Flatiron Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Flatiron [Fuller] Building | |
Flatiron Building, 2004, |
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| Information | |
|---|---|
| Location | 175 Fifth Avenue New York City |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Complete |
| Use | Office building |
| Height | |
| Top floor | 285 feet (87 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 22 |
| Companies | |
| Architect | Daniel Burnham John Wellborn Root |
| Flatiron Building | |
|---|---|
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
| U.S. National Historic Landmark | |
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| Built/Founded: | 1902 |
| Architectural style(s): | Renaissance, Skyscraper |
| Added to NRHP: | November 20, 1979 |
| Designated NHL: | June 29, 1989 |
| NRHP Reference#: | 79001603[1] |
The Flatiron Building, or Fuller Building as it was originally called, is located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan, and is considered to be one of the first skyscrapers ever built. Upon completion in 1902 it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City. The building sits on a triangular island block at 23rd Street, Fifth Avenue, and Broadway, anchoring the south (downtown) end of Madison Square.
The neighborhood around the building is called the Flatiron District after its signature building.
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[edit] Architecture
The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago's Daniel Burnham in the Beaux-Arts style. Like a classical Greek column, its limestone and glazed terra-cotta façade is separated into three parts horizontally. Since it was one of the first buildings to use a steel skeleton, the building could be constructed to 285 feet (87 m), which would have been very difficult with other construction methods of that time.
The initial design by Daniel Burnham shows a similar design to the one constructed, but with a far more elaborate crown with numerous setbacks near the pinnacle. A clock face can also be seen. However, this was later removed from the design.
At the rounded tip, the triangular tower is only 6.5 feet (2 m) wide; viewed from above, this ‘pointy’ end of the structure describes an angle of only about 25 degrees. The 22-story building, with a height of 285 ft (87 m), is often considered the oldest surviving skyscraper in Manhattan, though in fact the Park Row Building (1899) is both older and taller.
New York's Flatiron Building is not the first building of its type. It is the third building in the flatiron shape, with the first being the Gooderham Building of Toronto, built in 1892, and the second in Atlanta in 1897. Both of the earlier buildings are smaller than their New York counterpart.
[edit] Impact
I found myself agape, admiring a skyscraper — the prow of the Flatiron Building, to be particular, ploughing up through the traffic of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in the late-afternoon light. – H.G. Wells (1906)
The building, which took its name from the shape forced on it by the triangular lot it was built on[2] – the Flatiron block, so called because it was shaped like a clothing iron – was officially named the Fuller Building after George A. Fuller, founder of the company that financed its construction two years after his death.[3] Locals took an immediate interest in the building, placing bets on how far the debris would spread when the wind knocked it down. This presumed susceptibility to damage also gave it the nickname Burnham's Folley.[4] The building is also said to have helped coin the phrase "23 skidoo", from what cops would shout at men who tried to get glimpses of women's dresses being blown up by the winds swirling around the building due to the complex geography of the area.[5]
[edit] The Flatiron Building today
Today, the Flatiron Building is frequently seen on television commercials and documentaries as an easily recognizable symbol of the city.[6] It is shown in the opening credits of The Late Show With David Letterman, and was used as the Daily Bugle building in the Spider-Man films.[7] It is a popular spot for tourist photographs and a National Historic Landmark since 1989[8][9][10], but it is also a functioning office building which is currently in the process of being taken over as the headquarters of publishing companies held by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck of Stuttgart, Germany under the umbrella name of Macmillan, including St. Martin's Press, Tor/Forge, Picador and Henry Holt and Company. [11] Macmillan is renovating some floors, and their website comments that:
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.[11]
During a 2005 restoration of the Flatiron Building an illegal 15 story vertical advertising banner covered the facade of the building. The advertisement elicited protests from many New York City residents, prompting the New York City Department of Buildings to step in and force the building's owners to remove the advertisement.[12]
In January 2009, an Italian real estate investment firm bought a majority stake in the Flatiron Building, with plans to turn it into a world-class luxury hotel, although the conversion may have to wait 10 years until the leases of the current tenants run out. The Sorgente Group S.p.A., which is based in Rome, controls just over 50% of the building and plans to increase its stake. The firm's Historic and Trophy Buildings Fund owns a number of prestigous buildings in France and Italy, and was involved in buying, and then selling, a stake in New York's Chrysler Building. The value of the 22-story Flatiron Building, which is already zoned by the city to allow it to become a hotel, is estimated to be $190 million.[13]
[edit] In popular culture
- The Flatiron Building was featured on the non-fiction television program Big, Bigger, Biggest, shown in the UK and on the Science Channel in the United States.
- It appears in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV as the "Triangle Building", with its associated neighborhood, the "Triangle District".
- In the 1998 version of Godzilla, the building is accidentally destroyed in battle.
- The Flatiron Building appears in the Spider-Man film series as the Daily Bugle office building in New York City.
- Will Eisner's 1987 graphic novel The Building sets a meeting in a building resembling the Flatiron Building.
- The Marvel Comics series titled Damage Control, and others, feature the building as headquarters of the titular organization.
- In the Dynamite Entertainment comic "The Boys" the eponymous team is based out of the Flatiron Building.
[edit] Gallery
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[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2007-01-23. http://www.nr.nps.gov/.
- ^ "New Building on the Flatiron" New York Times (3 March 3 1901), page 8: "the famous 'flatiron' block"
- ^ "Flatiron Structure to be Called the Fuller Building", New York Times (9 August 1902) page 3.
- ^ "Flatiron Building". http://www.aviewoncities.com/nyc/flatiron.htm. Retrieved on 2009-02-24.
- ^ Andrew S. Dolkart. "The Architecture and Development of New York City: The Birth of the Skyscraper - Romantic Symbols", Columbia University, accessed May 15, 2007. "It is at a triangular site where Broadway and Fifth Avenue—the two most important streets of New York—meet at Madison Square, and because of the juxtaposition of the streets and the park across the street, there was a wind-tunnel effect here. In the early twentieth century, men would hang out on the corner here on Twenty-third Street and watch the wind blowing women's dresses up so that they could catch a little bit of ankle. This entered into popular culture and there are hundreds of postcards and illustrations of women with their dresses blowing up in front of the Flatiron Building. And it supposedly is where the slang expression "23 skidoo" comes from because the police would come and give the voyeurs the 23 skidoo to tell them to get out of the area."
- ^ The use of the Flatiron as a visual icon for New York City increased significantly in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center in the 9-11 attack.
- ^ Sanderson, Peter (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. New York City: Pocket Books. pp. 36–39. ISBN 1-14653-141-6.
- ^ "Flatiron Building". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. 2007-09-12. http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1809&ResourceType=Building.
- ^ " "Flatiron Building"". National Register of Historic Places Registration. National Park Service. 1989-02-09. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/79001603.pdf".
- ^ "Flatiron Building--Accompanying photos, exterior, from 1979". National Register of Historic Places Inventory. National Park Service. 1989-02-09. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/79001603.pdf.
- ^ a b Macmillan: About
- ^ "NY Times article". New York Times. 2005-04-08. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/08/nyregion/08flatiron.html?_r=1&oref=slogin.
- ^ Sheftell, Jason "Italian real estate investor buys stake in Flatiron building, eyes hotel" New York Daily News (26 January 2009)
[edit] Bibliography
- Skyscrapers, Antonino Terranova, White Star Publishers, 2003 (ISBN-8880952307)
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Flatiron Building |
- Images of the Flatiron Building nyc-architecture.com
- Air visit of "Flatiron and its district" in photographs
- High-resolution photograph taken in 1910.
- NYCfoto.com - Photos of Flatiron Building
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