Flatiron Building wind-vortex myths about blown-up skirts

Shortly after the Flatiron Building opened in 1902, newspapers and popular accounts circulated stories that its triangular shape created wind vortices that lifted women's skirts and drew crowds of onlookers. Historians say the building did produce unusual wind currents at street level, but contemporary reports of men gathering to watch skirts rise are debated and likely exaggerated. The legend remains a well-known New York urban tale tied to the building's distinctive wedge-shaped address.