Downtown Asheville has been designated a National Historic District and the eight story 1927 Flatiron Building is one of its architectural gems. The triangular wedge shaped building is located at 20 Battery Park Avenue. It stands at the fork of Wall Street and Battery where it welcomes walkers to the tree lined lane of Wall Street, full of shops and restaurants radiating the best of Asheville’s affability and charm.
The building’s Beaux Arts detailing employed by the Flatiron’s architect, Albert C. Wirth, was particularly popular in the U.S. during the period from 1880 to 1920. The building’s ties to the past continue as one goes inside. Antique fixtures create a feeling of stepping back in time to the 1920s—a feeling reinforced by the still functioning “operator-run” elevators.
John Turk, Professor Emeritus, Youngstown State University, and vice president of the Western North Carolina Historical Association describes Wirth’s creation as follows:
Asheville’s Flatiron Building is unique. Architect Albert C. Wirth designed the building in the neoclassical style—a style influenced by the buildings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Consequently, Wirth’s building follows the format of a Greek column. The first two stories, sheathed in limestone and decorated with low-relief ornaments, form the base. The next five stories of unadorned brick form the column. And all the fancy dentil work and a brass parapet at the top form the capital.
Everything is in perfect proportion. Change one thing and the whole thing falls apart. Well, almost everything. To my knowledge neither the Greeks nor the Romans ever built a major structure in the shape of a triangle. I’m also guessing that neither the ancient Greeks nor Romans ever attached a three-level outdoor bar to one of their buildings. Too bad. They missed the chance to relax with an after-dinner drink and watch the sun set behind glorious mountains.
Things are about to change, however. The Sky Bar has closed as the building is slated to be converted in 2021 to a 71-room boutique hotel with restaurant, street-level retail and commercial office space and roof top bar. How much of the interior’s tie to the past will remain is unknown; although, the developers intend to restore it to its “original glory.”
I was familiar with New York City’s twenty-three floor Flatiron building before seeing Asheville’s and had always thought that the name related to materials used in its construction, only to learn Flatiron refers to the shape. People gave these wedge-shaped triangle buildings the name “flatirons” because the shape reminded them of clothing irons of the period. That was all the inspiration local artist Reed Todd needed to create Asheville’s Urban Trail Station #8, a gigantic old fashioned clothing iron, that memorialized the architectural Flatiron treasure. The popular spot is used for public musical and art performances and is a meeting place landmark. The big flat iron is so popular with Ashevillians that it has its own Facebook page.