Anniversaries
The Chrysler Building is turning 80
One of the nicest buildings on the New York skyline
Where: 405 Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, New York City
Finished in: October 1930; took less than 2 years to built
Commissioned by: the car maker, Walter Chrysler. He had a dream to have his headquarters in New York City and of course he wanted the highest building!
Race: In the 1920’s there was a race in New York for the highest building in the world between the Bank of Manhattan (Trump Building), the Empire state building and the Chrysler Building.
The Chrysler building was supposed to be 67 stories but when the architect heard the Trump Building was 71, at the last minute he decided to add a spire to make it taller.
Chrysler Building from the street
Architect: 47 years old (at the time of completion) Williams Van Alen, from Brooklyn. Van Alen never got paid for his work because he supposedly took bribes from contractors. No one wanted to work with him afterward.
Height: 1,046 feet (318m) with a 185 feet (56m) spire – 77 flours
In October 1930 it became the tallest in the world before the Eiffel Tower – 1063 feet (324m)
In 1931, the Empire State Building became the number one building in the World with 1250 feet (381m) – 102 floors
Rank: 3rd position in New York and 7th in the world
Today: is used as an office building
View of Chrysler Building from Brooklyn Bridge
Interesting facts:
- Art Déco building
- stainless steel outside
- more than 3800 windows
- triangular windows at the top
- terraced arches
- gargoyles
- peak
- car designs such as the eagle head hood ornaments, the radiator caps and the wheels with aluminum hubcaps
- marble floors and beautiful woods and murals
“Metropolis” influence: Van Alen may have gotten his ideas for the Chrysler Building from Fritz Lang movie, “Metropolis”. The German director had visited New York 4 years earlier when his movie came out in 1927. 10,000 New Yorkers wanted to go see it at the Rialto Theater on opening night.
Major Owners:
- until 1947 the building was owned by the Chrysler family.
- From 1957-1978 it was owned by the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company
- Tishman Speyer and Travelers Group owned it since 1998.
- The government of Abu Dhabi owns 90% now since July 2008. They bought the building for 800 million USD.
Manhattan, New York City and Chrysler Building by Night
Renovations: Tishman Speyer made major renovations starting from 1998-2001 on the lobby, spire, elevator, outside, art déco and the amazing murals from Edward Turnbull. The costs amount 100 million USD.
Movies: featured in movies such as Deep Impact, Armageddon, Godzilla and more recently in Spiderman.
Visitors: only in the lobby as it is used for businesses
Best viewed from: the Empire State Building observatory platform
