FLATIRON BUILDING
Oldest 20-story, 87-meter-high building in New York City housing offices including several publishing houses
This building, designed by Chicago School star Daniel Burnham (1846-1912), with its oblong, triangular shape reminiscent of an iron, gives its name to the neighborhood: the Flatiron District. Although it may not look like much today, especially when compared to the monstrous skyscrapers of Midtown, the Flatiron is quite remarkable, and a visit to New York is inconceivable without a glance at this building, which has been part of the New York setting for so long, like a benevolent grandfather, full of wisdom and restraint. Standing on the south side of Madison Square Park, at the corner of Broadway and 5th Avenue, it is one of New York's most iconic buildings (it is featured in a scene from Spiderman and regularly in cutaways in the TV series Friends). It's hard to believe that this 20-storey, 87-m-high building was once the tallest in the city (for a year). The Flatiron, whose original name is actually Fuller Building, after the company that owned it, was built in 1902 and is the oldest skyscraper still standing in New York. It caused quite a stir when it was inaugurated, and there were even fears that it might collapse in the wind. New Yorkers used to have fun betting which way the building would fall! Today, it contains mostly offices, including several publishing houses, and is not open to the public. The smallest office, at the far end of the building, is just two meters wide!
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architecture remarquable . hall d'entree grandiose