Flatiron Building: New York’s Most Iconic Wedge

The Flatiron Building (1902) is one of the first skyscrapers and a Manhattan icon. More than a century later it still looks spectacular, and it's a classic New York image you've seen in hundreds of movies and TV shows.

You'll recognize it by its unique shape, a slender building (just 25 degrees at its point!) that fits the triangular block formed where Fifth Avenue, Broadway and 22nd Street meet in Midtown Manhattan.

You don't need to be an expert to appreciate the beauty of this Beaux Arts work, designed in 1902 by American Chicago School architect Daniel Burnham.

They say the architect took his inspiration from classical Greek columns. Look closely and you'll see the facade clearly marks out the three basic sections of those columns: base, shaft and capital. Remember art history class? 🙂

It was originally called the Fuller Building, since that company commissioned it, but over the years the name «Flatiron» stuck because the shape looked so much like a household clothes iron XP.

Why the Flatiron Building matters

This iconic New York building gives its name to the Flatiron District, an area that was once one of the most elegant shopping districts in Manhattan.

Today its height isn't all that impressive (285 feet), but in the early 20th century it certainly was, at a time when the tallest thing in New York was the spire of Trinity Church at 281 feet.

If you want to keep exploring the structures that gave New York much of its fame, read up on the other New York skyscrapers worth visiting.

The future of the Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building is currently being converted into luxury residential apartments. Its life as an office building ended with the pandemic.

This transformation marks an architectural rebirth in the Flatiron District and a reinvention of Midtown Manhattan, hit hard after the pandemic, when it stopped receiving the thousands of office workers and tourists who filled it with life.

Now it looks like the flat iron district will go back to being an upscale residential neighborhood, exactly what it was in the early 1900s. History goes in circles.

The best place to see the Flatiron Building

It has never been possible to visit the inside of the Flatiron Building. That hardly matters, though, because the main draw is that triangular shape, which you can take in from Madison Square Park.

Another way to marvel at its wedge-shaped floor plan is from the Empire State observatory. From up there you get a panoramic view of the building's angles, seen from another classic New York skyscraper.

Old Flatiron stories

There's a fun bit of lore around the Flatiron Building: the 1920s slang phrase «23-skidoo», meaning roughly to clear off in a hurry, is said to come from an aerodynamic quirk created by the Flatiron.

The building's triangular shape created wind tunnels on the side streets that lifted the skirts of women walking by, exposing their ankles!

It became common for groups of men to gather on 23rd Street to enjoy the show, locked in an endless battle with police trying to clear the area fast, to make them do a «23-skidoo».

Early 20th century stuff XD

Attractions near the Flatiron Building

You'll be within a few blocks of the Museum of Sex, the Empire State, Union Square and Gramercy Park, a charming private park that has shown up in Woody Allen movies.

But before you head off to explore the area, stop in for the pastrami sandwich at Eisenberg's, one of the best pastramis in New York at a classic New York spot according to the much-missed Bourdain.

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Address
175 Fifth Avenue (Broadway, between 5th Ave and 23rd Street)

Getting there
Subway R, W, 6. 23rd St station