Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is a very tall building in New York City. It is 1,046 feet tall and was finished in 1930. At that time, it was the tallest building in the world for 11 months. Today, it is the 13th-tallest building in the city.

The building was built by Walter Chrysler, who was the head of the Chrysler Corporation. He wanted it to be a special gift for his children. Even though it is named after the Chrysler company, the company did not use it as its main office. The building is known for its beautiful Art Deco style, which many people love.

When the Chrysler Building first opened, some people thought it looked unusual, but later it became famous as a great example of Art Deco design. In 1978, it was named a special landmark in New York City, and in 1976, it was added to a list of important historic places in the United States.

Site

The Chrysler Building stands on the east side of Lexington Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. The land was given to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1902. The shape of the site is like a trapezoid, with different lengths along the streets. The building has its own special ZIP Code, 10174, which is rare for buildings.

Nearby, you can find the Grand Hyatt New York hotel and the Graybar Building across Lexington Avenue, and the Socony-Mobil Building across 42nd Street. The Chanin Building lies southwest of it.

Architecture

The Chrysler Building was designed by William Van Alen in the Art Deco style and is named after one of its original tenants, automotive executive Walter Chrysler. With a height of 1,046 feet (319 m), the Chrysler is the 12th-tallest building in the city as of 2019, tied with The New York Times Building. The building is made of a steel frame filled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. It has 3,862 exterior windows. About fifty metal ornaments stick out at the building's corners on five floors, looking like gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals. The 31st floor has gargoyles and copies of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps, and the 61st floor has eagles, a nod to America's national bird.

The design of the Chrysler Building uses bright "Nirosta" stainless steel, a special alloy made in Germany by Krupp. It was the first time this "18–8 stainless steel" was used in an American project, containing 18% chromium and 8% nickel. Nirosta was used in the building's ornaments, window frames, crown, and needle. The steel was important to Van Alen's design, helping to create the building's rising lines and shapes. Stainless steel makers used the Chrysler Building to test how well the product lasted in architecture. In 1929, the American Society for Testing Materials created a group to study its performance, and they checked the building's panels every five years until 1960. The panels showed very little wear, so the checks stopped.

The Chrysler Building's height and required setbacks shaped Van Alen's design. The walls of the first sixteen floors rise straight from the sidewalk, except for a small space on one side that gives the building a U-shaped floor plan above the fourth floor. There are setbacks on floors 16, 18, 23, 28, and 31, which made the building follow the 1916 Zoning Resolution. This gives the building the look of a ziggurat on one side and a U-shaped palazzo on the other. Above the 31st floor, there are no more setbacks until the 60th floor, after which the building narrows into a Maltese cross shape that "blends the square shaft to the finial", as said by author and photographer Cervin Robinson.

The floor plans of the first sixteen floors were made as large as possible to maximize rental space closest to the ground, which was considered most desirable. The U-shaped space above the fourth floor served as a shaft for airflow and lighting. The area between floors 28 and 31 added "visual interest to the middle of the building, preventing it from being dominated by the heavy detail of the lower floors and the eye-catching design of the finial. They provide a base to the column of the tower, creating a transition between the blocky lower stories and the tall shaft."

The ground floor exterior is covered in polished black granite from Shastone, while the three floors above it are clad in white marble from Georgia. There are two main entrances, on Lexington Avenue and on 42nd Street, each three floors high with Shastone granite surrounding each proscenium-shaped entryway. A smaller side entrance on 43rd Street is one story high. There are storefronts with large Nirosta-steel-framed windows at ground level. Office windows are on the second through fourth floors.

The west and east sides have air shafts above the fourth floor, while the north and south sides have the receding setbacks. Below the 16th floor, the facade is clad with white brick, interrupted by white-marble bands in a pattern similar to basket weaving. The inside faces of the brick walls are coated with a waterproof grout mixture about 1⁄16 inch (1.6 mm) thick. The windows, arranged in grids, do not have window sills, with the frames flush to the facade. Between the 16th and 24th floors, the exterior shows vertical white brick columns separated by windows on each floor. This effect is made possible by aluminum spandrels between the columns of windows on each floor. There are abstract reliefs on the 20th through 22nd-floor spandrels, while the 24th floor has 9-foot (2.7 m) decorative pineapples.

Above the third setback, made up of the 24th through 27th floors, the facade has horizontal bands and zigzagged gray-and-black brick designs. The section above the fourth setback, between the 27th and 31st floors, serves as a base for the building's main shaft. There are Nirosta-steel decorations above the setbacks. At each corner of the 31st floor, large car-hood ornaments were added to make the base look larger. These corner extensions help fix a common optical illusion in tall buildings with horizontal bands, where the higher floors would normally appear larger. The 31st floor also has a gray and white frieze of hubcaps and fenders, which represent the Chrysler Corporation and act as a signature of the building's Art Deco design. The hood decorations are shaped like Mercury's winged helmet and look like hood ornaments on Chrysler cars of the time.

The tower shaft was designed to highlight both the horizontal and vertical: each of the tower's four sides has three columns of windows, each framed by bricks and an unbroken marble pillar that runs along each side. The spandrels between the windows have "alternating vertical stripes in gray and white brick", while each corner has horizontal rows of black brick.

Ornaments resembling:

Hood ornaments
(31st floor)

Hubcaps and fenders
(31st floor)

Eagles
(61st floor)

The Chrysler Building is famous for its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower. Made of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault of seven concentric members with changing setbacks. The whole crown is clad with Nirosta steel, ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, like the spokes of a wheel. The windows repeat, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks. Because of the dome's curved shape, the Nirosta sheets had to be measured on site, so most of the work was done in workshops on the building's 67th and 75th floors. The terraced crown "continues the wedding-cake layering of the building itself. This idea carries forward from the 61st floor, whose eagle gargoyles echo the treatment of the 31st, to the spire, which extends the idea of 'higher and narrower' to infinite height and infinitesimal width. This unique design emphasizes the building's height, giving it an otherworldly feel like the fantastic architecture of Coney Island or the Far East."

Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) began its broadcasts from the top of the Chrysler Building in 1938. WCBS-TV moved its broadcasts to the Empire State Building in 1951 because of competition from RCA's transmitter there. For many years WPAT-FM and WTFM (now WKTU) also broadcast from the Chrysler Building, but they moved to the Empire State Building by the 1970s, ending commercial broadcasting from the structure.

The crown and spire are lit by a mix of fluorescent lights around the crown's triangular windows and colored lights facing the building, allowing it to be lit in many colors for special events. The V-shaped fluorescent "tube lighting" – hundreds of 480V 40W bulbs around 120 window openings – was added in 1981, though it was part of the original design. Until 1998, the lights were turned off at 2 am, but The New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum asked Tishman Speyer to keep the lights on until 6 am. Since 2015, the Chrysler Building and other city skyscrapers have joined the Audubon Society's Lights Out program, turning off their lights during bird migration seasons.

The interior of the building has several features that were new when the building was built. The walls between offices are soundproof and divided into sections that can be changed quickly and easily. Pipes under the floors carry telephone and electricity wires. The top floors are the smallest in the building and have about 5,000 square feet (460 m²) each.

The lobby is triangular, connecting with entrances on Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street, and 43rd Street. The lobby was the only public part of the Chrysler Building by the 2000s. The three entrances have Nirosta steel doors, above which are etched-glass panels that let in natural light. The floors have bands of yellow travertine from Siena, marking the path between the entrances and elevator banks. The writer Eric Nash described the lobby as a perfect example of Art Deco style, with clear influences of German Expressionism. Chrysler wanted the design to impress other architects and car makers, so he imported many materials no matter the cost.

The walls are covered with large slabs of African red granite. The walls also have storefronts and doors made of Nirosta steel. There is a wall panel showing the work of clinchers, surveyors, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and builders. Fifty different figures were modeled after workers who helped build it. In 1999, the mural was returned to its original look after a restoration that removed a polyurethane coating and filled in holes added in the 1970s. Originally, Van Alen's plans for the lobby included four large support columns, but they were removed after Chrysler said the columns made the lobby look "cramped". The lobby has soft lighting which, along with the lamp designs, creates a cozy feeling and highlights the space. Vertical bars of fluorescent light are covered with Belgian blue marble and Mexican amber onyx bands, which soften and spread the light. The marble and onyx bands are designed as upside-down chevrons.

Opposite the Lexington Avenue entrance is a security guard's desk with a digital clock on top. The panel behind the desk is made of marble, surrounded by Nirosta steel. The lobby connects to four elevator banks, each with a different design. North and south of the security desk are terrazzo staircases going to the second floor and basement. The stairs have marble walls and Nirosta-steel railings. The outer walls are flat but covered with marble strips slightly angled to each other, giving the look of curves. The inner railings of each stair have zigzagging Art Deco designs, ending at red-marble newel posts on the ground floor. Above each stair are aluminum-leaf ceilings with etched-glass chandeliers.

The ceiling has a 110-by-67-foot (34 by 20 m) mural, Transport and Human Endeavor, designed by Edward Trumbull. The mural's theme is "energy and man's use of it to solve his problems", and it honors the Golden Age of Aviation and the Machine Age. The mural is painted in the shape of a "Y" with orange and gold colors. The main image is a "strong giant whose brain guides his endless energy to achieve the successes of this mechanical age", as said in a 1930 pamphlet advertising the building. The mural's Art Deco style shows in characteristic triangles, sharp angles, slightly curved lines, chrome decorations, and many patterns. The mural shows several silver planes, including the Spirit of St. Louis, as well as furnaces of glowing steel and the building itself.

When the building opened, the first and second floors had a public display of Chrysler cars. The display, called the Chrysler Automobile Salon, was near the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Streets, and opened in 1936. The ground floor had "invisible glass" display windows, a 51-foot (16 m) diameter turntable for showing cars, and a ceiling with lights in concentric circles. Elevators went to the showroom's second floor where Plymouths, Dodges, and DeSotos were sold. The Chrysler Salon worked until at least the 1960s.

There are 32 elevators in the skyscraper, grouped into four banks. When the building opened, 28 of the elevators were for passengers. Each bank serves different floors in the building, with some "express" elevators going from the lobby to a few stops in between, while "local" elevators connect those stops to the floors above them. As Walter Chrysler wanted, the elevators were designed to run at 900 feet per minute (270 m/min), even though city elevators were limited to 700 feet per minute (210 m/min) at the time. This limit was lifted soon after the Empire State Building opened in 1931, as that building also had high-speed elevators. The Chrysler Building also had three of the longest elevator shafts in the world when it was finished.

Over the course of a year, Van Alen carefully designed these elevators with help from L.T.M. Ralston, who was in charge of the elevator cabins' mechanical parts. The cabins were made by the Otis Elevator Company, while the doors were made by the Tyler Company. Each elevator is 5.5 feet (1.7 m) deep by 8 feet (2.4 m) wide. In the lobby, there are ziggurat-shaped Mexican onyx panels above the elevator doors. The doors are designed in a lotus pattern and covered with steel and wood. When the doors are closed, they look like "tall fans with metallic palm leaves rising through a series of silver parabolas, edged with curved lilies" from the outside, as said by Curcio. But when a set of doors is open, the cabin behind the doors looks like "an beautiful Art Deco room". These designs were influenced by ancient Egyptian designs, which greatly affected the Art Deco style. Curcio said that "these elevator interiors are perhaps the most beautiful small enclosed spaces in New York, and it's fair to say that no one who has seen or been in them has forgotten them". Curcio compared the elevators to the curtains of a Ziegfeld production, noting that each lobby has lighting that is brightest in the middle and slopes down on either side. The decoration of the cabin interiors was also a nod to the Chrysler Corporation's cars: cars made during the building's early years had dashboards with wooden moldings. Both the doors and cabin interiors were considered works of exceptional marquetry.

On the 42nd Street side of the Chrysler Building, a staircase from the street goes directly under the building to the New York City Subway's , , , ​, , ​​, and S trains at Grand Central–42nd Street station. It is part of the building's original design. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company, which then operated all the routes serving the 42nd Street station, originally tried to stop the new entrance because it might cause crowding, but the New York City Board of Transportation wanted to allow the corridor. Chrysler finally built and paid for the building's subway entrance. Work on the new entrance began in March 1930 and it opened with the Chrysler Building two months later.

The basement also had a "hydrozone water bottling unit" that would clean tap water into drinking water for the building's tenants. The clean water would then be bottled and sent to higher floors.

The private Cloud Club was on the 66th through 68th floors. It opened in July 1930 with about three hundred members, all wealthy men who were part of the city's elite. It was created because Texaco wanted a proper restaurant for its executives before renting fourteen floors in the building. The Cloud Club was a mix between William Van Alen's modern style and Walter Chrysler's traditional tastes. A member had to be chosen and, if accepted, paid an initial fee of $200, plus a $150 to $300 yearly fee. Texaco executives made up most of the Cloud Club's members. The club and its dining room may have inspired the Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club at the Rainbow Room in 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

There was a Tudor-style foyer on the 66th floor with oak paneling, as well as an old English-style grill room with wooden floors, wooden beams, wrought-iron chandeliers, and glass and lead doors. The main dining room had a modern look, with polished granite columns and etched glass designs in Art Deco style. There was a mural of a cloud on the ceiling and a mural of Manhattan on the dining room's north side. The 66th and 67th floors were linked by a Renaissance-style marble and bronze staircase. The 67th floor had an open bar with dark-wood paneling and furniture. On the same floor, Walter Chrysler and Texaco both had private dining rooms. Chrysler's dining room had a black and frosted-blue glass design of automobile workers. Texaco's dining room had a mural across two walls; one wall showed a town in New England with a Texaco gas station, while the other showed an oil refinery and Texaco truck. The south side of the 67th floor also had a library with wood-paneled walls and fluted pillars. The 68th floor mainly had service areas.

In the 1950s and 1960s, members left the Cloud Club for other clubs. Texaco moved to Westchester County in 1977, and the club closed two years later. Though there have been many ideas to fix up the club or turn it into a disco or a fancy restaurant, these plans never happened, as the then-owner Cooke did not want a "regular" restaurant in the old club. Tishman Speyer rented the top two floors of the old Cloud Club. The old staircase has been taken out, as have many of the original decorations, which led to complaints from the Art Deco Society of New York.

Originally, Walter Chrysler had a two-story apartment on the 69th and 70th floors with a fireplace and a private office. The office also had a gym and the tallest bathrooms in the city. The office had a medieval feel with leaded windows, fancy wooden doors, and heavy plaster. Chrysler did not use his gym much, choosing to stay at the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters in Detroit. Later, the 69th and 70th floors were turned into a dental clinic. In 2005, a report by The New York Times found that one of the dentists, Charles Weiss, had worked at the clinic's current rooftop location since 1969. The office still had the suite's original bathroom and gym. Chrysler also had a unit on the 58th through 60th floors, which was his home.

From the building's opening until 1945, it had a 3,900 square feet (360 m²) observation deck on the 71st floor, called "Celestial". For fifty cents visitors could walk around its edge through a hallway with vaulted ceilings painted with space designs and small hanging glass planets. The center of the observatory had the toolbox that Walter P. Chrysler used early in his career as a mechanic; it was later kept at the Chrysler Technology Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan. A picture of the building looking like a rocket hung above it. A 1930 brochure said views of up to 100 miles (160 km) were possible on a clear day; but the small triangle windows of the observatory made viewing hard and caused traffic problems. When the Empire State Building opened in 1931 with two observatories at a higher level, the Chrysler observatory lost customers. After the observatory closed, it was used for radio and television broadcasts. Since 1986, the old observatory has been the office of architects Harvey Morse and Cowperwood Interests.

The floors above the 71st are mostly for looks, serving mainly as landings for the stairs to the spire and do not have office space. They are very narrow, have low and sloping roofs, and are only used to hold radio transmitters and other mechanical and electrical equipment. For example, the 73rd floor has the elevator motors and a 15,000-US-gallon (57,000 L) water tank, of which 3,500 US gallons (13,000 L) are for putting out fires.

History

In the 1920s, New York City grew faster than London and became very crowded. New technologies like radios, movies, and cars became popular. In 1927, Walter Chrysler’s car company became one of the biggest in the United States. Soon after, the economy was very good, and many new tall buildings were built in New York City. The Chrysler Building was built during this time.

Development

The Chrysler Building was originally planned by a man named William Reynolds, who wanted to build the tallest building in the world. He chose a spot at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street. An architect named William Van Alen designed a tall building with many modern ideas. However, Reynolds couldn’t finish the project.

Walter Chrysler bought the plans and land in 1928. He worked with Van Alen to make the building even taller. They added a special spire on top, which made it the tallest building in the world when it was finished in 1930. The building had many unique designs inspired by Chrysler’s cars.

Competition for "world's tallest building" title

While the Chrysler Building was being built, another building called 40 Wall Street was also being built. Both tried to be the tallest. Van Alen secretly added a tall spire to the Chrysler Building, making it taller than 40 Wall Street. But soon after, another building called the Empire State Building was built, which became the tallest.

Completion

The Chrysler Building opened in May 1930. It was the tallest building in the world for a short time. Even though it lost the title, it is still famous for its unique design and history.

Use

Over the years, the Chrysler Building has had many owners and tenants. It has been renovated several times to keep it in good condition. Today, it remains a famous landmark in New York City.

Chrysler Center

Chrysler Center is a group of buildings next to the famous Chrysler Building. It includes the Chrysler Building East and the Chrysler Trylons commercial area. The Chrysler Building East was renovated between 1998 and 2000. It is a tall building with 32 floors and a new blue glass outside look.

The Chrysler Trylons is a special three-story shopping area with three tall, triangle-shaped glass parts called “trylons.” These trylons are supported by strong steel frames and have reflective glass in between. The whole renovation project cost about one hundred million dollars and received several awards for being energy-efficient and well-designed.

Tenants

In January 1930, the Chrysler Corporation opened offices in the Chrysler Building during Automobile Show Week. The building had a showroom for Chrysler cars, a lounge, and a theater to show films about their products. Other big companies that rented space there included Time, Inc. and Texaco oil. Later, Time moved to Rockefeller Center in 1937, and in 1946, CBS put television equipment on top of the building.

Over the years, many companies moved in and out of the Chrysler Building. By the 21st century, many companies chose to rent space there because of the building's famous history.

Some well-known companies that have offices in the Chrysler Building today include:

• Creative Artists Agency
• Clyde & Co
• InterMedia Partners
• IWG
• PA Consulting
• Troutman Sanders
• YES Network

Impact

Reception

When the Chrysler Building was finished, people had different opinions about it. Some praised it as a wonderful example of modern architecture, calling it a "monument" and full of life. Others thought it was too showy or strange, comparing it to a fish or saying it lacked real meaning. Over time, more people began to see its value, calling it one of the most exciting and beautiful skyscrapers ever built.

As icon

The Chrysler Building is one of the most famous buildings in New York City and is loved for its Art Deco style. It has appeared in many movies and is often mentioned as a favorite by architects and fans of architecture. Its unique design has inspired buildings around the world.

In media

The Chrysler Building shows up in many movies set in New York, even if it’s not always the main focus. It has been part of famous films like King Kong, The Wiz, and Spider-Man, among others. It has also been featured in TV shows and video games, making it a well-known part of popular culture. Famous photographers have also taken pictures of the building, helping it become an iconic image of New York City.

Main article: Chrysler Building

Main articles: Art Deco architecture, Art Deco architecture of New York City, History of New York City

Further information: List of tallest buildings in New York City, List of tallest buildings in the United States, World's tallest buildings