Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is a skyscraper and distinctive symbol of New York City, standing 1,046 feet (319 m) high on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Originally built for the Chrysler Corporation, the building is presently co-owned by TMW Real Estate (75%) and Tishman Speyer Properties (25%). The Chrysler Building was the first structure in the world to surpass the 1,000 foot (305 m) threshold. Despite being overtaken by the Empire State Building as the tallest building in the world in 1931, the Chrysler Building is still the tallest brick building in the world.

Groundbreaking was on September 19, 1928. At the time the building was erected, the builders of New York were in the throes of a stiff competition to build the world's tallest skyscraper. The Chrysler building was constructed at an average rate of 4 floors per week, and no workers were killed during construction. Just prior to completion, the building stood even with H. Craig Severance's 40 Wall Street. Mr. Severance subsequently added two feet to his building, and claimed the title of the world's tallest building (this distinction excluded "structures", such as the Eiffel Tower).

Not one to be outdone, Mr. van Alen had already secretly obtained permission to build a 185 foot (58.4 m) spire, which was being constructed inside of the building. The spire, composed of 'Nirosta' stainless steel, was hoisted to the top of the building on October 23, 1929, making the Chrysler Building not only the world's tallest building, but also the world's tallest structure. The steel chosen to cap the building was Krupp KA2 "Enduro" Steel. Van Alen and Chrysler enjoyed this distinction for less than a year, before it was surrendered to the Empire State Building. Unfortunately, Mr. van Alen's satisfaction was muted by Walter Chrysler's refusal to pay his fee. The Chrysler Building opened to the public on May 27, 1930 with an opening ceremony.

Architecture

The Chrysler Building is a famous example of Art Deco architecture, and the distinctive ornamentation of the tower is based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles. The corners of the 61st floors are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments[1]. On the 31st floors the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps[2].

The lobby is similarly elegant. When the building first opened it contained a public viewing gallery near the top, which a few years later was changed into a restaurant, but neither of these enterprises was able to be financially self sustaining during the Great Depression and the former observation floor became a private club. 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.

In more recent years the Chrysler Building has continued to be a favorite among New Yorkers. In the summer of 2005, New York's own Skyscraper Museum asked one hundred architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 New York towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place as 90% of them placed the building in their top 10 favorite buildings. [3]

The building in popular culture

• In a Saturday Night Live sketch, the Coneheads used the Chrysler Building as a spacecraft in order to return to their home planet of Remulak.
• In the movie Armageddon, a chunk of the asteroid hits the Chrysler Building, severing its upper quarter and causing it to crash down on the streets.
• Larry Cohen's low budget classic movie Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) has the titular dragon-beast nesting just below the spire of the Chrysler Building, from where it launches its campaign of terror on New York City, staying invisible to the citizens by "flying against the sun".
• In the animated series Spider-Man, one of the main villains, Kingpin, runs his crime syndicate from the Chrysler Building. The upper floors had launch and landing facilities for VTOL-capable aircraft.
• In the music video for "This is a Song for the Lonely" by Cher, the Chrysler Building is shown, being built, though mainly just the upper quarter.
• In the movie Godzilla two Apache helicopters accidentally blow off about half of the building intact during a hectic chase through Midtown.
• In the video game Parasite Eve, the building is a site of a thorough hostile creature infestation. The player must climb all 77 floors and encounter enemies on each floor. The secret "true" boss is on the 77th floor.
• Artist Matthew Barney narrates the construction of the Chrysler Building (which is itself a character) in the art film Cremaster 3.
• In Annie, during the "Hard-Knock Life" number, Molly says, imitating Miss Hannigan, "You'll stay up till this dump shines like the top of the Chrysler Building!"
• The Chrysler Building was also featured in the movie Deep Impact, where the wall of water surrounds the skyscraper. You can also see people on the 62nd floor observation deck fleeing to the other side of the building to "escape" the wall of water.
• In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin creates a machine that can transform people into whatever they wish, an example being "a slug the size of the Chrysler Building".
• In the comic book Zot, the head of Arthur "Dekko" Dekker replicates the top of the Chrysler Building.
• In various episodes of the Futurama animated series, the Chrysler Building is seen damaged and lying on the ground in the sewer system where there are ruins of old New York.
• In season one of the BRAVO television show Project Runway, designer Jay McCarrol created an evening gown inspired by the Chrysler Building for the Banana Republic challenge.
• In the song "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago" on the Soul Coughing album Ruby Vroom, a recurring line is "A man flies a plane into the Chrysler Building."
• In the Kurt Vonnegut novel Jailbird, the uppermost room under the spire of the Chrysler Building is the showroom of the American Harp Company.
• On the sitcom Will & Grace, Karen Walker threatens Jack McFarland by telling him, "I'll put fishhooks in your nipples and fly you off the Chrysler Building!"
• In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Batman terrifies a hoodlum into giving up information by hanging him upside-down and unconscious from the 62nd floor Eagles (in the DC Universe the building or an analog to it is in Gotham City) until the hoodlum awakens and sees where he is.
• In the first Doc Savage novel, The Man of Bronze, a would-be assassin attempts to shoot Doc Savage in his 86th floor headquarters from another skyscraper. In his book Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Philip Jose Farmer deduces that if Doc lives in the Empire State Building, then the assassin's perch must have been in the Chrysler Building, and it is depicted as such in the George Pal/Ron Ely movie Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.

Gallery

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• File:Toys R Us Chrysler Building.jpg

See also

• Buildings and architecture of New York City
• 50 Tallest buildings in the U.S.
• Tallest buildings in New York City
• World's tallest structures
• World's tallest free standing structure on land
• List of buildings

External links

• The story of Chrysler Building - by CBS Forum
• Salon.com article (02/2002)
• Newyork-evasion gallery of photographs on the Chrysler Building
• Views Of The Chrysler Building
• NYCfoto.com - Photos of Chrysler Building
• Air photographs
• New York Architecture Images-the Chrysler Building
• Photographs 2006
• 3D model of the building for use in Google Earth