Flatiron Institute - Simons Foundation (New York City, New York)

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151-foot, 11-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1904. Designed by Buchman & Fox as a store-and-loft building on the former site of the Union Club. It originally housed the Union Exchange Bank, and fur and lace companies.

At Fifth Avenue, the 2-story base of this Beaux-Arts facade is articulated by rusticated double-height stone pilasters supporting a dentiled stone cornice. The main entrance is in the northern bay, set under a round-arch and flanked by narrow columns. The 2nd floor contains a single-pane window with a transom at each end flanking two pairs of windows with transoms; these are set above metal sills and separated by a metal mullion with a console supporting the stone cornice. The transitional 3rd floor has stone bands applied over white brick flanking six window openings; the opening at each end has a classically-inspired surround with Beaux-Arts ornament above while the four center openings are topped with raised keystones supporting a raised stone belt course.

Floors 4-8 are faced in white brick with raised brick banding. The window openings of floors 4, 6 & 8 are crowned with scrolled stone keystones; floors 5 & 7 with stone lintels. Each opening rests on a bracketed stone sill. The 8th floor is capped by a terra-cotta frieze containing roundels. Raised brick in a quoin pattern flanks the end bays of the 9th and 10th floors. At each end the 9th-floor openings are capped by triangular stone pediments supported by consoles; the 10th-floor openings are crowned by scrolled keystones like those on floors 4, 6, & 8. The four center openings are articulated by double-height pilasters crowned with arches with keystones at the 10th floor, separated from the 9th floor by stone spandrel panels. Above a dentiled terra-cotta cornice the 11th-floor windows are smaller; the center openings are flanked by Ionic pilasters with the openings at each end flanked by large stone consoles which support a heavy, bracketed metal cornice surmounted by cresting and acroteria.

The West 21st Street facade repeats the pattern of the Fifth Avenue facade with slight differences. The motifs of the Fifth Avenue facade form pavilions at each end of the facade, each containing four window openings above the 2nd floor. The 1st & 2nd floors are articulated by double-height rusticated stone pilasters at each end with undecorated pilasters containing bezant ornament in the center section. The western end of the ground floor contains a large metal canopy supported by iron rods, with two additional service entrances to the east separated by a stone mullion supporting a metal frieze. The 2nd floor contains paired windows like those seen on the Fifth Avenue facade, except in the two western bays which have tripartite window groups. The 10th floor contains carved ornament in the spandrel panels below the center windows of the corner pavilion; carved roaring lions can be found just below the roof cornice.

The northern elevation of the Union Exchange Bank Building can be seen above neighboring buildings on Fifth Avenue. It is of exposed brick punctuated by rows of multi-pane windows at the rear, with remnants of painted signs adjacent to the Fifth Avenue facade. The rear wall (facing west) can be seen above neighboring building on West 21st Street. It is of exposed brick with remnants of painted signs adjacent to the West 21st Street facade. Each floor contains three two-over-two windows.

The ground floor is occupied by a Chase Bank branch. The remainder of the building is occupied by the Flatiron Institute of the Simons Foundation. The interior was designed by Perkins Eastman Architects.

www.simonsfoundation.org/flatiron/
www.perkinseastman.com/projects/flatiron-institute/