Metropolitan Life North Building, Art Deco skyscraper in Flatiron District, United States.
The Metropolitan Life North Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on Madison Avenue featuring 30 floors with limestone facades decorated in geometric patterns. The structure contains millions of square feet of office space served by multiple elevators that move workers and visitors throughout the day.
Construction began in 1929, but the economic crisis forced architects to scale back their original ambitions, resulting in a smaller structure completed in 1950. This period shaped how the building was finally built and what it became.
The ground floor hosts Eleven Madison Park, a restaurant that changed how fine dining works in the city by embracing plant-based cooking. This reflects how tastes and values have shifted in Manhattan's food scene over time.
This is primarily an office building, so access to upper floors is restricted to business visitors, though the ground floor restaurant welcomes the public. Walking around the exterior gives a clear view of the architectural details without needing special access.
The original plans called for a 100-story tower that would have dwarfed many of the world's tallest buildings of that era. Seeing only a fraction of those ambitions built reveals how economic forces can reshape a city's skyline.
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