Since its construction in 1901-02, the Flatiron Building of New York City has commanded the attention of the public because of the unusual shape of its site: a skyscraper springing from a long thin triangular piece of property. Caused by the diagonal cut of Broadway across Manhattan’s rectangular grid, this prominent location is highly visible from Madison Square, which acts as a natural foil to this leviathan. Designed by the Chicago architectural firm of D. H. Burnham & Company, the design consists of conservative cladding in classical stone, brick and terra cotta, upon a very up-to-date steel frame. The building reflects Burnham’s fascination with Beaux-Arts Classicism and the City Beautiful Movement that he promoted after the enormous success of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, for which he was Director of Works. But Burnham’s architecture was not the primary factor in the building’s notoriety. It was the acute angle of the Flatiron’s footprint, that generated a tall building that became an arresting symbol of modernism. This paper explores the contrast between Burnham’s rather conventional Beaux-Arts architecture and the unexpected icon of modernity that the Flatiron became in the popular and artistic imaginations. When seen at an angle from Madison Square this skyscraper creates the sublime illusion of an unsupported wall, over 20 stories tall, teetering in space. This unexpected perception was best captured in the avant-garde photography that the Flatiron stimulated, particularly Edward Steichen’s The Flatiron-Evening, 1904-07, where Steichen creates an atmospheric photograph that seems to erode all the traditional architectural pretentions of Burnham’s building, in favor of a shocking, futuristic, and styleless surging vertical mass that seems to defy gravity and nature.
About the presenterCraig Zabel
Dr. Craig Zabel is an Associate Professor of Art History at Penn State, where he teaches courses on modern architectural history. His recent research has explored American modern architecture and popular culture, from the Flatiron Building to the cinematic Emerald City of Oz. He is a recipient of the Penn State Teaching Fellow Award. Dr. Zabel served as Head of the Department of Art History at Penn State from 1996 to 2017.