Chrysler Building Totally Explained

Everything about Chrysler Building totally explained

|top_floor= |antenna_spire= |floor_area= |elevator_count= 32 |architect= William Van Alen |Source= Emporis.com, SkyscraperPage.com|}}
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at, it was briefly the world's tallest building before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. However, the Chrysler Building remains the world's tallest brick building. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the Bank of America building, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, the New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly tied with the Chrysler Building in height.
The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture and considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City (see below). In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

History

William Van Alen to house the Chrysler Corporation. When the ground breaking occurred on September 19 1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper. Despite a frantic pace (the building was erected at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper. The height of the skyscraper was also originally designed to be . However, the design proved to be too advanced and costly for building contractor William H. Reynolds, who disapproved of Van Alen's original plan. The design and lease were then sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who worked with Van Alen and redesigned the skyscraper for additional stories; it was eventually revised to be tall.

Construction

Construction commenced on September 19 1928. Contractors, builders and engineers were joined by other building-services experts to coordinate construction.
Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a rival project at 40 Wall Street, designed by H. Craig Severance. Severance increased the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. The spire was delivered to the site in 4 different sections. On October 23 1929, the bottom section of the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building's dome and lowered into the 66th floor of the building. The other remaining sections of the spire were hoisted and riveted to the first one in sequential order in just 90 minutes.

Completion

As construction was completed on May 28 1930, In less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27 1930, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building.

Property

The land on which the Chrysler Building stands was donated to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a private college that offers every admitted student a full tuition scholarship, in 1902. The land was leased to the Chrysler Corporation to construct the building in 1929. however, the lease has changed several times. In 1957, it was leased to real-estate moguls Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo, and later leased to the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The lobby was refurbished and the facade renovated in 1978–1979. The building was leased by Jack Kent Cooke, a Washington, D.C. investor, in 1979. The spire underwent a restoration that was completed in 1995. In 1998, The Cooper Union leased the building to Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group. In 2001, a 75% stake in the lease of the building was sold to TMW, a German investment group.

Architecture

The Chrysler Building is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture. The distinctive ornamentation of the building is based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments; on the 31st floor, the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps. The building is constructed of masonry, with a steel frame, and metal cladding. In total, the building currently contains 3,862 windows on its facade and 4 banks of 8 elevators designed by the Otis Elevator Corporation.

Crown ornamentation

The Chrysler Building is also well renowned and recognised for its terraced crown. Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault constructed into seven concentric members with transitioning set-backs, mounted up one behind each other. The stainless-steel cladding is ribbed and riveted in a radiating pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, transitioning into smaller segments of the seven narrow set-backs of the facade of the terraced crown. The entire crown is clad with silvery "Enduro KA-2" metal, an austenitic stainless steel developed in Germany by Krupp and marketed under the trade name "Nirosta" (a German acronym for nichtrostender Stahl, meaning "rust-proof steel").

Observation and broadcasting

When the building first opened, it contained a public viewing gallery on the 71st floor, which was closed to the public in 1945. The private Cloud Club occupied the 66th–68th floors, but closed in the late 1970s. The very top stories of the building are narrow with low sloped ceilings, designed mostly for exterior appearance with interiors useful only to hold radio-broadcasting and other mechanical and electrical equipment.
The Chrysler Building's distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia.

Cultural Depictions

As an iconic part of the New York City skyline, the Chrysler Building has been depicted countlessly in almost every medium—film, photography, video games, art, advertising, music, literature, and even fashion, as its use quickly establishes without doubt the location in which the depicted events are occurring.
In the music scene, Meat Loaf's 1993 album 's cover art depicts a demonic bat clinging to the top floors of the Chrysler Building. The artwork was by done by Michael Whelan. The Chrysler building is widely known to be depicted in many films, such as Deep Impact (1998), where a wall of water surrounds the skyscraper and people can be seen on the 61st-floor observation deck fleeing to the other side of the building. Towards the end of Steven Spielberg's, the Chrysler Building is seen totally underwater as the aliens guide their spacecraft through the submerged ruins of Manhattan. In the film Spider-Man, Spider-Man perches on top of one of the building's gargoyles, mourning a beloved relative's murder.

Quotations

� :"Art Deco in France found its American equivalent in the design of the New York skyscrapers of the 1920s. The Chrysler Building ... was one of the most accomplished essays in the style."

   ::–John Julius Norwich, in The World Atlas of Architecture � :"The design, originally drawn up for building contractor William H. Reynolds, was finally sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who wanted a provocative building which wouldn't merely scrape the sky but positively pierce it. Its 77 floors briefly making it the highest building in the world—at least until the Empire State Building was completed—it became the star of the New York skyline, thanks above all to its crowning peak. In a deliberate strategy of myth generation, Van Alen planned a dramatic moment of revelation: the entire seven-storey pinnacle, complete with special-steel facing, was first assembled inside the building, and then hoisted into position through the roof opening and anchored on top in just one and a half hours. All of a sudden it was there—a sensational fait accompli."

   ::–Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, in Architecture in the Twentieth Century � :"One of the first uses of stainless steel over a large exposed building surface. The decorative treatment of the masonry walls below changes with every set-back and includes story-high basket-weave designs, radiator-cap gargoyles, and a band of abstract automobiles. The lobby is a modernistic composition of African marble and chrome steel."

   ::–Elliot Willensky and Norval White, in AIA Guide to New York

Gallery

Image:Chrysler_building_eagle.jpg|One of the Eagles on the 61st Floor Image:New_Meets_Old.jpg|Chrysler Building next to newer tower Image:Chrysler Building Office North Facing Window.jpg|View from one of the north-facing triangular windows Image:Chrysler elevator.jpg|Elevator interior with inlaid wood Image:Chrysler at night.jpg|Illumination of the building at night Image:Chrysler building- top.jpg|The building's distinctive crown Image:ChryslerBuilding.JPG|The building rising into the sky Image:Chrysler building.jpg|An upward view of the building Further Information

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