The Flatiron Building - with its unique triangular shape, narrow prow, ornamental columns and intricate decorative details - has been one of the most recognisable structures in New York City for more than a century.
But for the last seven years, the Flatiron has been shrouded in scaffolding, its Beaux-Arts exterior hidden from throngs of tourists who came to view it.
It has been undergoing a large-scale renovation, both internal and external, from an awkwardly laid-out office building into ultra-luxury apartments - with new units going for up to $58.5m (£43.9m). Only 21 residences currently on the public market or under contract in New York City are priced higher, with the top spot occupied by a $128m (£96.1m) condo off Central Park, according to data compiled by Manhattan Miami Real Estate.
Now, with its transformation nearly complete, the Flatiron is ready for its next - and most extravagant - phase of life.
For over 120 years, the building has been a testament to architectural ingenuity, and while that history is highlighted in its redevelopment, the building is also becoming a symbol of just how expensive the city's luxury apartments can get.
For years, tourists flocked to a small triangular park out front to snap a selfie with the full structure behind them.
But after the scaffolding went up and the pandemic hit, the park saw a slight drop in visitors, said James Mettham, president of Flatiron NoMad Partnership, a business improvement district that operates the park space.
As the scaffolding has come down, he says the visitors have returned.
"People are coming back to get their pictures, and then in turn will go shop at the local retail, and all the great food and beverage that's around here," Mettham said.
"So getting it back in all of its glory to complement everything that's been going on around it is really important."
Originally built to house the Fuller Company, a Chicago construction firm, the 24-storey, 94m (307ft) tall building has had many occupants, including clothing and toy companies, magazines, and publishing houses.
When New York design firm Studio Sofield was hired to reimagine the building's interior, it had to address the problem of the building's previous life as an office space, co-founder William Sofield said.
Another big hurdle came with the building's shape. How do you subdivide a triangle – just 1.8m (6ft) across at its narrowest point - into luxury apartments worthy of a multimillion-dollar price tag?
But the triangle itself – along with its history, architectural ingenuity, and novelty – is exactly the point.
"It wasn't about changing anything that makes the building so special and beloved to New Yorkers," Thomas Brodsky, partner at the Brodsky Organization, told the BBC.
"The layouts and the proportions and views really came directly from the architecture rather than from how we generally would start planning a building from the ground up."
Originally designed to evoke a classic Greek column, the structure's limestone, brick and terra-cotta exterior features ornamentation including lion heads, wreaths, eagles, and faces.
Beyer Blinder Belle, lead developer on the building's exterior, enlisted a speciality manufacturer in California to replicate and restore thousands of terra-cotta pieces from the facade, reinstalling each by hand.
The building's windows, totalling over 1,000, also needed to be replaced – dating back to the 1970s, they were too heavy, hard to open, and not energy efficient.
The new ones are thick enough to block the bustling noise of surrounding streets, offering silence in units that's uncharacteristic of New York City apartments.
