A story recounting the experience of Lynn Bianchi, a professional artist that photographed the Flatiron in the Great Blizzard of 1978:
The city was enveloped in a thick blanket of snow. The next morning it was still coming down in large white clumps. Looking out the window from my flat on 4th Avenue, all I saw was white fog. The TV was blaring warnings to stay indoors. Schools, subway, government offices, everything was shut down.
It was February 6, 1978. The entire east coast of the United States was hit with the worst blizzard in history with winds up to 100 miles per hour and snow fall up to 30 feet. New York City was brought to a standstill. The storm was so severe and destructive, it came to be known as “The Great Blizzard.” The city has never experienced anything like it before or since. Snow piled in high banks in the streets. People used skis to get around.
I remembered the photos of the Flatiron building taken in a blizzard and it was calling to me. I loved those photographs, I loved that building. I couldn’t stay home. I pulled on layers of sweaters and wrapped a huge scarf around my head and neck. I had to go and photograph it in all this snow. I grabbed my camera and left my place on East 12th street, heading north to 23rd street. Being outside seemed apocalyptic. The city looked dark, grey and foggy and I couldn’t see even a few feet in front of me. The snow kept falling, it felt like large cotton balls landing on my head. The wind whipped furies around me and seemed to go right through me. It was freezing cold.
I walked alongside the Flatiron and when I reached Madison Square Park around Broadway and 25th street, I turned around and there it was. Magnificent. Regal. It looked like the bow of a giant ship, its triangular mass jutting out of the fog and moving towards me. I was completely transfixed, frozen in spot, snapping pictures. My breath was coming through the scarf in white clouds and my eyelashes were frozen.
I remembered the print of the first photographs of the Flatiron, right after it was completed in 1902 by Alfred Stieglitz. He also photographed it in the blizzard and later recalled “I suddenly saw the Flat-Iron Building as I had never seen it before. It looked, from where I stood, as if it were moving toward me like the bow of a monster ocean steamer, a picture of the new America which was in the making…That is the new America. It is to America what the Parthenon is to Greece.”
To purchase contact: The Art Gallery TAG – New England Art Center.
It truly did look like it was moving forward, while everything else receded into the heavy grayness of the blizzard. I stood looking south and kept taking the photographs. This was way before digital cameras were invented and to be honest, I still prefer to use the film and love the process of developing it in the dark room. But the thing with using the traditional film cameras, you never know how the image is going to come out until you actually develop it. I had to take more photographs to ensure at least a few of them would capture this beautiful landmark in all its glory, getting the shutter speed, exposure, grain and contrast just right.
There were very few people around. The traffic lights were working but there wasn’t a single car in the street as they were piled high with snow. A man on skis passed by me, waving his ski stick at me to go home. You’ll freeze out here, he screamed. I heard him but couldn’t look away from the Flatiron. There’s something truly magical about capturing it in the blizzard, without the usual hubbub of cars, people and city noise. Stripping it all away, it was just me with my film camera and this truly remarkable building. The gale winds howled around me but, in my head, all was quiet and still and my hand was steady. I kept on photographing.
Postscript:
The Flatiron was designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1902 with a revolutionary steel frame. At 22 floors, it was considered a skyscraper, which now pales in comparison with 100 story buildings but despite it all, remains one of the most recognized and beloved NYC landmarks and is to us what the Parthenon is to Greece. Lynn Bianchi has been living in NYC and photographing the Flatiron since 1970s. Half a century later, it remains one of her favorite buildings and this photograph, taken in the Great Blizzard of 1978, is a piece of her soul. The image might look familiar to us, it’s been purchased by the Flatiron and made into a holiday card. It’s been included in the book by Peter Gwillim Kreitler: “Flatiron: A Photographic History of the World’s First Steel Frame Skyscraper, 1901-1990” Flatiron: A Photographic History of the World’s First Steel Frame Skyscraper, 1901-1990: Kreitler, Peter Gwillim: 9781558350601: Amazon.com: Books
And has been purchased by the Museum of the City of New York for their permanent collection. To own the digital print of this photograph, please contact: The Art Gallery TAG – New England Art Center
Sources:
Interview with the artist, Lynn Bianchi, November 7, 2025
Leave a Reply