The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It [Hardcover]

Alice Sparberg Alexiou (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 8, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0312384688 | ISBN-13: 978-0312384685 | Edition: First Edition

The marvelous story of the Flatiron: the instantly recognizable building that signaled the start of a new era in New York history.

Critics hated it. The public feared it would topple over. Passersby were knocked down by the winds. But even before it was completed, the Flatiron Building had become an unforgettable part of New York City.

The Flatiron Building was built by the Chicago-based Fuller Company--a group founded by George Fuller, "the father of the skyscraper"--to be their New York headquarters. The company's president, Harry Black, was never able to make the public call the Flatiron the Fuller Building, however. Black's was the country's largest real estate firm, constructing Macy's department store, and soon after the Plaza Hotel, the Savoy Hotel, and many other iconic buildings in New York as well as in other cities across the country. With an ostentatious lifestyle that drew constant media scrutiny, Black made a fortune only to meet a tragic, untimely end.

In The Flatiron, Alice Sparberg Alexiou chronicles not just the story of the building but the heady times in New York at the dawn of the twentieth century. It was a time when Madison Square Park shifted from a promenade for rich women to one for gay prostitutes; when photography became an art; motion pictures came into existence; the booming economy suffered increasing depressions; jazz came to the forefront of popular music--and all within steps of one of the city's best-known and best-loved buildings.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Its official name is the Fuller Building, but for the past century, the oddly triangular building that, to quote H. G. Wells, “ploughs up traffic” at the intersection of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street in Manhattan, has been known to most people as the Flatiron. As shown by Alexiou, whose grandfather was once a co-owner of the building, the history of the Flatiron is a tale as much about architectural innovation as it is about the larger-than-life personalities who designed and financed the 22-story landmark. Among the latter are Daniel Burnham, the visionary who designed the steel-framed structure (one of the city's first) in the Chicago school style; Harry Black, the “charming and ruthless” president of the Fuller Company; and Samuel Parks, the vindictive labor leader who ran afoul of the law. The most prominent character of this drama, however, may be turn-of-the-century New York City itself, beginning to flex its massive commercial muscles at the outset of the era of enormous skyscrapers. Engaging and panoramic, Alexiou's narrative is not just for architecture buffs. --Brendan Driscoll

Review

"Alexiou -- a native New Yorker and the granddaughter of a man who for a time owned the Flatiron Building in partnership with Harry Helmsley -- has written an engaging and informative account of the building's construction and its lasting place in New York's lore."--The Washington Post

 

“Alice Sparberg Alexiou's The Flatiron joins such books as Jill Jonnes's Conquering Gotham (2007), about Pennsylvania Station, and Gail Fenske's The Skyscraper and the City (2008), about the Woolworth Building, in a budding genre that we might call biographies of buildings.”--The Wall Street Journal

"Though she ends on a note of permanence, as the landmarked and restored Flatiron is here to stay, Ms. Alexiou's book is ultimately about the never-ending change that rushes by in the city, and, in evoking that, she succeeds."--The New York Observer

"The first history book about The Flatiron, one of New York City's first skyscrapers, built in 1902, and still a favorite sightseeing stop for tourists."--Deseret News

"[Alice Sparberg-Alexiou] brings the building alive by profiling not only its owners and tenants but also the city's mixed reaction to it."--The Christian Science Monitor

“Alice Sparberg Alexiou elucidates the complex web of human relationships built around the Flatiron, bringing life to the poignant and tragic story of the skyscraper, its creators, denizens, and critics in New York 1900—a rich and contentious setting shaped not only by buildings, streets, and squares, and the popular arts of music, theater, and film, but also by unbridled speculation, gambling, corruption, conflict, and intrigue.”--Gail Fenske, author of The Skyscraper and the City

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books; First Edition edition (June 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312384688
• ISBN-13: 978-0312384685
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The sights of New York July 14, 2010

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

Alice Alexiou writes, not only a history of specifically the Flatiron building in New York, but New York's growth in the early 20th century and of the families responsible for building many of the iconic New York landmarks. Her prologue tells of her personal connection to the building. Her grandfather had a part investing in it, purchasing it after WWII for about half of what it cost to build it.
Her writing manner is interesting to read, it captures the growth and spirit of the city, its' slumps, its' businesses and the structure of the buildings themselves.

The building boom of Chicago's influence on New York and the history of the architects, engineers and moguls who invested and built these new skyscrapers is well done. Many stories are included that give the spirit of the times, such as the situation of renting chairs in parks to avoid unacceptable companions and the resulting protests that followed. The lives of the builders and their families are examined, especially that of Harry Black. The good and bad of the unions are included, as are the amazing mechanics of these huge structures of the early 1900's. Construction details are given - riveters tossing hot rivets like baseballs. Fire safety and building codes were a prime concern of New Yorkers and they are covered as are the effects of wind, especially on and created by a freestanding triangular structure such as the Flatiron.
The epilogue gives a much appreciated summing up of most of the people mentioned in the book, even including the wind which is not as strong as in years before because of taller buildings being built nearby.

This is a book that would be of interest to anyone who loves the city of New York, American history or architecture.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars architecture and people August 21, 2010

By John H. Wahlert

Format:Hardcover

This is a very enjoyable book. I walk past the Flatiron building almost every day, now with new appreciation for its place in architectural history and in New York City architecture. I learned about skyscraper construction and the materials and inventions that made it possible. All of this comes to life in the description of the building going up amidst the chatter of skepticism and wonder. The human side of the story, including details of the building's tenants, is fascinating and makes the book a bit of a page-turner. Illustrations are small and in black-and-white; the Kindle edition should be fine.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book for a Great Building July 3, 2011

By Dash Manchette VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I remember the first time I ever saw a picture of the Flatiron Building. I had just moved to New York City, saw a picture of it at a print shop in SoHo and was absolutely mesmerized by it. I did two things: went off looking for it and sent a postcard of the building to a friend. My friend shortly thereafter asked me whether that building was real. Yes, I could reply at that time, I had seen it myself.

That I remember this so well after 20 years says much about the impact that the building has. It is truly a landmark. And in this book, FLATIRON, author Alice Sparberg Alexiou provides an extraordinarily entertaining history not only of the building itself, but the larger-than-life personalities behind it as well as the city of New York during a significant growth spurt. The result is a very worthwhile book.

The Flatiron Building is, to a large extent, the story of two men. George Fuller was that type of visionary who needed to change the times because he was so far ahead of them. As New York City had strict regulations about building materials that had the effect of limiting a building's height, he took his business to Chicago and gave birth to that uniquely American creation - the skyscraper. Designed for commerce so that investors got the most use for their land space and also because tenants could conduct more business within a geographically small area, the skyscraper had its origins in the free market. Not surprisingly, it had its critics on such ground, as well.

Fuller's son-in-law, Harry Black, may not have known anything about real estate or construction when he married into the family, but he learned very fast and very well, taking the business into heights equal to those of the skyscrapers being built. When it came time to open a New York office for the Chicago company, Black picked a scrap of land so oddly shaped and poorly situated that others may have questioned his judgment. But that space came to be the sight of the now-famous landmark. Originally to be called the Fuller Building, that name never took hold with the public and eventually, giving it to the popular usage, it was officially renamed the Flatiron Building.

Alexiou gives not only good biographies of these men but also others in their lives, so that we, the readers, fell like we are reading the gossip columns from a century ago. Yes, the rich are different than you and me, as we see here quite deliciously.

And New York City of yesteryear also plays a starring role in this book. From the jazz musicians to the common man, the city and its people come alive. Particularly amusing, in this reviewer's opinion, is the case of Spate's Comfort Chair. Some moronic Englishman thought that the elitist and classist ways of his country would work just dandy over here. He thought wrong, which he learned the hard way.

FLATIRON ends sadly, however, at the beginning of the Great Depression, when many of the truly great men found themselves wiped out, psychologically as well as financially. Personalities so larger than life do not adapt well to such extreme downturns in circumstances. It is, nonetheless, a proper ending to such a good book. The Flatiron Building lives on, much larger than any individual responsible for its creation, and continues to draw crowds today as much as when it opened its doors. This is a great read about that great building.