Page 125 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - New York City

GR A MERCY AND THE FLA TIRON DISTRIC T  123

5 Flatiron Building
175 5th Ave. Map 8 F4. q 23rd St.
Open office hours.
Originally named the Fuller
Building after the construc tion
company that owned it, this
building by Chicago architect
Daniel Burnham was the tallest in
the world when it was completed
in 1902. One of the first buildings
to use a steel frame, it heralded
the era of the skyscrapers. Arnold Constable store
It soon became known as the
Flatiron for its unusual triangular 6 Ladies’ Mile
shape, but some called it Broadway (Union Sq to Madison Sq).
“Burnham’s folly,” predicting that Map 8 F4–5, 9 A5. q 14th St, 23rd St.
Clock tower of the Metropolitan Life the winds created by the
Insurance Company building building’s shape would knock it In the 19th century, the “carriage
down. It has withstood the test trade” came here in shiny traps
4 Metropolitan of time, but the winds along from their town houses nearby
Life Insurance 23rd Street did have one to shop at stores such as Arnold
Company notable effect: in the building’s Constable (Nos. 881–887) and
early days, they drew crowds of
Lord & Taylor (No. 901). The
1 Madison Ave. Map 9 A4. q 23rd St. males hoping to get a peek at ground-floor exteriors have
Open office hours. ^ women’s ankles as changed beyond recognition;
their long skirts look up to see the remains of
In 1909, the addition of a 700-ft got blown about. once-grand facades.
(213-m) tower to the “MetLife” Police officers
Building ousted the Flatiron as had to keep
the tallest in the world. The huge people moving
four-sided clock has minute along, and their
hands said to weigh 1000 lb call, “23-skidoo,”
(454 kg) each. The tower is lit became slang
up at night and is a familiar for “scram.”
part of the evening The stretch of
skyline. It served as the Fifth Avenue
company symbol “the to the south
light that never fails.” A of the building,
series of historical murals formerly rather
by N. C. Wyeth, the famed run-down, has
illustrator of such classics come to life President Teddy Roosevelt
as Robin Hood, Treasure with chic shops
Island, and Robinson such as 7 Theodore
Crusoe (and the father of Michael Kors Roosevelt Birthplace
painter Andrew Wyeth), and Paul Smith,
once graced the walls of giving the area 28 E. 20th St. Map 9 A5. Tel (212) 260-
the cafeteria. new cachet 1616. q 14th St-Union Sq-23rd St.
The North and a new Open 9am–5pm Tue–Sat (last adm:
building, name, “the 4pm). Closed pub hols. & 8 hourly.
Lectures, concerts, films, videos. =
built in Flatiron ∑ nps.gov/thrb
1933, District.”
houses The reconstructed boyhood
Credit home of the colorful 26th
Suisse. president displays everything
from the toys with which the
young Teddy played to cam-
paign buttons and emblems
of the trademark “Rough Rider”
hat that Roosevelt wore in the
Spanish-American War. One
exhibit features his explor ations
and interests; the other covers
The towering Flatiron Building his political career.

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