The Shocking Story of New York’s Strangest Tower

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I worked there in the early 90s. The views from the "bow" of the building were straight down the middle of 5th avenue from one window and straight down the middle of broadway from another. Truly remarkable.

My grandmother was a dancer in the famous modern dance troupe, Martha Graham Dancers, during the Great Depression years. Her photo along with her fellow dancers was blown up to a large poster and hung in the lobby of the Flat Iron building in the 1920s for a while. She was very proud of that. (She was also broadcast live on an RCA television demonstration in one of the first ever live tv broadcasts)

To me one of the greatest sins New York ever committed was destroying the original Penn Station. It’s actually one of the reasons why they started declaring places as historic landmarks to protect them

My first job out of college was at publisher Springer-Verlag in the Flatiron. I had just moved to NYC and it was such an exciting experience; I felt proud to work in that unique, iconic building. Even my dad was proud to tell people that I worked there. :-) Thanks for this interesting video. It's amazing to me that it sold for only $100k during the depression.

This building has always been great to see and hard to forget. With all of the most ugly, steel and glass ice cubes tray style buildings in NYC, keeping the well built and architectural beautiful older buildings is a must. It has so much character and style.

Back in the 1950;s when I was a kid my dad took me to NYC and showed me the Flat Iron building. I remember he was fascinated by it as I was. It was so different that any other building in the city. That was 60 years ago and my dad has passed but this building still stands, for a long time I hope. Good video.

I worked in the Flatiron building in the 80's. One day when me, and a coworker were going down in the elevator to grab lunch and a delivery guy was in there with us too. If I remember correctly our office was on the 14th floor. The elevator started to drop rapidly and it was really scary. I don't know much about elevators but there was some kind of catch mechanism at the bottom and thankfully it slowed down just as we were reaching the lobby level. All 3 of us were fine.

Update: On May 23, 2023 (just a few weeks after this video dropped), a new auction was held, and a consortium headed by Jeff Gural (one of the previous owners) won the Flatiron Building with a bid of $161 million.

New type of content? I initially subscribed to B1M because they covered new and upcoming projects but videos about unique or historical buildings and structures are also interesting to me.

I will always remember this building as Daily Bugle office

I'd been thinking lately that the Flatiron Building would make a good candidate for a museum of the city. It's old enough to be part of the history it's showcasing, the quirky shape that makes offices difficult would be a plus from an artistic perspective, and if the city itself is funding it, no one needs to worry about whether the next buyer will be able to afford the upkeep on an historic building. Although, from my own perspective, the main reason I love the Flatiron Building is that when I pass it, it means I'm almost at The Strand, one of the biggest bookstores in the world.

I used to go past that building every day walking to school. And I always enjoyed looking at it. The design is so unique you really could look at it for hours an it not get old. I hope they don't ever tear it down. It really is such an iconic landmark. There is also a little park across from it where you could by pot from street dealers but this is going back many years.

The thickest and tallest piece of pizza in all of NYC.

I live on the opposite side of the world but this is one of those buildings that you instantly recognise. I never realised how old it is... If only Burnham (and all his naysayers) could see it now!

My husband used to work for Macmillan Publishers in the UK. We went in to the office when we were on holidays in NY. I remember how exciting it was to actually go inside such an iconic building with beautiful Art Nouveau designs.

I was born in Queens Flushing hospital and lived in NY until I was 37 and 30 years later I don't even recognize the city. The Flatiron Building was always one of my favorite landmarks. Too bad The original Pennsylvania Station didn't survive the wrecking ball. I still cannot believe it was destroyed. It was criminal.

The building next door 9:59 with the stunning cupola is the Sohmer Piano Building at 170 Fifth Avenue, designed by Robert Maynicke in 1897 for developer Henry Corn, built 1897–1898, and originally occupied by Sohmer & Co., the piano company that invented marketed the modern baby grand piano. The building consists of 12 stories—there are 11 full-floor apartments and a penthouse duplex in the cupola. The two-story octagonal cupola is topped with a dome clad in copper and hand-applied 24K gold leaf gilding and, on top of that, a flagpole.

New York has a history of destroying past iconic and beautiful buildings. Hopefully they will preserve this one. edit: I read at the comments why not destroy it. Because it’s one of NY’s most iconic buildings. Tourists want to go see it. The Flatiron, The Empire State Building, The Chrysler, the GE building (570 Lexington Avenue), 30 Rockefeller Plaza, The Woolworth among others are historic and should always be preserved.

The Daily Bugle was how I recognized it on a trip to NY. I hope the restoration goes well.