Location: Fifth
Avenue between East 22nd and 23rd Streets, New York, New York
Architect: Daniel H. Burnham
Date Completed: 1902
Height: 285 feet (87 meters)
Sometimes incorrectly thought to have been the first steel skeleton building (dozens of
steel framed buildings were built in New York in the 1890's), the Flatiron is an energetic
mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles.
Its twenty-two stories are divided into three parts, beginning, middle and end, like a
classical Greek column.
Here, rusticated limestone is uniformly detailed from ground to sky. This sheer triangular
tower is only six feet wide at its rounded narrow end. The acutely angled corners give the
building an exaggerated and dramatic perspective.
As the city's "first" skyscraper, New Yorkers worried that it would topple over.
In the over 100 years since its construction the Flatiron's only problem has been that
city grime has settled into the crevices of the terra cotta flowers and Grecian faces
decorating the building. Even this has only served to accentuate its details.
Flatiron Building
