Flatiron Building

플랫아이언 빌딩

The Flatiron Building is a 22-story, 307-foot (93.6 m) triangular skyscraper at 175 Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District of Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick P. Dinkelberg and opened in 1902 as the Fuller Building. Its name comes from its shape, which looks like a cast-iron clothes iron.

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At a glance

Country: United States
Location: New York, USA
Built: 1902
Height: 87 m
Type: Skyscraper

Quick answers

Where is Flatiron Building?

Flatiron Building is in New York, USA, United States.

When was Flatiron Building built?

Flatiron Building was built in 1902.

How tall is Flatiron Building?

Flatiron Building is about 87 m tall.

An early Beaux-Arts skyscraper on a triangular block where Broadway meets Fifth Avenue, shaped like a clothes iron.

The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street, where its back end is only 87 feet (27 m) wide. Today it is seen as one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a symbol of New York City. It became a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and became a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

A triangle on a corner

The odd shape comes from Broadway, which runs diagonally across Manhattan's street grid. The building's west and east sides meet in a narrow peak where Fifth Avenue, Broadway and East 23rd Street cross. Surprisingly, the site is a scalene right triangle, while a real flatiron is shaped like an isosceles triangle. Above ground level all three corners are rounded. The front is split into three parts like a classical column: a three-story limestone base, a middle of glazed terracotta, and a top.

Building it

The Fuller Company, a construction firm, bought the site in May 1901 for its headquarters. Construction went fast and the building opened on October 1, 1902. Many New Yorkers doubted a tower so thin would stand, and for a while called it Burnham's Folly. Its steel frame, designed by Purdy and Henderson, was meant to resist four times the strongest wind of the area. It first stood 285 feet and 20 floors; a low shop building nicknamed the cowcatcher and a rooftop penthouse were added soon after.

New owners, new homes

The Fuller Company sold the building in 1925. The Equitable Life Assurance Society took it after a foreclosure auction in 1933 and sold it in 1945. Helmsley-Spear managed it for much of the late 20th century, and the Newmark Group took over in 1997. A buyer failed to pay at a 2023 auction, and in October 2023 the owners announced that the offices would become residential condominiums, with the project planned for 2026.