9. Flatiron View

“New York from the Flatiron: Looking to the Northeast.” Munsey’s Magazine, July, 1905

According to a 1911 New York Times article, Bailey’s office was “perched on the very top of the Flatiron Building.” In 1905 he captured the area along the east side of Madison Square from the Flatiron. At the right is “Dr. Parkhurst’s present church,” as the Gothic-style Madison Square Presbyterian Church was known, soon to be demolished and replaced by the Metropolitan Life Clock Tower building.

“Dr. Parkhurst’s New Church,” completed in 1906, would only stand for 13 years before it too was replaced by a Met Life tower. Designed by Stanford White, the new Beaux-Arts style church was one of New York’s shortest lived architectural gems.

Down the street was the second incarnation of Madison Square Garden with its iconic tower. White, who also designed it, was murdered there in 1906 by his former mistress’s husband.  The New York Life building now stands at that location.