3. This is the View from the Off-Limits Roof of the Flatiron Building
“This has to be, I kid you not, one of the places people most want to come up to,” says Sonny. But the whole floor has security cameras, so don’t even attempt it. Even the folks who work on the 21st floor don’t have access out to the balcony, let alone the roof which is accessed for maintenance using a metal staircase welded to the building. The roof is mostly filled with mechanical equipment and cables. There is a skylight on the roof letting light down to the floor below, one of a series of many other skylights that used to exist.
When the Flatiron Building was built, it would have been the tallest building around and you would be able to see Central Park easily from the higher offices, Sonny tells us. Times Square did not exist, nor was there Macy’s on 34th Street. “23rd Street was the place to be,” he says proudly.
Today, the Flatiron Building still sits higher than a lot of other buildings surrounding it, making it one of the more notable rooftops we’ve visited in the city (including 3 WTC, 70 Pine, 20 Exchange, the Chanin Building, and more). Some of the films that have been filmed on the rooftop and in the Flatiron Building include Spiderman (with Tobey Maguire), Godzilla, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, and Smash.
