stories each contain sash windows similar to those on the 4th story, but the terracotta piers between each bay are decorated in a simpler design. A frieze with a meander pattern wraps around the building above the 6th story.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> The Broadway and Fifth Avenue facades both contain three projecting trapezoidal orielsTemplate:Efn on the 7th through 14th stories; each oriel contains three windows per story.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> At the time of the Flatiron Building's construction, relatively few skyscrapers in New York City used oriels,<ref name="LC pp. 303-304" /> but they were commonly used in Chicago to break up winds.<ref name="LC pp. 303-304" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The 15th story contains sash windows separated by rusticated brick piers. The 16th story contains arched windows; the voussoirs above these windows support a cornice that runs above that story.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> The 17th story is also designed as a transitional story, with alternating wide and narrow piers decorated with roundels and lions' heads. Another projecting cornice runs above the 17th story.<ref name="NPS p. 2" /><ref name="NYCL p. 298" />

File:Flatiron Building.JPG

Close-up of the apex

The capital consists of the top four stories. The 18th and 19th stories contain an arcade of double-height, double-width arches.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /><ref name="NPS pp. 2-5">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each archway contains a metal frame with multiple glass panes. There are metal spandrel panels between the windows on the 18th and 19th stories. The arches themselves are separated vertically by ornate terracotta piers, topped by capitals with masks and wreaths.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /> The 20th story contains small square windows, above which is a deep cornice with dentils and brackets;<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /><ref name="NPS pp. 2-5" /> the cornice projects about Template:Convert beyond the building's perimeter.<ref name="ER p. 300">Template:Harvnb</ref> There are decorative triglyphs between the 20th-story windows.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" />

The 20th story was originally topped by an attic for mechanical equipment; the 21st-story penthouse was added in a subsequent renovation.<ref name="n108917576" /> The attic still exists and is placed between the 20th and 21st stories.<ref name="n108917576" /><ref name="n1559453449">Template:Cite news</ref> Initially, the penthouse was not surrounded by a railing;<ref name="nyt-1929-03-10" /> a balustrade was subsequently added above the 20th story.<ref name="NYCL p. 298" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 75" /> At the building's apex were originally two terracotta sculptures of cherubs.<ref name="Alexiou p. 75">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="n1559453449" /><ref name="nyt-2001-09-02">Template:Cite news</ref> The cherubs symbolized the building's "guardian spirits"<ref name="Alexiou p. 75" /> and held scrolls that surrounded a tablet with George A. Fuller's name.<ref name="n1559453449" /> The statues were removed to an unknown location in the late 1980s, and a set of replacement cherubs were installed in 2001 after preservationists filed a complaint with the LPC.<ref name="nyt-2001-09-02" />

Structural features

Purdy and Henderson were the structural engineers,<ref name="ER p. 296" /><ref name="LC p. 303">Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="p1284471762">Template:Cite news</ref> and Hamilton J. Chapman was the chief consulting engineer for the project.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The construction of the Flatiron was made feasible by a change to New York City's building codes in 1892, which eliminated the requirement that masonry be used for fireproofing considerations. This opened the way for steel-skeleton construction.<ref name="treasure" /> The steel-frame technique was familiar to the Fuller Company, a contracting firm with considerable expertise in building such tall structures.<ref name="Flatiron Building">"Flatiron Building" Template:Webarchive Dome the website of the MIT Libraries, citing Grove Art Online Template:Webarchive</ref> The Flatiron Building's construction was relatively easy because it used a steel frame; its 22-story height would have been difficult using other construction methods of that time.Template:Sfn The steel bracing, designed by engineer Corydon Purdy of Purdy and Henderson,<ref name="p1284471762" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 54" /> allowed the Flatiron Building to withstand four times the amount of wind force it could ever be expected to endure.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In theory, the frame would remain standing even if the rest of the building were to tip over.<ref name="nyt-2004-08-01" />

The building's frame contains Template:Convert of steel.<ref name="ER p. 300" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 54">Template:Harvnb</ref> According to architectural writers Sarah Bradford Landau and Carl W. Condit, as well as the New-York Tribune and author Joseph J. Korom, each of the stories above ground level measures Template:Convert on Broadway, Template:Convert on Fifth Avenue, and Template:Convert on 22nd Street.<ref name="p571209603" /><ref>Template:Harvnb</ref><ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /> Engineering Record magazine gives a slightly different measurement of Template:Convert on Fifth Avenue and Template:Convert on 22nd Street.<ref name="ER p. 296" />Template:Efn At the vertex, the triangular tower is only Template:Convert<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /><ref name="The Skyscraper Museum" /><ref name="Stern (1983) p. 167">Template:Harvnb</ref> or 6.5 feet (2 m) wide.<ref name="Flatiron Building" /> The Broadway and Fifth Avenue elevations meet at an angle of about 25 degrees.<ref name="Flatiron Building" />

Foundation

The foundation of the building extends Template:Convert deep and was excavated to the underlying layer of bedrock. It is surrounded by trapezoidal, waterproof retaining walls, which measure between Template:Convert thick.<ref name="ER p. 298">Template:Harvnb</ref> The underlying bedrock ranges from Template:Convert below ground, very close to the bottom of the building's foundation.<ref name="LC p. 303" /> The foundation itself consists of concrete footings with granite caps, above which rise the building's steel columns.<ref name="LC p. 303" /><ref name="Alexiou pp. 88-89" /> The cast-iron bases measure Template:Convert square and are placed on slightly wider granite capstones, which measure Template:Convert thick. The concrete footings, placed directly on the bedrock, also have a square cross-section, measuring Template:Convert on each side.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The basement extends beyond the building's lot line, occupying vaults underneath the sidewalk and roadways.<ref name="p571180508" /><ref name="ER p. 298" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 89">Template:Harvnb</ref> The vaults have a total area of Template:Convert.<ref name="p571180508" /> Measured from the centers of the columns at the site's perimeter, the vaults extend about Template:Convert to the west, Template:Convert to the east, and Template:Convert to the north. These spaces are surrounded by the retaining walls.<ref name="ER p. 298" /> The ceiling of the vaults is supported by 18 steel columns outside the building's lot line.<ref name="ER p. 296" /> The steel columns are recessed behind the retaining wall and are connected to the retaining wall by horizontal girders, which support the sidewalks above.<ref name="ER p. 298" />

Superstructure

File:Typical floor of the Flatiron Building.jpg

Typical floor of the Flatiron Building in 1903

The superstructure is primarily supported by 36 built-up steel columns.<ref name="ER p. 296" /><ref name="LC p. 434" /><ref name="Alexiou pp. 88-89">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each column is an I-beam measuring Template:Convert across and Template:Convert thick;<ref name="Alexiou p. 89" /> they have a maximum working stress of Template:Convert.<ref name="LC p. 434" /> Twenty-five of these columns are placed on the building's perimeter: five on 22nd Street and ten each on Fifth Avenue and Broadway. The perimeter columns are spaced Template:Cvt apart on Fifth Avenue, Template:Cvt apart on Broadway, and Template:Cvt apart on 22nd Street. Five of the interior columns are recessed Template:Cvt from the Fifth Avenue facade, and there are several interior columns at the south end of the building.<ref name="ER p. 296" /> At each story, the columns are connected horizontally by a grid of steel girders and floor beams, which mostly run parallel to the Manhattan street grid.<ref name="ER p. 299">Template:Harvnb</ref> The spaces between the horizontal girders are spanned by flat arches made of terracotta. All of the floor beams could carry a live load of Template:Convert.<ref name="ER p. 297">Template:Harvnb</ref> Each column is connected to the horizontal beams by triangular gusset plates, placed both above and below the beams.<ref name="LC p. 303" /><ref name="ER pp. 296-297">Template:Harvnb</ref>

From the 1st to the 12th stories, the outer walls are carried on plate girders; the remaining stories contain wall girders, with channels engraved into their surfaces.<ref name="ER p. 296" /> There is also a masonry pier adjacent to each of the columns on the building's perimeter.<ref name="ER p. 299" /> The framework at the first story is similar to that at the basement, except at the corners and above each entrance.<ref name="ER p. 298" /> At ground level, the building's northern prow is cantilevered from a pair of elliptical girders, while the southwest and southeast corners contain diagonal floor beams.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> On the upper stories, the corners contain curved wall girders and diagonal floor beams of varying dimensions. In addition, the oriel windows and some of the facade's decorative details are cantilevered from the outer walls. On the 18th through 20th stories, the columns are recessed from the outer wall.<ref name="ER p. 300" />

Purdy and Henderson designed two systems of wind bracing for the building.<ref name="ER p. 297" /> One system consists of diagonal steel bars shaped like a rotated "K", which extend downward from the centers of the horizontal girders. The other system of bracing is similar, but the diagonal steel bars extend both upward and downward from the horizontal girders.<ref name="ER p. 297" /><ref name="ER pp. 296-297" /> A supplemental system of transverse bracing is also used between the foundation and the second floor. The flat roof was built similarly to the floor slabs and could carry a live load of Template:Convert.<ref name="ER p. 297" />

Interior

The building had Template:Convert of usable space.<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /> Contemporary critics considered the structure "quirky", with drafty wood-framed and copper-clad windows, no central air conditioning, a heating system with cast-iron radiators, an antiquated sprinkler system, and a single staircase for evacuation.<ref name="era" /> The offices were furnished with mahogany and oak, which the Fuller Company advertised as "fireproof".<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The triangular shape of the structure led to a "rabbit warren" of oddly-shaped rooms.<ref name="era" /> The offices on each floor were connected by a central passageway,<ref name="Alexiou p. 138" /> and each floor contained about 20 office cubicles, all of which were connected by various doors.<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /><ref name="nyt-2004-08-01" /> According to The New York Times, offices in the prow had "impressive" views "because of the converging traffic street markings, which accent the telescoping boulevards, and because of the changing seasons in Madison Square Park".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The building had a power plant that generated high-pressure steam and electricity.<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /><ref name="p1269899978" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 123">Template:Harvnb</ref> In the 1940s, it was one of a few remaining structures in New York City with its own power plant.<ref name="p1269899978" /> Bathrooms for males and females are placed on alternating floors,<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /> with the men's rooms on even floors and the women's rooms on odd ones.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-25" /> The women's restrooms were not part of the original design.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" />

Until the end of the 20th century, the building also retained its original hydraulic elevators,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which were powered by water.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /><ref name="Grant" /> Otis Elevator manufactured six hydraulic elevators for the building,<ref name="Korom 2013 p. 219" /><ref name="Alexiou p. 123" /> although Hecla Iron Works constructed the original elevator cabs.<ref name="Alexiou p. 108" /> The elevators had a reputation for being slow and, when the elevators' hydraulic pipes burst, water would often leak into the elevator cabs.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> To reach the top floor – the 21st, which was added in 1905, three years after the building was completed – a second elevator has to be taken from the 20th floor. On the 21st floor, the bottoms of the windows are chest-high.<ref name="nyt-2010-05-25" /> The hydraulic elevators were replaced with electric cabs in the 1980s, and the original staircase was removed in the 2020s and replaced with two staircases.<ref name="Cheng 2023 r428">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Impact

File:Albert Gleizes Sur le Flat-iron 1916.jpg

Sur le Flatiron, Albert Gleizes, gouache and ink (1916)

Status as an icon

The Flatiron Building became an icon of New York City upon completion, and public response to it was enthusiastic.<ref name="treasure" /><ref name="Rybczynski 1995">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="nyt-1902-07-062" /> The structure attracted not only "sidewalk superintendents" – members of the general public who expressed great interest in the project – but also architects and engineers.<ref name="Rybczynski 1995" /><ref name="Alexiou pp. 106-107">Template:Harvnb</ref> Crowds of several hundred people looked at the building "for five and ten minutes at a time", often from multiple vantage points,<ref name="Alexiou p. 106" /><ref name="nyt-1902-07-062" /> while the Tribune said that crowds would sometimes look at the building "with their heads bent back until a general breakage of necks seems imminent".<ref name="nyt-1991-07-21" /> By the mid-20th century, the building no longer attracted crowds, and most tourists "want[ed] to go up in the Flatiron only to take pictures of other taller buildings".<ref name="n1559453449" /> However, it remained well known, even after taller buildings such as the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building were constructed. According to graphic designer Miriam Berman, the building's enduring popularity was attributed to the fact that it was "the only famous Manhattan skyscraper that enables tourists to take a picture of the entire building from the ground up".<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" />

According to The New York Times, the Flatiron Building was "considered 'the most photographed structure' in New York" in its early years.<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /> In part because of its unusual shape and prominent location next to Madison Square Park, it was depicted in books and postcards worldwide.<ref name="nyt-1933-07-02" /><ref name="n108917576" /> As an icon of New York City, the Flatiron Building was also depicted on other pieces of merchandise, such as plates, mugs, and various tchotchkes.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> The building's exterior remains a popular spot for tourist photographs, making it "possibly one of the most photographed buildings in the world."<ref name="treasure" /> The Flatiron's status as an icon also led to a trademark dispute in 1999, when Newmark & Company and venture capital firm Flatiron Partners (which was headquartered in a different building) both tried to register an image of the building as a trademark. Flatiron Partners, which had wanted to use the building's image as its logo, ultimately licensed the image from Newmark & Company.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The American Institute of Architects' 2007 survey List of America's Favorite Architecture ranked the Flatiron Building among the top 150 buildings in the United States.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Flatiron Building as a city landmark in 1966.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The structure, along with the Manhattan Municipal Building, were the first two skyscrapers in New York City to be protected as city landmarks.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Flatiron Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1979.<ref name="Herzenberg" /><ref name="nrhpinv" /> The structure was re-added to the NRHP in 1989 when it was designated a National Historic Landmark.<ref name="nhlsum" /><ref name="nrhpphotos" /> The LPC further designated the Flatiron Building as part of the Ladies' Mile Historic District,<ref name="NYCL p. 297" /> a city landmark district created in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Critical reception

When the building was completed, critical response was not completely positive, and what praise it garnered was often for the cleverness of its engineering. Montgomery Schuyler, editor of Architectural Record, said that its "awkwardness [is] entirely undisguised, and without even an attempt to disguise them, if they have not even been aggravated by the treatment. ... The treatment of the tip is an additional and it seems wanton aggravation of the inherent awkwardness of the situation."<ref>Architectural Record (October 1902), quoted in Template:Harvnb</ref> He praised the building's surface, and the detailing of its terra-cotta work, but questioned the practicality of its large number of windows: "[The tenant] can, perhaps, find wall space within for one roll top desk without overlapping the windows, with light close in front of him and close behind him and close on one side of him. But suppose he needed a bookcase? Undoubtedly he has a highly eligible place from which to view processions. But for the transaction of business?"<ref name="Alexiou p. 138">Template:Harvnb</ref>

Before the Flatiron Building was completed, Life magazine wrote: "Madison Square is not a bad-looking place as it is, and ought to be one of the beauty spots of the city. It is grievous to think that its fair proportions are to be marred by this outlandish structure."<ref name="Alexiou p. 60" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Sculptor William Ordway Partridge remarked in 1904 that it was "a disgrace to our city, an outrage to our sense of the artistic, and a menace to life".<ref name="n108917576" /><ref>In The New Yorker (August 12, 1939), quoted in Template:Harvnb</ref> The New-York Tribune called the new building "A stingy piece of pie ... the greatest inanimate troublemaker in New York",<ref name="treasure" /> a sentiment repeated by Architectural Record.<ref name="TL p. 54" /> The Municipal Art Society said that it was "unfit to be in the Center of the City", and The New York Times called it a "monstrosity".<ref name="treasure" /> Even later, Christopher Gray of the Times wrote in 1991: "The facade itself is handsome but not exceptional for its time."<ref name="nyt-1991-07-21" />

Template:Multiple image Some critics saw the building differently. Futurist H. G. Wells wrote in his 1906 book The Future in America: A Search After Realities: "I found myself agape, admiring a sky-scraper the prow of the Flat-iron Building, to be particular, ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the afternoon light."<ref>Wells, H. G. The Future in America: A Search After Realities. London:Harpers,1906.</ref> Architect Robert A. M. Stern wrote in 1983 that the Flatiron was among the city's first buildings to "convincingly express the romantic characteristics of the skyscraper".<ref name="Stern (1983) p. 164" /> Karl Zimmermann of The Washington Post wrote in 1987 that the Flatiron was "an idiosyncratic wedge blanketed with French Renaissance ornamentation, still remarkable today in its lightness, grace and novelty."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In May 2023, Buildworld conducted a survey of the most loved buildings in the world and in United States. In the U.S. survey, the Flatiron Building ranked fourth, after Fallingwater, the Empire State Building, and the Coit Tower.<ref name="buildworld">Robyn (May 24, 2023) "The Most Loved Buildings in the World" Buildworld</ref>

Photographs

The Flatiron was to attract the attention of numerous artists and photographers.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Stern (1983) p. 167" />Template:Sfn It was the subject of one of Edward Steichen's atmospheric photographs, taken on a wet wintry late afternoon in 1904, as well as a memorable image by Alfred Stieglitz taken the year before, to which Steichen was paying homage.Template:Sfn Stieglitz reflected on the dynamic symbolism of the building, noting upon seeing it one day during a snowstorm that "... it appeared to be moving toward me like the bow of a monster ocean steamer – a picture of a new America still in the making."<ref name="LC p. 304" />Template:Sfn He remarked that the Flatiron had a comparable effect on New York as the Parthenon had on Athens.<ref name="wsjrev" /> When Stieglitz's photograph was published in Camera Work, his friend Sadakichi Hartmann, a writer, painter and photographer, accompanied it with an essay on the building: "A curious creation, no doubt, but can it be called beautiful? Beauty is a very abstract idea ... Why should the time not arrive when the majority without hesitation will pronounce the 'Flat-iron' a thing of beauty?"<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Besides Stieglitz and Steichen, photographers such as Alvin Langdon Coburn and Jessie Tarbox Beals took photographs of the building. Painters of the Ashcan School, like John Sloan, Everett Shinn, and Ernest Lawson also painted images of the building, as did Paul Cornoyer and Childe Hassam. Lithographer Joseph Pennell, illustrator John Edward Jackson, and French Cubist Albert Gleizes all took the Flatiron as the subject of their work.Template:Sfn The edifice was also depicted in Samuel Halpert's 1919 painting Flatiron Building, later placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Wind gusts and "23 skidoo"

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Well I'll be blowed postcard 1905.jpg

A postcard from 1905 with the Flatiron Building in the background

The building's most common criticism focused on its structure, on the grounds that the "combination of triangular shape and height would cause the building to fall down".<ref name="p124650174">Template:Cite magazine</ref> When construction began, locals placed bets on how far the debris would spread when the wind knocked the building down. This presumed susceptibility to damage had also given it the nickname "Burnham's Folly".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="kilgannon" /> The Brooklyn Daily Eagle was one of a few contemporary sources to describe the building's shape favorably, saying: "A triangle is the safest possible form of building, as the triangle is the strongest of the geometric form."<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Due to the geography of the site, with Broadway on one side, Fifth Avenue on the other, and the open expanse of Madison Square and the park in front of it, the wind currents around the building could be treacherous. Wind from the north would split around the building, downdrafts from above and updrafts from the vaulted area under the street would combine to make the wind unpredictable.Template:Sfn The winds raised women's skirts and scattered paper bills from pedestrians' pocketbooks.<ref name="LC p. 303" /> According to some accounts, this gave rise to the phrase "23 skidoo"<ref name="n1559453449" /><ref name="Douglas2004">Template:Cite book</ref> (sometimes spelled "23 skiddoo"<ref name="TL p. 54" /><ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /><ref name="p408891920">Template:Cite news</ref>). Policemen would shout this phrase at men who tried to get glimpses of women's dresses being blown up by the winds swirling around the building due to the strong downdrafts.Template:Efn<ref name="TL p. 54" /><ref name="Douglas2004" /><ref name="p408891920" /> Films from the Library of Congress confirm that the building's shape did contribute to high winds around the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street.<ref name="nyt-2002-09-30" /> However, the origin of the phrase "23 skidoo" itself is disputed; even before the building was constructed, the number "twenty-three" and the word "skidoo" were independently used as expressions of dismissal.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The winds allegedly also caused damage to neighboring structures, prompting some critics to request that the Flatiron Building be shortened or demolished.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The winds prompted a lawsuit from a nearby property owner,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and they were also blamed for the 1903 death of a bicycle messenger, who was blown into the street and run over by a car.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Newspapers of the time also claimed that "every window in the building" would break in high winds, although the American Architect and Building News observed that only a few windows broke during one such instance of high winds.<ref name="p124650174" /> Pedestrians were initially reluctant to walk on the same side of the street as the Flatiron Building because of concerns over the wind gusts, but these concerns had largely dissipated by the mid-20th century.<ref name="n1559453449" />

Design influence

Unlike other structures, such as the Seagram Building or New York City's brownstone houses, the Flatiron Building's shape was rarely copied by other structures in the city until the early 21st century.<ref name="nyt-2016-04-042">Template:Cite news</ref> This was in part because many buildings occupied rectangular sites on Manhattan's street grid;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> furthermore, developers tended to avoid buying oddly-shaped plots, as their unconventional dimensions were hard to market to potential tenants.<ref name="nyt-2016-04-042" /> Consequently, in the early 20th century, the Flatiron Building was one of only two major buildings that were developed at the intersection of Broadway and another north–south avenue; the other was the Times Tower.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Although some buildings in lower Manhattan, such as One Wall Street Court, also contain a flatiron shape, they generally were not as well known as the Flatiron Building.<ref>Template:Cite report</ref> A shortage of available land lots prompted the development of other triangular structures in the city during the 2010s, such as 10 Sullivan and 100 Franklin.<ref name="nyt-2016-04-042" />

In popular culture

File:Flatiron Building and Street Scene October 8th 1902 New York City.ogv

Movie showing street life and the Flatiron Building, 1902

One of the first films to depict the Flatiron Building was created by Robert Bonine, who used a kinetograph to film the building on October 8, 1902, a week after the building opened.<ref name="Alexiou p. 133">Template:Harvnb</ref> In the 1958 comedy film Bell, Book and Candle, James Stewart and Kim Novak were filmed on top of the Flatiron Building in a romantic clinch. For Warren Beatty's 1980 film Reds, the base of the building was used for a scene with Diane Keaton.<ref>Template:Cite movielove</ref>

Today, the Flatiron Building is frequently used in television commercials and documentaries as an easily recognizable symbol of the city, shown, for instance, in the opening credits of the Late Show with David Letterman or in scenes of New York City that are shown during scene transitions in the TV sitcoms Friends, Spin City, and Veronica's Closet. In 1987, the building was used as the scene of a murder for the TV series Murder, She Wrote, in the episode "No Accounting for Murder". In the 1998 film Godzilla, it is accidentally destroyed by the US Army while in pursuit of Godzilla.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It is depicted as the headquarters of the Daily Bugle, for which Peter Parker is a freelance photographer, in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, and once again in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series.Template:Sfn It is shown in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series as well.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the 2006–2012 comic book series The Boys as well as the 2022 third season and 2024 fourth season of its television adaptation, it is depicted as the headquarters of the titular CIA black ops group.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2013, the Whitney Museum of American Art installed a life-sized 3D-cutout replica of Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks in the Flatiron Art Space in the building's prow. Although Hopper said his picture was inspired by a diner in Greenwich Village, the prow is reminiscent of the painting, and was selected to display the two-dimensional cutouts.<ref>"Famous 'Nighthawks' Painting Has Been Recreated As A 3D Installation In NYC" Template:Webarchive Huffington Post (August 16, 2013)</ref> In 2014, the Lego Architecture series produced a model of the Flatiron Building to add to their landmark series.<ref name="Liszewski 2015">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The subsequent New York City set, introduced in 2015, also included the building.<ref name="Liszewski 2015" />

The Flatiron Building was also the subject of a book, The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City that Arose With It, published in 2010 and written by Alice Sparberg Alexiou.<ref name="wsjrev">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lego released a set based on iconic New York City landmarks, including the Flatiron Building.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gallery

• Flatiron Building NYC c1903.jpg

  The building Template:Circa

• United-Cigar-Wake-Up-America.jpeg

  Navy recruiting station in the building's "cowcatcher" during the pre–World War I Wake up America Day parade
  (April 19, 1917)

• Flatiron Building 3618433845 5745ebc1b9.jpg

  Side view

• Flatiron building.jpg

  Rear view

See also

Buildings

• List of Flatiron buildings
• Sibley Triangle Building, Rochester, New York (1897)
• 47 Plaza Street West, Brooklyn
• 10 Sullivan
• Herring Safe & Lock Company Building, Meatpacking District, Manhattan (1849)
• Phelan Building, San Francisco (1881)
• Gooderham Building, Toronto (1892)
• English-American Building, Atlanta (1897)
• Columbus Tower (San Francisco) (1907)
• Vesteda Toren, Eindhoven, the Netherlands (2006)
• Het Strijkijzer, The Hague, the Netherlands (2007)

General

• Early skyscrapers
• Flatiron District
• Ladies' Mile Historic District
• List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City
• List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets
• Madison Square
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets

References

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Citations Template:Reflist

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

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