Flat Iron Building (Asheville, North Carolina)

The Flat Iron Building is a nine-story 52,000-square-foot building at the junction of Battery Park Avenue and Wall Street in Asheville, North Carolina. It was announced in 1925 and took its first tenants in January 1926. The Flat Iron was designed by New York architect Albert C. Wirth and developed by L. B. Jackson, as part of Edwin W. Grove's Battery Park Hill redevelopment that also included the Grove Arcade. It is a contributing building to the Downtown Asheville Historic District. In its first decades, the Flat Iron held dozens of businesses, as well as WWNC, Asheville's oldest radio station. Jimmie Rodgers, whose star persona and Appalachian musical style earned him the designation "Father of Country Music", made his first broadcast performance from WWNC's 8th-floor studio. The building was largely occupied by business professionals, physicians, and dentists throughout its first 50 years. As Asheville slowly recovered from its post-Great Depression slump, the Flat Iron's tenant mix turned over to more creatives, therapists, and small tech start-ups (particularly during the 2000s). In 1997, local artist Reed Todd installed an 8-foot tall cast iron sculpture of an antique flat iron just across Wall Street, to the building's east. The sculpture has become a popular tourist landmark and backdrop for street performers. Midtown Development Associates bought the building in 1985

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