The completed Chrysler Building. Photo taken from: Stravitz, "The Chrysler Building"

The Chrysler Building is one of the most distinguishable architectures in the world. Located at Lexington Avenue on 42^nd street, it is the greatest American expression of the Art Deco style. ¹ It once stood as the world’s tallest building and to many it still remains as a symbol of the modern age.

There were two main impetuses that triggered the construction of the skyscraper. First was the unofficial race among the wealthy to build the tallest structure in New York City. ² Second was Walter P. Chrysler’s desire to “commemorate his upward mobility” and success in the automobile industry. ³

In 1911, the Dreamland Park in Coney Island burned down and forced the project’s developer William H. Reynolds to join the city’s quest to build the tallest building. ⁴  He leased a land (on which the Chrysler Building now stands) and hired William Van Alen to design a skyscraper with a glass dome. Van Alen, the Paris trained architect, completed the design with a “jewel-like glass dome” with windows “topped…with glass-wrapped corners”. ⁵ However, it was too costly for Reynolds, who was already financially drained from the destruction of his previous project. And so in 1928, the entire skyscraper project was sold to Walter P. Chrysler for $2 million.

Top of the Chrysler Building. Source: Google images

Chrysler was eager to make the site into the New York headquarter of his thriving business. But not only that, he wanted it to be a monument to himself and his success. ⁶ He worked with Van Alen to redesign the structure to represent the machine age of the 1920s. He added eagle heads and corner ornaments that resembled parts of an automobile. He also added more height to the original design by erecting the 185-foot spire in secret. And once it was carried in sections to the 65^th floor and “assembled inside, then hoisted into place in less than 2 hours”, Chrysler Building became the world’s tallest structure in 1930. ⁷ It surpassed the Bank of Manhattan tower, which was the world’s tallest building then. The finished building was 77 floors and 1,046 feet high. It obtained the title until the completion of the Empire State Building eleven months later in 1931.

Many architects praise the design of the building. In A/A Guide to New York, Wilensky and White emphasized that it was one of the first to use “stainless steel over a large exposed building surface.” Norwich in The World Atlas of Architecture praised its Art Deco wonder and said, “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”. And the rapid yet safe construction of the building adds to the wonder of its beauty. Four floors were built each week yet no workers were killed during the construction.

Art Deco style Chrysler Building compared with another style Eiffel Tower. Source: Google Images

Close up of the sleek, symmetrical, linear design of the building, which are accurate characteristics of Art Deco designs. Source: Google Images

Eagle. Taken by Margaret Bourke-White

The steel framework of the spire and needle. Source: Stravitz, "The Chrysler Building"

It is a bit ironic that one of the greatest architects was completed at the beginning of the nation’s worst economic crisis. However, in the 1930s, the Chrysler Building “reflected a merger of the new and the old”. ⁸ Its exterior “enhanced the modernity of the skyscraper” while the “interior was designed to recall the distant past” filled with the Art Deco detailing. ⁹

Taken on October 23, 1929, day before Black Tuesday. Source: Stravitz, "The Chrysler Building"

The building has always been used as an office building. From 1930s to 1950s, it was the headquarter of the Chrysler Corporation. However, the family sold the building in 1953 as the preferred style of architectural design changed after the WWII. It soon became neglected. “Little loved and subject to a succession of sometimes ruthless owners, it went through years of degradation; the tower sprang leaks; garbage piled up” ¹⁰. Building’s occupancy decreased to 17% and “foreclosure proceedings began in 1975.” But as it always does, preferred or acceptable style of structures rapidly changed and “urban eccentricity” was beautiful again. Overtime, the Chrysler Building began to be prized as it were before.

Today the Chrysler Building continues to be used as an office building. It is a very popular tourist attraction site in New York City as well. Admission to the building is free but tourists are allowed only into the lobby considering that the building is used for business.