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Flatiron Building: then and now

1921 vs Today · Atlanta, GA

Flatiron Building, TodayFlatiron Building, 1921
NowThen
Then, 1921A magazine photograph of the Flatiron Building in 1921.Photo: Ewing Galloway · Public domain · Source · resized
Today, TodayThe wedge-shaped tower stands on Peachtree Street.Photo: dbking · CC BY 2.0 · Source · resized

The story

The Flatiron Building was built in 1897 and designed by Bradford Gilbert. It goes by several names: the English-American Building, the Georgia Savings Bank Building and the Empire Life Insurance Building.

It has 11 stories on a wedge-shaped block at 84 Peachtree Street NW, between Peachtree Street NE, Poplar Street NW and Broad Street NW. It was completed five years before New York's Flatiron Building and is described as the city's oldest standing skyscraper.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 1976. It is now used for offices and includes a Microsoft Innovation Center.

Did you know? It was finished five years before New York's Flatiron.
Historians argue about this. "Oldest" depends on how you define a skyscraper. Wikipedia calls it the city's second and oldest standing one in the same description.

Fact or tall tale?

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

Stamp it in person

Go there, answer the question that only someone standing at Flatiron Building can answer, and add the stamp to your passport. Free, no sign-up.

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More in Atlanta

Next: Piedmont Park. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.