Why New York’s Flatiron Building is Empty

Chapters:
00:39 - Why they named it the “Flatiron.”
01:49 - What was before the Flatiron building?
03:23 - The Chaotic land grabs in the Flatiron districts
4:06 - How George A Fuller transformed architecture
06:27 - Construction of the FlatIron building
08:46 - Why New York’s believed the Flatiron building caused wind turbulence
09:43 - The downfall of the Flatiron building
10:54 - Renovations to the Flatiron building
11:48 - Why the Flatiron Building is Empty
14:02 - The Future of the Flatiron Building

IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Neve Brown
Editor - Karolina Szwata,
Host - Ryan Socash

» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[muhdiversity]

As Louis Rossmann has said so many times in his walks through NYC: They'd rather ask absurd rents and keep it empty if they can't get their asking price. The entirety of NYC operates in this absurd way as though supply/demand isn't a thing.

[janeingram]

From 1963 to 1967 I went to the Art Career School which was on the 22nd floor of the Flatiron Building. The elevators only went up to the 20th floor and then I had to walk up the last two floors. My 4 years of studying interior design was from 7pm to 10pm. Before classes started, another student and I climbed out the window and up a ladder and sat on the flat roof having our dinner. I have photos of me up there. What an exquisite building.

[TomJosephi]

There is no question that the Flatiron Building should be preserved as one of the foremost landmarks of New York. Hopefully, it will again come to an important use . It makes a bond statement on one of the most important corners of the city as well as the model for similiar buildibgs in other cities. It marks one of the most important corners as well as its appearance in popular movies. May it continue to be a prestigious address and found a good use for it.

[kittyhawk]

Greed ruins everything. I love this building, it truly is one of a kind. I hope it is restored soon before its too late.

[jbreakstone]

My father was a tenant at 200 5th avenue - The Toy Center - across the street - since 1950. I joined the business in 1988 and we remained tenants till the building was sold in 2010. We had a very large 20, 000 sf showroom in the 13th floor overlooking the Flat Iron building and looking all the way down 5th avenue to the World Trade Center. I had the corner office - very impressive…. I saw 9/11 unfold live from my office….

We used to do our banking at Chase Manhattan in the Flat Iron Building. I think it was on the 9th floor . Memories…..

[viewfromthehillswift]

My grandfather was a mechanical engineer and was part of the team that built the Flatiron Building.

[fortress]

I'm a NY Realtor and by state law no building in NY if it is registered as a historic landmark can have its appearance changed in any way. The fact that this building is also registered nationally as historic it is very unlikely it will be torn down. The state would have funded it but they found someone with the money to restore it's appearance on the outside, while doing what they want with the interior. It will be interesting to see what they do with it. From an real estate viewpoint, at the prices for NYC rentals, this is a gold mine for luxury apartments.

[erikmeyer]

My father was Comptroller of St Martins Press from 1961 until 1966. He grew up in Manhattan and was proud to work in a building that had been famous since he was a small boy. He told me it was "the first skyscraper in New York". He had the corner office at Broadway and East 22nd Street on the 17th floor (?). I went there on one occasion when I was 12 and still remember his gigantic SCM Marchant Electro-Mechanical Desktop Adding Machine "chattering" through sums that would take my cell-phone about 10, 000th the amount of time to solve today. And all the "Secretaries" were dressed to the nines. Cat's Eye Glasses, Tight Dresses, Circle Pins, Silk Stockings, High Heels and Hairdos. And they were so nice to me! The family went to the Manhattan Club to have lunch in a private dining room decorated in French Provincial Style. Then we all went to the Ringling Bros Barnum and Bailey Circus at Madison Square Garden. The day ended with a trip to Horn and Hardart for a Prime Rib Dinner with mashed potatoes and peas followed by a train ride back to Westport. That was the New York of the Nineteen Sixties. And gone!

[trevorkenny]

Buildings like this need to be kept.

Modern Buildings have no story or character to them like this one and other old ones like it.

[Davett]

Great video. In the City of Cleveland, Ohio where I grew up near, there were many "flatiron" buildings. I was born in 1953, ...and remember the ones that were around when I was a teenager. I grew up in a suburb, that was 30 minutes from downtown Cleveland, and as a kid we went to our downtown every other weekend. From the eastern suburbs there was an electric trolley I could take down there. I was accompanied by my mother, when I was very young, but I continued to go down there when I was teenager. The flatirons I recall were not as tall the NYC ones, ...probably not more than 5 stories. I loved the kind of quirky stores that would inhabit the narrow pointed end of the building. One contained an upscale coffee cafe, another a variety store, that sold a little bit of everything. I recall one housing an Army-Navy, surplus store. I was always fascinated by unusual architecture.

[rogerdogger]

This is an architectural achievement as far as I'm concerned and it would be a shame if it were to be demolished... why can't we just have some nice things?

[johnkessel]

My wife and were both published by St. Martin's Press and so we had many occasions to visit the building before St. Martin's moved their offices in 2019. I think the elevators in the Flatiron were probably the slowest I ever experienced in NYC. The building is a wonderful art object but it is inadequate as a modern office building. The offices were oddly shaped and cramped and the bathrooms were few and not friendly. But I always was amazed to look down from the prow of the building on the busy traffic at the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue at twilight. I hope it is preserved and made useful again.

[lminor]

That is such a beautiful building! In the 80s I worked in an office on 5th Avenue less than a block away from the Flatiron Building. I passed it every morning and evening. I was told that shortly after construction, the building drew huge crowds which had to be disbursed by the police. Since the building was on the corner of 23rd street, that gave rise to the expression 23 Skidoo!

[el_puma_real]

I’d be shocked if they decided to demolish that building. The trend of empty buildings continues across the country especially in places like NYC, Chicago, L.A. and San Francisco. These spaces need to be reimagined going forward, Covid and work from home really accelerated the decline of the office.

[playwithmeinsecondlife]

There is a glut of office space and a clear need for residential use in Manhattan. It could be turned into apartments.

[GeneJFinz]

In the 1970s, an equally iconic Radio City Music Hall was a candidate for demolition, mostly because it was thought the land could be used more profitably with the construction of a high rise. Ditto the amazing Grand Central Terminal around the same time and for the same reason. But the residents of NYC (me included) rallied around both icons, and today, each enjoys a status better than ever. My guess is that the Flatiron Buiding wiil find the same preservationists who will insist on its glorious future.

[joycegeertsma]

It's a shame no one actually lives in this beautiful building. Since the rent for a closet sized apartment in NY is obscenely high, I'd love to see this turned into affordable apartments, but I'm a dreamer.

[jimwerther]

The amount of research necessary to produce this video is overwhelming. Well done.

[Novusod]

The chances that the Flatiron building will be demolished is very low because the plot of land it is sitting on is not suitable for building a larger tower.

[jaseyvel]

I hope they can turn it into residential living. Take a look at the Woolworth building in FiDi, it use to be a major bank and they turned it into beautiful residences. New York needs to protect historical buildings and modernize them to todays needs