Looking up at the tops of columns that are being held up by wood during construction. Per https://www.nyc-architecture.com Designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, this steel-framed terra-cotta and stone-clad skyscraper combined elements of French and Italian Renaissance architecture in an effort to attract businesses to this formerly residential and retail-oriented neighborhood. The building's triangular plan was a clever response to the Broadway & Fifth Ave site. Its ornate but restrained facade is composed of stone and terra-cotta panels whose forms simulate the effects of rustication. Undulating bays break up the monotony of the building's tall midsection. The overall effect is that of a palazzo stretched to great height. Here, for the first time, the construction of a steel-framed skyscraper was witnessed in its entirety by the general public-an event which generated much response. It remains New York's oldest skyscraper. Burnham, by using an exuberant mix of gothic and Renaissance detailing (also known as Beaux-Arts), was accused of retrograde classicism by other avant-garde architects as Louis Sullivan. The entire conception is based upon the classical Greek column. The building is divided in three parts, the base in rusticated buff limestone with copper-clad windows, the main body of pale-colored bricks and terra-cotta with unusual and gracious undulating oriels, and the capital represented here by arches and columns topped by a heavy projected cornice and a flat balustraded roof. The Greek column character was enhanced by the rounded prow, creating the illusion of a freestanding colossal column. Seen under another angle, the Flatiron seems to be only a flat wall.
The #Jagged edges of the columns during construction. This is looking out from a point in the triangle shaped Flatiron Building.
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