Friday, January 10, 2025

Funky Friday: The Flatiron House


Many of us have heard of the Flatiron Building in New York City. It was built on a triangular lot, one of the first buildings with elevators, at the time it was built one of the tallest buildings in New York City. When we were in NYC in October, I walked over to see it, it is being renovated, and was wrapped in scaffolding.  

Old Town Alexandria, has a flatiron house, a house that comes to a triangular point.  It is a couple of blocks south of King Street, at the corner of Payne and Commerce.  These are old streets, this is not a house that was sliced off when a street was built, it was built to maximize the house that could be built on a lot that came to a point on a corner.  I have to think that the rooms on the corner are a challenge to furnish, use, - live in.  

I bet I have walked past this house 50 times in the past 15 years, and I didn't notice it's funky shape until recently.  Amazing what we see when we take time to look.  

21 comments:

  1. Maybe a bookcase might be the best idea for such a corner.

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  2. Wouldn’t you love to get inside that house?

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    1. I agree. It would be interesting to see the corner rooms. Perhaps that's where they store their triangle collection.

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    2. Pool table racks, slices of pizza,

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    3. They probably sublet that part of the house to hamsters.

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  3. Many cities have flatiron buildings, I guess they were all the rage at one time. There was one in downtown Winnipeg, I remember, and there's one here in downtown Edmonton. It's in the "core" area now and is a women's emergency homeless shelter these days.

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    1. The narrowness would allow for windows on both sides for light and fresh air.

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  4. Now that you've seen NYC's Flatiron Building, you have a point of reference and now you've noticed Old Town Alexandria's flatiron house. It's fun to keep your eyes open and see something new in the familiar.

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    1. There maybe something in the model theory of seeing in action.

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  5. How WOULD you use such a space ... it'd be interesting to see the inside.

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    1. Quirky spaces can be fun if the occupants work with them.

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  6. I found it on Google maps! Here is a link if you want to see inside. It is an apartment!
    https://www.apartments.com/116-commerce-st-alexandria-va/z6yvcsw/

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  7. I've seen several triangular place especially in London but I've never seen one that comes to that severe of a point. I can't imagine what it looks like on the inside but I'd love to see it.

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  8. It's rather cool looking but I don't think I want to live in it. Space must be on. And boy I don't know what's going on with your ad layout but boy its distracting today. There's even ads up in the header.

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    1. the link above, has photos of the inside, Not bad but they really don't custom fit into the space.

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  9. Building on triangle lot has waken my curiosity.

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  10. I too was wondering what the living space might be like.

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    1. Here's the link to see inside:
      https://www.apartments.com/116-commerce-st-alexandria-va/z6yvcsw/

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