# "Flatiron" buildings in your city



## Mr Wolf (Sep 11, 2002)

Who doesn't know the Flatiron building in new York? but I think many cities have their wedge-shaped buildings... let's post pics of them here.

Some examples in Valencia, Spain:

Cortes boulevard building:
















Merle building:
















San Vicente building:
















Sorolla Center:


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## Marcanadian (May 7, 2005)

A bit late. Skybean has a thread on this. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=270685


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## spyguy (Apr 16, 2005)

For a second I thought Skybean gave up his ways and changed the thread title. But I was wrong


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## Mr Wolf (Sep 11, 2002)

Marcanadian said:


> A bit late. Skybean has a thread on this. http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=270685


Ooops, sorry!!! I didn't realise this kind of thread was already open.


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## Mike Pia Jr. (Feb 4, 2016)

Great!


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## Mateusz864 (Jun 25, 2007)

A small Flatiron from Radda in Chianti, Tuscany 



Mateusz864 said:


> *713.*
> 
> rze8 by Mateusz Zieliński, su Flickr


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## KlausDiggy (Jan 21, 2013)

*Trias | Leipzig* 



noisrevid said:


>


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## Oplot-M (Aug 28, 2015)

*Kyiv, Ukraine*









http://s1rus.livejournal.com/









http://skyandmethod.com/


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## Skopje/Скопје (Jan 8, 2013)

Adora Flatiron in Skopje, Macedonia u/c










This is how it should look:



















source


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## erbse (Nov 8, 2006)

*Flatiron Building of Bochum, Germany*:
Sparkasse House at Dr.-Ruer-Platz. Built 1928-1929 as the "Kommunalbank" building, led by architect Wilhelm Kreis.









https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bochum_sparkasse_080225_006_00.jpg


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## asanchezs (Jul 7, 2012)

*Medellín Colombia*

Caja Social Bank tower










Naviera colombiana Building










Alvarez Building



















Both buildings face to face


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## DBadger (Mar 27, 2012)

Birmingham, UK, photo by Hilofoz


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## Skopje/Скопје (Jan 8, 2013)

One of my favorites from my hometown Skopje, Macedonia




























photos by me


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## LeCom (Nov 29, 2003)

My CityRealty article

*Living on the Prow: NYC's Top 10 (and more) Flatiron Buildings in New York - past, present, and future*

By Vitali Ogorodnikov

1/16/2020

https://www.cityrealty.com/nyc/mark...-flatiron-buildings-past-present-future/39601









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/31ca...31b59cc0+736++0+60/flatiron-buildings-nyc.jpg

On occasion, diagonal streets such as Broadway slice across New York’s rectilinear street grid, creating opportunities for wedge-shaped buildings that seem to sail onto the streetscape with the grace and grandeur of an ocean liner. The Flatiron Building on Madison Square is easily the most iconic of the type, yet a century-plus years after the Flatiron rose at Madison Square, scores of acute-angled buildings stand in all boroughs of the city, with more still on the drawing boards.


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*#1 - The Flatiron Building

22 floors | 1902 | Office*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/7141...33f7fa21f+1004++0+60/flatiron-placeholder.jpg









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/6509...cd3e5c554ce9+1004++0+60/flatiron-building.jpg

Even in the 21st century, few buildings in New York are as iconic and instantly recognizable as the Flatiron, but in 1902, it was a game-changer. The 21-story edifice was designed by Daniel Burnham, the tour-de-force Chicago architect that rose to global fame for his leading role in Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition who once proclaimed: “make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood.”

True to form, the 285-foot edifice at the junction of Fifth Avenue and Broadway was one of the city’s tallest buildings and easily the most dramatic. The structure was at once imposing and graceful, classical and daring, where the ornate opulence of the Beaux-Arts facade was matched by the sheer innovation of the slender steel frame beneath.

Originally known as the Fuller Building, named after its developer-builder, the building’s kinship to a certain household appliance quickly earned it the “Flatiron” moniker, which, in time, extended to define the entire neighborhood south of Madison Square, as well as its spiritual successors around the world, including every “flatiron” listed below.


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*#2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Times_SquareOne Times Square

25 floors | 1904 | Retail, advertisement*









https://ds4.cityrealty.com/img/e5d5c1529830bf8e743cd0611b164b76b5e32d9e+1004++0+60/shorpy.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Times_Square is New York’s great architectural paradox, as it is one of the world’s most famous and exposed buildings that simultaneously stays all but anonymous. Upon its 1904 completion, the stepped wedge stood as the city’s third-tallest building and housed the new headquarters for the New York Times. Though the publisher moved out of the cramped quarters less than a decade later, its name has firmly stuck former Longacre Square, and its tradition of the “ball drop,” originally staged as a promotional stunt for the new building on December 31st, 1903, endures to this day as arguably the most famous New Year’s Eve celebration on Earth.

Despite its starring role at the Crossroads of the World, the building itself maintains a remarkably low profile. In the mid-1960’s, its opulent granite and terra-cotta facade was stripped and “upgraded” with a shabby Modernist makeover, which has since been mostly obstructed by a tapestry of flashing advertisements. Aside from lower-floor retail, the building remains mostly unoccupied, becoming a massive billboard anchoring the country's most popular tourist destination.

A few years ago, plans surfaced for a retrofit that would introduce a Times Square museum and an observatory to the storied building, though little progress has been made on the project since.


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*#3 - One Clinton, 280 Cadman Plaza West

38 floors | 133 units | 2020 | Condominium*









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/ce00...b93f97b7761ef84+1004++0+60/one-clinton-03.jpg

One Clinton stands at the junction of Clinton Street and Cadman Plaza West, where Downtown Brooklyn meets Brooklyn Heights. The crisp limestone façade soars 38 stories high; neatly-framed, floor-to-ceiling windows that offer observatory-like panoramas thanks to the building’s considerable height, prominent hilltop perch, and exposed location between Cadman Plaza Park and tree-lined brownstone blocks of Brooklyn Heights.

One of Brooklyn’s top-billed condo projects, One Clinton offers apartments with hardwood floors, marble countertops and islands in kitchens, and master bathrooms with soaking tubs, walk-in showers, radiant floor heating and wood and marble finishes. Amenities include a 24-hour attended lobby, a bar-equipped Sky Lounge, a landscaped terrace with grilling stations, a children’s play space with indoor and outdoor areas, a sound-attenuated screening room, a music rehearsal area, a study, and a fitness center with a hot tub, sauna, and yoga studio. One Clinton also offers bike storage, garage parking, a laundry room, and private storage units available for purchase.


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*#4 - Cocoa Exchange, 1 Wall Street Court

15 floors | 126 units | 1904 | Condominium*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/f5a214aea17e0c1f591ef48efb041eee07623873+1004++0+60

Cocoa Exchange, which boasts one of the city's finest-looking curves and tastiest-sounding names, marks the convergence of Pearl and Beaver Streets within Downtown’s angled street grid that dates back to the old Dutch days of New Amsterdam. The narrow, triangular building with a rounded, drum-like prow and an ornate, polychromatic pinnacle was built in 1904 and once served as the headquarters for the New York Cocoa Exchange.

More recently, the building gained exposure as the fictional Continental Hotel in the 2019 blockbuster _John Wick 3_. To potential residents, however, the landmark may be notable for its cozy common areas, fitness center, and a landscaped roof deck that allows for sunbathing whenever the sun passes between the surrounding skyscrapers.


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*#5 - 63 Wall Street

37 floors | 476 units | 1928 | Rental*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/4da2...914c9f8fb2604bb+1004++0+60/63-wall-street.jpg

Across from Cocoa Exchange rises another, much larger “flatiron” that takes up a whole block. 63 Wall Street, formerly known as The Crest, combines two adjacent pre-war office buildings, each angled on one side, creating a massive, 476-unit rental complex with a grand chandelier lounge, a marble-clad elevator lobby, a fitness center, a children’s playroom, and a roof deck that allows for grilling within view of Wall Street gargoyles.

The smaller of the two buildings stands at 67 Wall Street, at the where Beaver and Wall streets meet; its angular, 25-story prow, adorned with nautical reliefs at the base and pinnacle, rises across from the gently-curved Cocoa Exchange next door, making for one of the most dramatic intersections in Downtown. 63 Wall Street, the taller of the pair, greets the crossing of Wall and Hanover streets with a chamfered corner that rises in setbacks to a dramatic crown with a hipped roof, large octagonal windows, and projecting gargoyles.


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*#6 - Delmonico's Building, 56 Beaver Street

8 floors | 40 units | 1891 | Rental*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/24f2...f6808d8bb7+1004++0+60/delmonicos-building.jpg

Cocoa Exchange may have a more delectable name, but when it comes to culinary delights, it’s Delmonico's Building that’s got the goods, as it houses the Delmonico’s Steak House on the ground floor, with a grand entrance at the helm of its rounded prow. The eight-story landmark dates all the way back to 1891, making it a wedge-shaped building that predates even the famed Flatiron.

Architect James Brown Lord’s red-hued, brick-and-stone facade mixes Romanesque and Renaissance motifs, and the building remains one of Downtown’s finest-looking buildings even well more than a century after construction. Today, the former office building is a rental equipped with a fitness center and a roof deck.


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*#7 - The Shenandoah, 10 Sheridan Square

14 floors | 74 units | 1929 | Rental*









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/f459...5ef905e8626c858+1004++0+60/the-shenandoah.jpg

When the Flatiron Building rose in 1902, skyscrapers remained the exclusive domain of the office worker. By the late 1920’s, on the eve of the 1929 Multiple Dwelling Law that finally updated long-outdated tenement regulations for the skyscraper era, high-rise apartment buildings were already all the rage in the affluent parts of Manhattan, rising to around 15 stories, the maximum height achievable without resorting to loopholes such as the kitchenless “apartment hotel.”

The street gridiron of mid- and upper Manhattan produced canyons of fifteen-story-ish buildings, often whimsical at the top yet nearly always rectilinear in plan. By contrast, the quirky layout of Greenwich Village allowed for eye-catching building forms, such as the rake-angled-plan Shenandoah at 10 Sheridan Square. The building exterior is a romantic flight of medieval fantasy by Emery Roth, arguably the city’s premier architect of pre-war apartment buildings; the units feature spacious pre-war layouts and gridded loft-style windows.


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*#8 - 47 Plaza Street West

16 floors | 47 units | 1928 | Cooperative*









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/3b99...913edb91b+1004++0+60/47-plaza-street-west.jpg

By the late 1920’s, high-rise apartment buildings rose alongside the Grand Army Plaza, a great oval centered on the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial Arch at the northern entrance to Prospect Park, and extended for several blocks in either direction. The Plaza’s oblong shape sliced rectangular blocks into concave shapes and gave rise to eye-catching buildings.

Of these, the most notable is the 16-story co-op 47 Park Plaza West, designed in a Gothic-Tudor style by Rosario Candela, the era’s only residential architect arguably more esteemed than Emery Roth. The concave sweep of the facade comes to a one-window-wide point at the tip, a shape that is arguably even more elegant than that of the Flatiron Building.


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*#9 - Metropolitan Tower, 146 West 57th Street

68 floors | 241 units | 1986 | Condominium*









https://ds4.cityrealty.com/img/0188...5a41d0d8148+1004++0+60/metropolitan-tower.jpg

Most “flatirons” on this list respond to their triangular sites; however, Metropolitan Tower’s wedge shape was a deliberate gesture by SLCE Architects, even though the building stands on a rectangular lot. In 1985, the skyscraper stood as the tallest residential building in New York, with a sharp blade of black glass soaring 716 feet and offering spectacular panoramas of Central Park. In addition to creating a dramatic statement on the skyline, the form also allows park views from the building’s broad, east-facing side, which would not face the park if not for the building’s slanted form.

Metropolitan Tower set the precedent for today’s Billionaire’s Row not only with its 57th Street location, record-setting height, and Central Park vistas, but also with an fully-stacked amenity package that includes a full-time doorman, concierge, housekeeping service, a health club with an indoor pool and spa, a roof terrace, a residents-only dining club, a full service garage, and bicycle parking.


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*#10 - 10 Sullivan Street

16 floors | 19 units | 2015 | Condominium*









https://ds4.cityrealty.com/img/d16e...6dc5da0666e+1004++0+60/10-sullivan-street.jpg

Art Moderne is the sleek, streamlined cousin of Art Deco, notable for its machine-line geometries, and there is hardly a better shape for such a building than one that evokes an ocean liner. The 19-story condo at 10 Sullivan Street was completed in 2015, yet its alternating bands of large gridded windows and warm red-orange brick, designed by architect Cary Tamarkin, channel the finest traditions of turn-of-the-century Streamline Moderne.

The rounded, glassed-in rooms in the building’s rounded corner are south-facing, sunlit solariums unlike any other in the city. The building comes with a fitness center, an indoor upper-level pool with panoramic views, a landscaped roof deck, and a garage.


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*Five runners-up*


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*#11 - The Varitype Building, 2 Cornelia Street

12 floors | 43 units | 1900 | Condominium*









https://ds4.cityrealty.com/img/00ac...4ecf75ff6fd5+1004++0+60/varitype-building.jpg

The 12-story Varitype Building at the junction of Sixth Avenue and Cornelia Street was built in 1907 as a commercial building and converted to residences in 1982. As is the case with other pre-war loft conversions, apartments benefit from high ceilings, large windows, sturdy industrial-grade construction, and a splendid facade adorned with geometric ornament and projections. The building towers prominently above Greenwich Village, and the roof deck opens onto dramatic skyline panoramas.


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*#12 - 230 Riverside Drive

19 floors | 268 units | 1931 | Condominium*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/580b...c7186532b7+1004++0+60/230-riverside-drive.jpg

Riverside Drive meanders gently atop the Hudson River-facing bluff of Riverside Park, allowing for angled buildings where the curving promenade meets the rigid street grid. Of these, one of the finest is the 19-story, arch-topped edifice at 230 Riverside Drive, designed by Charles H. Lench and erected at the corner of West 95th Street in 1931. The 2005 condo conversion brought an amenity package that includes a fitness center, a children’s playroom, and more. The building’s lot walls face a large playground, meaning that the freestanding structure offers windows on every side.


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*#13 - Forte, 230 Ashland Place

28 floors | 108 units | 2007 | Condominium*









https://ds4.cityrealty.com/img/1535...7712e8733b480+1004++0+60/230-ashand-place.jpg

Downtown Brooklyn offers numerous acutely-angled sites, yet few utilize their footprint as gracefully as the Forte condominium wedged into the askew intersection of Fulton Street and Ashland Place. The tower, designed by FXFowle and completed in 2007, rises almost without setbacks to its 28-story pinnacle and greets the street plaza with a rounded corner that softens the pointed form and creates observatory-like spaces within the apartments. Alternating horizontal bands of tall windows and striped mullions make for a Streamlined Moderne look that makes for a unique presence on the skyline. The condominium offers a full-time doorman, a fitness center, and a roof deck.


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*#14 - 173 Riverside Drive

15 floors | 167 units | 1926 | Cooperative*









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/a0e9...8657e23596+1004++0+60/173-riverside-drive.jpg

173 Riverside Drive is a grand, Gothic-styled pre-war co-op that spans the block between West 89th and 90th streets, with a bright, stone-clad lobby illuminated by pointed, stained-glass windows that create the atmosphere of a medieval cloister. The angle-cornered building comes with a fitness center, a children’s playroom, and a garden.


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*#15 - 110 Riverside Drive

16 floors | 169 units | 1929 | Cooperative*









https://ds2.cityrealty.com/img/9365...1004++0+60/nyc-corner-building-apartments.jpg

110 Riverside Drive is a 16-story co-op built in 1929 in a delightful Romanesque style with warm orange brick, twisting colonnettes, and an arched, lanterned entrance. The building, situated between West 83rd and 84th streets, is equipped with a fitness center and a bike room.


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Proposed/Under Construction


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*100 Flatbush Avenue

38 floors | 256 units | Planned for 2023 | Office, residential, retail, education*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/ef39...cd32151ce595+1004++0+60/alloy-development.jpg

An ambitious mixed-use project in development in Downtown Brooklyn will take the form of one of the city’s most dramatic “flatiron”-style buildings. Alloy Development’s 100 Flatbush Avenue will rise from a sharply-angled site at the meeting point of Flatbush Avenue and State Street, soaring 38 stories as a stepped wedge that bears a certain spirit of the skyscraper slab at 30 Rockefeller Center. The project, designed by Architecture Research Office, is aiming to become the city’s first all-electric, fossil-fuel-independent project, which will consist of two schools, 100,000 square feet of office, 30,000 square feet of retail, and 256 apartments on the upper floors.


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*41-05 29th Street

24 floors | 84 units | Planned for 2022 | Rental*









https://ds3.cityrealty.com/img/1286...34+1004++0+60/41-05-29th-street-rendering.jpg

Jackson Avenue, Long Island City’s main thoroughfare, runs at an angle to the street grid and has already produced several wedge-shaped buildings along its course; none, however, match the height and style of the 24-story, 290-foot-tall high-rise coming to 41-05 29th Street. Foundation work is currently in progress for the 84-unit residential building (likely rental), which will make a bold addition to the northern vanguard of the Long Island City skyline.


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*









445 Grand Avenue

10 floors | 112 units | Planned for 2021 | Rental









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/e277...c6e66bfb5e970+1004++0+60/445-grand-avenue.jpg

The mixed-use condo planned at 445 Grand Avenue in Clinton Hill wedges onto the intersection with an acute corner, yet the building’s angular form is softened via coffered brick mullions and subtle semi-arches dispersed across the facade. Aside from 112 rental units, the building, designed by Fogarty Finger Architects, will also feature ground-level retail and facilities from the adjacent Bethel 7th Day Adventist Church, designed by architect Lawrence B. Valk in Romanesque Revival style and completed in 1882.


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Historic Mention


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The German-American Insurance Building

21 floors | 1908 - 1971 (demolished) | Office









https://ds1.cityrealty.com/img/e810...60/the-german-american-insurance-building.jpg

Unfortunately, one of the city’s greatest wedge-shaped buildings no longer stands. In 1908, the German-American Insurance Company erected a 21-story office building at 68 Maiden Lane, deep within the dense tower thickets of Lower Manhattan on a narrow wedge of land at the confluence of Liberty Street and Maiden Lane.

The architecture firm of Hill & Stout composed a less ornate design than that of the similarly-sized Flatiron Building; however, its arched, vaulted, concave cornice of polychrome terra-cotta was among the finest and most unique of the kind in all of New York. The preservation-worthy building bit the dust in 1971 in order to widen the adjacent streets, at a time when bringing more, rather than fewer, cars to Downtown’s alley-like streets still seemed like sound urban planning.

Today, Louise Nevelson Plaza, a small public space in place of the soaring edifice, remains as the city’s consolation prize for the architectural loss, while the closest stylistic kin to the vaulted cornice may be found atop The Adlon in Midtown.


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Link to full article with several more "honorable mention" entries


Do you agree with this ranking order? Should some be ranked higher/lower? Do you have any candidates that should have made it onto the list?*


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## MojoRisin123 (Nov 6, 2013)

Barcelona, Spain


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## Skopje/Скопје (Jan 8, 2013)

Skopje/Скопје;131606736 said:


> Adora Flatiron in Skopje, Macedonia






























_photos by me_


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## Jason.N (Sep 14, 2019)

Toronto ON, Canada

Gooderham Building








Source: Flickr Bernard Spragg

The Esplanade








Source: Strata


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## wakka12 (May 17, 2015)

Cork








Dublin


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## Jason.N (Sep 14, 2019)

Missed one in my previous Toronto post: 33 Mill Street podium.


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## roballan (Aug 23, 2009)

*Hotel Imperial*
Mexico City, 1896


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