Description
Flatiron Building on 5th Avenue and Broadway with clock in the foreground.
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 Park. The neighborhood around the building is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York. The Flatiron Building was designed by Chicago's Daniel Burnham in the Beaux-Arts style. Unlike New York's early skyscrapers, which took the form of towers arising from a lower, blockier mass, the Flatiron Building epitomizes the Chicago School conception: like a classical Greek Column its limestone and glazed terra-cotta façade is divided into a base, shaft and capital.