2. The Penthouse Floor of the Flatiron Building Was Added Later
The 21st floor of the building was added to The Flatiron Building three years after it was completed. The top floor is set back about eight feet and sits like a cap behind the ring of balustrades that would have originally topped the building. This top floor can only be accessed via a separate second elevator from the 20th floor, which sits above the elevators that reach the 19th floor.
The balustrades were actually recast and replaced in 2001, along with the cherubs off the front of the building. Sonny remembers the replacement project vividly because he was here all night on September 10th, into the morning on September 11th, 2001, because the new cherubs were being brought up. “We would never [usually] be up here on a Tuesday morning, and then to turn around and see the World Trade Center on fire, and then to see that second plane hit, to see people jumping off the building, I could give you shivers.”
