Fizgig

✎ Originally built in 1909 as the headquarters for The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, the historic 41-story clock tower was designed by the architectural firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. The tower, which from 1909 to 1913 was the tallest building in the world, was modeled after the Campanile in Venice, Italy. There are four clock faces, one on each side of the tower, located from the 25th to 27th floors. Each clock face is 26.5ft. in diameter, each number is four feet tall, the minute hands each weigh half a ton. Originally, the tower was sheathed in Tuckahoe marble, but during the 1964 renovation plain limestone was used to cover the tower [and rest of the block long building], replacing the old Renaissance revival details with a streamlined, modern look. Much of the building's original ornamentation was removed. The building has three historic designations: U.S. National Register of Historic Places, U.S. National Historic Landmark, NYC Landmark. The landmark building is now a luxury hotel in the heart of midtown New York’s Flatiron District.

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