Despite being talked up by hardy locals and the odd poet (and I mean odd), one of Wellington’s least endearing qualities is the incessant wind.Ā The Encyclopedia of Chicago, that other famous Windy City, even attempts to shed the notion of Chicago being particular windy (in the climatic sense), by evoking:
Wellington, New Zealand, where it is more precisely meteorological.
This is all fine and dandy, accept for the fact that a recent article in the Guardian, ostensibly about Italian property investors buying a controlling stake in the famousĀ ManhattanĀ landmarkĀ FlatironĀ building, records the fact that the Flatiron building has long been associated with forceful wind velocities. That this group of Italians investors are collectors of ‘trophy buildings’, and thus are very satisfied with their latestĀ acquisition,Ā is remarkable enough, but the article goes on to describe one of the moreĀ infamousĀ effects that the high wind speeds were responsible for. (more…)