Flatirons


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Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: March 29, 2013 03:41PM

Have you ever been inside one of Chicago's flatiron buildings? And, was it an unusual experience?

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: gordonmeyer ()
Date: March 31, 2013 07:44PM

I've been in the Flatiron at Milwaukee, North, and Damen. It was during Around the Coyote, so I guess that counts as being an unusual experience. :)

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Re: Flatirons
Date: April 02, 2013 01:44PM

[b]Explain I don't know what you are talking about.[/b]

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 02, 2013 03:33PM

Richard,

If you are asking about "Flatiron" buildings, an example would be at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Racine:

http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/41.8977012634277,-87.6575393676758/id/6096/info/details/zoom/14/

Racine Avenue intersects Milwaukee Avenue at an angle that is much less than 90 degrees; this results in two opposite-corner buildings with a design resembling a delta-shaped clothes iron.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2013 04:03PM by nordsider.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: Lance Grey ()
Date: April 02, 2013 04:01PM

Racine / Diversey / Lincoln has two Flatirons.
The less significant one shows up in Whatwasthere too.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 09, 2013 09:59PM

In the year 1906, a bank panic occurred at the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank -- a flatiron building -- and its president took a sudden and unexpected trip to Tangier, Morocco.

http://www.library.illinois.edu/contentdm/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/chicago&CISOPTR=404&CISOBOX=1&REC=11

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: PKDickman ()
Date: April 09, 2013 10:40PM

If by flatiron, you mean a triangular building, then yes I have been in dozens of them. Every diagonal street will have two to four of them at each intersection. Milwaukee ave is littered with them.

The big question is what you mean by "was it an unusual experience?"

It's not like a funhouse in there. They're pretty much like any building interior, except the have a couple of rooms that are hard to arrange your furniture in.

In the old ones, like the one on Racine, the ground floor commercial was an open span in the shape of a triangle, but that doesn't matter much for a store.

The upstairs apartments usually had the front room in the point and the bedrooms in the back where they could be closer to square. Especially if you shoehorned in a couple of triangular closets

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 10, 2013 09:42AM

Chicago architect Daniel Burnham designed the Flatiron Building in New York city:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building


And, as I understand, another flatiron, 'the so-called Coyote Building at 1600 N. Milwaukee Ave., is so-called because its slender shape and corner tower resemble a coyote howling at the moon.'

or . . . is the Coyote Building the flatiron building Burnham also designed at 1579 N. Milwaukee Avenue ?



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2013 05:06PM by nordsider.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: PKDickman ()
Date: April 10, 2013 07:44PM

nordsider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Chicago architect Daniel Burnham designed the
> Flatiron Building in New York city:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatiron_Building
>
>
> And, as I understand, another flatiron, 'the
> so-called Coyote Building at 1600 N. Milwaukee
> Ave., is so-called because its slender shape and
> corner tower resemble a coyote howling at the
> moon.'
>
> or . . . is the Coyote Building the flatiron
> building Burnham also designed at 1579 N.
> Milwaukee Avenue ?

Neither. What people call the Coyote building, 1600-08 Milwaukee, is actually called the Northwest Tower Building. It once housed the Coyote Gallery who (rumor has it )chose their name because of the buildings shape. They were the hub of the Around the Coyote arts fest and the moniker got stuck on the building.

1579 Milwaukee is called the Flatiron building or the Flat Iron Arts building, but it wasn't designed by Burnham, it was designed by Holabird & Roche.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 10, 2013 09:30PM

See the list of Daniel Burnham's "Notable commissions" Chicago, "Flat Iron Building (Chicago)"

"The building is located at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue, North Avenue, and Damen Avenue."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 10, 2013 10:09PM

The people and wagons come and go, out and in.
Triangles of banks and drug stores.
The policemen whistle, the trolley cars bump:
Wheels, wheels, feet, feet, all day.

--- From "Blue Island Intersection" by Carl Sandburg

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: PKDickman ()
Date: April 10, 2013 10:26PM

nordsider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> See the list of Daniel Burnham's "Notable
> commissions" Chicago, "Flat Iron Building
> (Chicago)"
>
> "The building is located at the intersection of
> Milwaukee Avenue, North Avenue, and Damen
> Avenue."
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Burnham

That's just a wikipediaism. That is what happens when you let the public create content.
There are no Burnhams that I know of in this neighborhood.
Here's the Landmarks commission staff's designation report for the Milwaukee Ave Landmark District
[url=http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/zlup/Historic_Preservation/Publications/Milwaukee_Ave_Dist.pdf]CLC Milw Ave Report[/url]
Just search for "flatiron"

"In the same year, Peter C. Brooks commissioned Holabird & Roche to design the three-story
Flatiron Building at the southeast corner of Milwaukee and North Avenues. Stores occupied
the street level, with office spaces on the upper two floors. The exterior is clad in white, black
and red terra cotta and pierced with large Chicago-school windows."

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: April 10, 2013 11:36PM

Long ago, I worked in the same engineering group with a relative of Daniel Burnham. I would have asked him, he would have known, I'm sure.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: Cragin Spring ()
Date: November 05, 2014 11:51PM

Flat iron house in Wicker Park. Behind the buildings on Milwaukee Ave. and the elevated. 1275 N. Hermitage Ave

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: nordsider ()
Date: November 06, 2014 07:27PM

Cragin Spring Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Flat iron house in Wicker Park. Behind the
> buildings on Milwaukee Ave. and the elevated. 1275
> N. Hermitage Ave

That is a most unusual building!

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1275+N+Hermitage+Ave,+Chicago,+IL&hl=en&ll=41.905433,-87.6711&spn=0.000415,0.000679&sll=39.739318,-89.266507&sspn=9.863297,22.236328&oq=1275+N.+Hermitage+Ave&t=h&hnear=1275+N+Hermitage+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60622&z=21&layer=c&cbll=41.905433,-87.6711&panoid=1JuY4miDIHLQXdsiQR7mrg&cbp=12,92.3,,0,0

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: Dunning1 ()
Date: November 07, 2014 01:04PM

I remember a flatiron type building that used to be on the island at Ogden, Madison, and Ashland Avenues. We called it the Turtle Wax building as there was a large advertising sign for Turtle Wax on top of it. It's long gone now.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: PKDickman ()
Date: November 07, 2014 03:18PM

nordsider Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Cragin Spring Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Flat iron house in Wicker Park. Behind the
> > buildings on Milwaukee Ave. and the elevated.
> 1275
> > N. Hermitage Ave
>
> That is a most unusual building!
>
> https://maps.google.com/maps?q=1275+N+Hermitage+Av
> e,+Chicago,+IL&hl=en&ll=41.905433,-87.6711&spn=0.0
> 00415,0.000679&sll=39.739318,-89.266507&sspn=9.863
> 297,22.236328&oq=1275+N.+Hermitage+Ave&t=h&hnear=1
> 275+N+Hermitage+Ave,+Chicago,+Illinois+60622&z=21&
> layer=c&cbll=41.905433,-87.6711&panoid=1JuY4miDIHL
> QXdsiQR7mrg&cbp=12,92.3,,0,0

I've always liked that house.
Before they put it underground in the 40s, the Logan Sq El turned there and ran down Paulina. I started the turn behind that little house.
Moorman street was lined with houses and factories and shops, all plugged in around the El tracks.
Only a few are left and that one (which must have taken the biggest shoehorn to get in there) still sits proudly on a pretty much lost corner.
The pointy bit is actually an enclosed porch. There used to be a 3 story factory butted up to the SE side that went all the way to the sidewalk. I imagine they had the stairs running down the factory wall.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: rjmachon ()
Date: November 07, 2014 03:20PM

@Dunning, wasn't that building the headquarters for Turtle Wax at one time, way back when?

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: Dunning1 ()
Date: November 07, 2014 04:07PM

I think it was, but I was really a little kid back then. I know later they moved to 71st Street and have heard that they subsequently moved their manufacturing down south.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: xiaoluzzmy ()
Date: January 20, 2015 05:46AM

Flat iron house in [url=http://www.teragoldeu.com/]Fut 15 Coins[/url] Wicker Park. Behind the buildings on Milwaukee Ave.

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Re: Flatirons
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: February 07, 2016 01:20AM

Dunning1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it was, but I was really a little kid back
> then. I know later they moved to 71st Street and
> have heard that they subsequently moved their
> manufacturing down south.

The Wendel State Bank Building, Locally it was referred to as a flatiron building.

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