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{{short description|Office skyscraper in Manhattan, New York}}
{{About|the building in New York City|the current US Chrysler headquarters|Chrysler World Headquarters and Technology Center|Chrysler offices in downtown Detroit|Chrysler House}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2025}}
{{Infobox building
| name = Chrysler Building
| logo = Chrysler Building logo.svg
| logo_alt = Logo of the building
| image = Chrysler Building by David Shankbone Retouched.jpg
| image_size = 180px
| image_caption = The Chrysler Building in May 2009
| highest_prev = [[40 Wall Street]]
| highest_next = [[Empire State Building]]
| highest_start = May 27, 1930{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=2}}<ref name="NYT-Chrysler-Open-1930" />
| highest_end = May 1, 1931{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=227–228}}
| ___location = 405 [[Lexington Avenue]], [[Manhattan|New York, New York]] 10174<br />US
| mapframe-wikidata = yes
| coordinates = {{coord|40|45|06|N|73|58|31|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|display=title,inline}}
| floor_count = 77<ref name="skyscraperCenter">{{ctbuh|422}}</ref>{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}}
| groundbreaking_date = <!--September 19, 1928<ref name="Elsheshtawy 2009 p. 154" />--><!--The groundbreaking date may not be correct; see talk.-->
| start_date = {{start date and age|1929|01|21}}
| topped_out_date = {{start date and age|1929|10|23}}
| completion_date = {{start date and age|1930|05|27}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=2}}<ref name="NYT-Chrysler-Open-1930" />
| opened_date = {{start date and age|1930|05|27}}
| building_type = [[Office building]]
| roof = {{convert|925|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}
| top_floor = {{convert|899|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}<ref name="skyscraperCenter" />
| antenna_spire = {{convert|1046|ft|m|0|abbr=on}}<ref name="skyscraperCenter" />
| floor_area = {{convert|1196958|sqft|m2|abbr=on}}<ref name="skyscraperCenter" />
| elevator_count = 32<ref name="skyscraperCenter" />
| structural_engineer = Ralph Squire & Sons
| main_contractor = Fred T Ley & Co
| architect = [[William Van Alen]]
| architectural_style = [[Art Deco]]
| owner = [[Cooper Union]]
| references =<ref name="skyscraperCenter" /><ref name="emporis">{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/114867 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924142806/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/114867 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Emporis building ID 114867 |work=[[Emporis]]}}</ref>
| embedded = {{Infobox historic site
| embed = yes
| designation1 = NHL
| designation1_date = December 8, 1976<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1638&ResourceType=Building |title=Chrysler Building |website=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=April 20, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505191205/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1638&ResourceType=Building |archive-date=May 5, 2012}}</ref>
| designation1_number = 76001237
| designation2 = NRHP
| designation2_date = December 8, 1976<ref>{{NRISref|2007a|dateform=mdy}}</ref>
| designation2_number = 76001237
| designation3 = NYSRHP
| designation3_date = June 23, 1980<ref>{{cite web |title=Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS) |publisher=[[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]] |date=November 7, 2014 |url=https://cris.parks.ny.gov/ |access-date=July 20, 2023}}</ref>
| designation3_number = 06101.001565
| designation4 = NYCL
| designation4_date = September 12, 1978{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}
| designation4_number = 0992{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}
| designation4_free1name = Designated entity
| designation4_free1value = Facade
| designation5 = NYCL
| designation5_date = September 12, 1978{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=1}}
| designation5_number = 0996{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=1}}
| designation5_free1name = Designated entity
| designation5_free1value = Interior: Lobby
}}
}}
The '''Chrysler Building''' is a {{convert|1046|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}}, [[Art Deco]] skyscraper in the [[East Midtown]] neighborhood of [[Manhattan]], New York City, United States. Located at the intersection of [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]] and [[Lexington Avenue]], it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework. It was both the world's first [[supertall skyscraper]] and the [[List of tallest buildings and structures#History|world's tallest building]] for 11 months after its completion in 1930. {{As of|2019}}, the Chrysler is the [[List of tallest buildings in New York City|12th-tallest building in the city]], tied with [[The New York Times Building]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chrysler Building – The Skyscraper Center |url=https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/chrysler-building/422 |access-date=February 28, 2024 |website=www.skyscrapercenter.com}}</ref>
Originally a project of real estate developer and former New York State Senator [[William H. Reynolds (New York politician)|William H. Reynolds]], the building was commissioned by [[Walter Chrysler]], the head of the [[Chrysler|Chrysler Corporation]]. The construction of the Chrysler Building, an [[Early skyscrapers|early skyscraper]], was characterized by a competition with [[40 Wall Street]] and the [[Empire State Building]] to become the world's tallest building. The Chrysler Building was designed and funded by Walter Chrysler personally as a real estate investment for his children, but it was not intended as the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters (which was located in Detroit at the [[Highland Park Chrysler Plant]] from 1934 to 1996). An annex was completed in 1952, and the building was sold by the Chrysler family the next year, with numerous subsequent owners.
When the Chrysler Building opened, there were mixed reviews of the building's design, some calling it inane and unoriginal, others hailing it as modernist and iconic. Reviewers in the late 20th and early 21st centuries regarded the building as a paragon of the [[Art Deco]] architectural style. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the [[American Institute of Architects]]' list of [[America's Favorite Architecture]]. The facade and interior became [[New York City designated landmark]]s in 1978, and the structure was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] as a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1976.
== Site ==
The Chrysler Building is on the eastern side of [[Lexington Avenue]] between [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd]] and 43rd streets in [[Midtown Manhattan]], New York City, United States.<ref name="AIA5 p. 315">{{Cite aia5|page=315}}</ref> The land was donated to [[Cooper Union|The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art]] in 1902.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 15, 2004 |title=Cooper Union and Chrysler Building |url=http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/news_20040818.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708221034/http://www.cooper.edu/cubuilds/news_20040818.html |archive-date=July 8, 2010 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |publisher=Cooper Union}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Gregor |first=Alison |date=February 13, 2008 |title=Smart Land Deals as a Cornerstone of Free Tuition |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/business/13cooper.html |access-date=February 15, 2016 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The site is roughly a [[trapezoid]] with a {{convert|201|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} [[frontage]] on Lexington Avenue; a {{convert|167|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} frontage on 42nd Street; and a {{convert|205|ft|m|-long|adj=mid}} frontage on 43rd Street.<ref name="NYTimes-Chrysler-Plans-1928">{{Cite news |date=October 17, 1928 |title=Chrysler Plans 68-Story Building in Midtown; $14,000,000 Edifice to Top Woolworth Tower |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/10/17/118344646.pdf |access-date=November 2, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The site bordered the old [[Boston Post Road]],<ref>{{cite web |date=October 7, 2006 |title=Open House New York 2006 |url=http://forgotten-ny.com/2006/10/open-house-new-york-2006/ |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=Forgotten New York}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Chrysler Building |publisher=Chrysler Tower Corporation |year=1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYOGWG1d064C |access-date=September 28, 2024 |page=4}}</ref> which predated, and ran aslant of, the Manhattan street grid established by the [[Commissioners' Plan of 1811]]. As a result, the east side of the building's base is similarly aslant.<ref>{{cite book |last=Walsh |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ViZNSexza6MC |title=Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-06-114502-5 |page=171 |access-date=November 2, 2017}}</ref> The building is assigned its own [[ZIP Code]], 10174. It is one of 41 buildings in Manhattan that have their own ZIP Codes, {{as of|2019|lc=y}}.<ref>{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Nicole |title=Why do some buildings have their own ZIP codes? NYCurious |website=amNewYork |date=March 18, 2019 |url=https://www.amny.com/news/nyc-zip-codes-1-28558957/ |access-date=July 8, 2022}}</ref>
The [[Grand Hyatt New York]] hotel and the [[Graybar Building]] are across Lexington Avenue, while the [[Socony–Mobil Building]] is across 42nd Street. In addition, the [[Chanin Building]] is to the southwest, diagonally across Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street.<ref name="AIA5 p. 315" />
== 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]].{{sfn|Binder|2006|p=62}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=280}} With a height of {{convert|1046|ft|m}}, the Chrysler is the [[List of tallest buildings in New York City|12th-tallest building in the city]] {{as of|2019|lc=y}}, tied with [[The New York Times Building]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/tallest-buildings-new-york-city-nyc-ranked-skyscrapers-supertall-2019-4#t11-new-york-times-tower-1 |title=The 11 tallest buildings in New York City right now, ranked |work=Business Insider |access-date=March 2, 2020 |date=September 18, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> The building is constructed of a steel frame infilled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. The structure contains 3,862 exterior windows.<ref name="emporis" /> Approximately fifty metal ornaments protrude at the building's corners on five floors reminiscent of [[gargoyle]]s on [[Gothic cathedral]]s.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=118}} The 31st-floor contains gargoyles{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=424}} as well as replicas of the 1929 Chrysler [[hood ornament|radiator caps]],{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=65}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1926/building/Cap.htm |title=1926 Chrysler Radiator Cap Used On The Chrysler Building |publisher=Imperialclub.com |date=December 13, 2006 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |archive-date=May 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150517030020/http://www.imperialclub.com/Yr/1926/building/Cap.htm |url-status=dead}}</ref> and the 61st-floor is adorned with eagles{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=424}} as a nod to America's [[national bird of the United States|national bird]].{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=119}}
The design of the Chrysler Building makes extensive use of bright "[[Nirosta]]"{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=105–106}}<ref name="Davies y631">{{cite web |last=Davies |first=Rachel |date=October 29, 2024 |title=The Chrysler Building: Everything You Need to Know About New York City's Art Deco Masterpiece |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/the-chrysler-building-everything-you-need-to-know |access-date=November 1, 2024 |website=Architectural Digest}}</ref> stainless steel, an [[austenitic]] alloy developed in Germany by [[Krupp]].{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=173}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}}<ref name="jayebee.com">{{cite magazine |last=Pierpont |first=Claudia Roth |date=November 18, 2002 |title=The Silver Spire: How two men's dreams changed the skyline of New York |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/11/18/the-silver-spire |access-date=March 23, 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=106}} It was the first use of this "18–8 stainless steel" in an American project,{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=260}} composed of 18% [[chromium]] and 8% [[nickel]].{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=106}} Nirosta was used in the exterior ornaments, the window frames, the crown, and the needle.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=106–108}} The steel was an integral part of Van Alen's design, as E.E. Thum explains: "The use of permanently bright metal was of greatest aid in the carrying of rising lines and the diminishing circular forms in the roof treatment, so as to accentuate the gradual upward swing until it literally dissolves into the sky...."{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=118}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Thum |first=E.E. |title=The book of stainless steels: corrosion resisting and heat resisting alloys |publisher=American Society for Metals |year=1935 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_BhvgAACAAJ |access-date=November 5, 2017 |page=657}}</ref> Stainless steel producers used the Chrysler Building to evaluate the durability of the product in architecture. In 1929, the [[ASTM International|American Society for Testing Materials]] created an inspection committee to study its performance, which regarded the Chrysler Building as the best ___location to do so; a subcommittee examined the building's panels every five years until 1960, when the inspections were canceled because the panels had shown minimal deterioration.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=119}}
=== Form ===
[[File:Chrysler Building spire, Manhattan, by Carol Highsmith (LOC highsm.04444).jpg|thumb|upright|The building's distinctive Art Deco crown and spire|left]]
The Chrysler Building's height and legally mandated setbacks influenced Van Alen in his design.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} The walls of the lowermost sixteen floors rise directly from the sidewalk property lines, except for a recess on one side that gives the building a U-shaped floor plan above the fourth floor.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=606}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}} There are setbacks on floors 16, 18, 23, 28, and 31, making the building compliant with the 1916 Zoning Resolution. This gives the building the appearance of a [[ziggurat]] on one side and a U-shaped [[palazzo]] on the other.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}} Above the 31st floor, there are no more setbacks until the 60th floor, above which the structure is funneled into a [[Maltese cross]] shape{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=96}} that "blends the square shaft to the [[finial]]", according to author and photographer [[Cervin Robinson]].{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}}
The floor plans of the first sixteen floors were made as large as possible to optimize the amount of rental space nearest ground level, which was seen as most desirable. The U-shaped cut above the fourth floor served as a shaft for air flow and illumination. 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, effecting a transition between the blocky lower stories and the lofty shaft."{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}}
==
==== Base and shaft ====
[[File:Chrysler Building Oct 2021 03.jpg|left|thumb|upright|The lower walls are clad with white brick, interrupted by white-marble bands in a manner similar to a basket weaving.]]
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. At some distance into each main entryway, there are revolving doors "beneath intricately patterned metal and glass screens", designed so as to embody the Art Deco tenet of amplifying the entrance's visual impact. A smaller side entrance on 43rd Street is one story high.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}}{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=175}} There are storefronts consisting of large Nirosta-steel-framed windows at ground level.{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=83}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} Office windows penetrate the second through fourth floors.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}}
The west and east elevations contain the air shafts above the fourth floor, while the north and south sides contain the receding setbacks.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} Below the 16th floor, the facade is clad with white brick, interrupted by white-marble bands in a manner similar to [[basket weaving]].{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}}{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=161}} The inner faces of the brick walls are coated with a waterproof [[grout]] mixture measuring about {{convert|1/16|in}} thick.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1115100040}} |title=Skyscrapers Made Rainproof With 'Blotters': Absorbing Composition Is Shot Against Back of Bricks to Catch Seepage Best of Them Let In Water In Old Days Roof Was the Vulnerable Point of Attack |date=May 24, 1931 |page=E6 |issn=1941-0646 |work=New York Herald Tribune}}</ref> The windows, arranged in grids, do not have [[window sill]]s, the frames being flush with the facade.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} Between the 16th and 24th floors, the exterior exhibits vertical white brick columns that are separated by windows on each floor. This visual effect is made possible by the presence of aluminum [[spandrel]]s between the columns of windows on each floor. There are abstract reliefs on the 20th through 22nd-floor spandrels, while the 24th floor contains {{convert|9|ft|m|adj=on}} decorative pineapples.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}}
Above the third setback, consisting of the 24th through 27th floors, the facade contains horizontal bands and zigzagged gray-and-black brick motifs. The section above the fourth setback, between the 27th and 31st floors, serves as a podium for the main shaft of the building.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=606}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} There are Nirosta-steel decorations above the setbacks.{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}} At each corner of the 31st floor, large car-hood ornaments were installed to make the base look larger. These corner extensions help counter a common optical illusion seen in tall buildings with horizontal bands, whose taller floors would normally look larger.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}}{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=96}} The 31st floor also contains a gray and white frieze of hubcaps and fenders,{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}} which both symbolize the Chrysler Corporation and serves as a visual signature of the building's Art Deco design.<ref name="emporis" /><ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}} The bonnet embellishments take the shape of [[Mercury (god)|Mercury's]] [[Petasos|winged helmet]] and resemble hood ornaments installed on Chrysler vehicles at the time.{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=96}}
The shaft of the tower was designed to emphasize both the horizontal and vertical: each of the tower's four sides contains three columns of windows, each framed by bricks and an unbroken marble pillar that rises along the entirety of each side. The spandrels separating the windows contain "alternating vertical stripes in gray and white brick", while each corner contains horizontal rows of black brick.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}}
{{multiple image
| align = center
| title = Ornaments resembling:
| direction = horizontal
| width =
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Chrysler building detail.jpg
| caption1 = [[Hood ornament]]s<br /><small>(31st floor)</small>
| image2 = Chrysler Building motifs detail.jpg
| caption2 = [[Hubcap]]s and [[Fender (vehicle)|fenders]]<br /><small>(31st floor)</small>
| image3 = Chrysler Building eagle.jpg
| caption3 = Eagles <br /><small>(61st floor)</small>
| total_width = 800
}}
====Crown and spire====
[[File:Chrysler Building detail.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation at the crown|left]]
The Chrysler Building is renowned for, and recognized by its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}} Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform [[groin vault]] of seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thecityreview.com/chryslerb.html |title=Chrysler Building |first=Carter B. |last=Horsley |publisher=The City Review |access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref> The entire crown is clad with Nirosta steel, ribbed and riveted in a radiating [[sunburst]] pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, reminiscent of the spokes of a wheel.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=105–108}} The windows are repeated, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks.<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=105–108}} Due to the curved shape of the dome, the Nirosta sheets had to be measured on site, so most of the work was carried out in workshops on the building's 67th and 75th floors.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum">{{cite web |last=Willis |first=Carol |title=The Skyscraper Museum: Times Square, 1984: The Postmodern Moment Walkthrough |url=http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/chrysler.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422174957/http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/chrysler.php |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=The Skyscraper Museum}}</ref> According to Robinson, the terraced crown "continue[s] the wedding-cake layering of the building itself. This concept is carried forward from the 61st floor, whose eagle gargoyles echo the treatment of the 31st, to the spire, which extends the concept of 'higher and narrower' forward to infinite height and infinitesimal width. This unique treatment emphasizes the building's height, giving it an other worldly atmosphere reminiscent of the fantastic architecture of Coney Island or the Far East."{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}}
Television station [[WCBS-TV]] (Channel 2) originated its transmission from the top of the Chrysler Building in 1938.<ref>{{cite web |title=Columbia Setting Up Television Station; $650,000 Installation Atop the Chrysler Building |website=The New York Times |date=September 28, 1938 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/09/28/archives/columbia-setting-up-television-station-650000-installation-atop-the.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> WCBS-TV transmissions were shifted to the Empire State Building in 1960<ref name="earlytv">{{Cite web |title=W2XAB – CBS, New York |url=http://www.earlytelevision.org/w2xab.html |publisher=Early Television |access-date=February 15, 2016}}</ref> in response to competition from [[RCA]]'s transmitter on that building.<ref>{{cite book |last=Balio |first=Tino |title=Hollywood in the Age of Television |publisher=Taylor & Francis |series=Routledge Library Editions: Cinema |year=2013 |isbn=978-1-317-92915-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=685iAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66 |access-date=November 5, 2017 |page=66}}</ref> For many years [[WPAT-FM]] and [[WKTU|WTFM (now WKTU)]] also transmitted from the Chrysler Building, but their move to the Empire State Building by the 1970s ended commercial broadcasting from the structure.<ref name="earlytv" />
The crown and spire are illuminated by a combination of fluorescent lights framing the crown's distinctive triangular windows and colored floodlights that face toward the building, allowing it to be lit in a variety of schemes for special occasions.<ref name="emporis" /> The V-shaped fluorescent "tube lighting" – hundreds of 480V 40W bulbs framing 120 window openings<ref>{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HeYCAAAAMBAJ&dq=chrysler+building+tube+lighting&pg=PA76 |title='Queen of the Night', ''New York Magazine'', December 7, 1981 |date=December 7, 1981}}</ref> – was added in 1981, although it had been part of the original design.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=189}}<ref name="enc-nyc">{{cite enc-nyc|page=247}}</ref> Until 1998, the lights were turned off at 2 am, but ''[[The New York Observer]]'' columnist [[Ron Rosenbaum]] convinced Tishman Speyer to keep the lights on until 6 am.<ref>See: * {{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Ron |title=Come On Tishman, Light My Spire |website=Observer |date=February 23, 1998 |url=http://observer.com/1998/02/come-on-tishman-light-my-spire/ |access-date=November 5, 2017}} (lights turn on until 6 am) * {{cite web |last=Rosenbaum |first=Ron |title=Edgy Gets Results! The Chrysler Spire Is Re-Lit Till Dawn |website=Observer |date=August 11, 2003 |url=http://observer.com/2003/08/edgy-gets-results-the-chrysler-spire-is-relit-till-dawn/ |access-date=November 5, 2017}} (lights turned off, then re-lit at Rosenbaum's request)</ref> Since 2015, the Chrysler Building and other city skyscrapers have been part of the [[Audubon Society]]'s Lights Out program, turning off their lights during [[bird migration]] seasons.<ref>{{cite web |last=Russ |first=Hilary |title=New York state to turn lights out for migrating birds |website=U.S. |date=April 27, 2015 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-new-york-birds/new-york-state-to-turn-lights-out-for-migrating-birds-idUSKBN0NI21R20150427 |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>
==
The interior of the building has several elements that were innovative when the structure was constructed. The partitions between the offices are soundproofed and divided into interchangeable sections, so the layout of any could be changed quickly and comfortably. Pipes under the floors carry both telephone and electricity cables.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}} The topmost stories are the smallest in the building and have about {{Convert|5000|ft2}} each.<ref name="Velsey r667">{{cite web |last=Velsey |first=Kim |date=December 19, 2024 |title=How Aby Rosen Lost the Chrysler Building |url=https://www.curbed.com/article/aby-rosens-chrysler-building-saga-a-timeline.html |access-date=December 21, 2024 |website=Curbed}}</ref>
==== Lobby ====
{{multiple image
| align = center
| direction = horizontal
| image1 = Chrysler Building Lobby 2.jpg
| width1 = 270
| caption1 = Lobby
| image2 = Chrysler Lamp.jpg
| width2 = 180
| caption2 = Art Deco lamp
| image3 = Chrysler building interior 1.jpg
| width3 = 240
| caption3 = Entrance doors
| image4 = Chrysler building interior 2.JPG
| width4 = 135
| caption4 = Futuristic digital clock
}}
The lobby is triangular in plan,{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|pp=608–609}}{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}}{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=175}} connecting with entrances on Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street, and 43rd Street.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=3}} The lobby was the only publicly accessible part of the Chrysler Building by the 2000s.{{sfn|Hart|2009|p=129}}<ref name="NYTimes-Stravitz-Answers1-2009">{{cite news |last=Stravitz |first=David |date=December 9, 2009 |title=Answers About the Chrysler Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/answers-about-the-chrysler-building/ |access-date=November 3, 2017}}</ref> The three entrances contain Nirosta steel doors,{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}} above which are etched-glass panels that allow natural light to illuminate the space.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}} The floors contain bands of yellow [[travertine]] from [[Siena]], which mark the path between the entrances and elevator banks.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}} The writer Eric Nash described the lobby as a paragon of the Art Deco style, with clear influences of [[Expressionist architecture|German Expressionism]].{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}} Chrysler wanted the design to impress other architects and automobile magnates, so he imported various materials regardless of the extra costs incurred.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=3}}<ref name="Trachtenberg Hyman 2002" />
The walls are covered with huge slabs of African red [[granite]].<ref name="Trachtenberg Hyman 2002" /><ref name="NYTimes-Stravitz-Answers1-2009" />{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|pp=3–4}} The walls also contain storefronts and doors made of Nirosta steel.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}} There is a wall panel dedicated to the work of clinchers, surveyors, masons, carpenters, plasterers, and builders. Fifty different figures were modeled after workers who participated in its construction.{{sfn|Miller|2015|pp=259–260}} In 1999, the mural was returned to its original state after a restoration that removed the polyurethane coating and filled-in holes added in the 1970s.<ref name="Dunlap 1999" /> Originally, Van Alen's plans for the lobby included four large supporting columns, but they were removed after Chrysler objected on the grounds that the columns made the lobby appear "cramped".{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}} The lobby has dim lighting which combined with the appliqués of the lamps, create an intimate atmosphere and highlight the space.<ref name="Trachtenberg Hyman 2002">{{cite book |last1=Trachtenberg |first1=M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ovsanj4CylQC |title=Architecture, from Prehistory to Postmodernity |last2=Hyman |first2=I. |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-13-091841-3 |pages=526–528 |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} Vertical bars of fluorescent light are covered with Belgian blue marble and Mexican amber onyx bands, which soften and diffuse the light.{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=83}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=430}} The marble and onyx bands are designed as inverted [[Chevron (insignia)|chevrons]].{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}}
Opposite the Lexington Avenue entrance is a security guard's desk topped by a digital clock.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} The panel behind the desk is made of marble, surrounded by Nirosta steel.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}} The lobby connects to four elevator banks, each of a different design.{{sfn|Binder|2006|p=62}}{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=5}} To the north and south of the security desk are terrazzo staircases leading to the second floor and basement. The stairs contain marble walls and Nirosta-steel railings.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=5}} The outer walls are flat but are clad with marble strips that are slightly angled to each other, which give the impression of being curved.{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=83}} The inner railings of each stair are designed with zigzagging Art Deco motifs, ending at red-marble newel posts on the ground story. Above each stair are aluminum-leaf ceilings with etched-glass chandeliers.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=5}}
The ceiling contains a {{convert|110|by|67|ft|m|adj=on}} mural, ''[[Transport and Human Endeavor]]'', designed by [[Edward Trumbull]]. The mural's theme is "energy and man's application of it to the solution of his problems", and it pays homage to the [[Aviation in the interwar period|Golden Age of Aviation]] and the [[Machine Age]].<ref name="Dunlap 1999">{{cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |title=POSTINGS: 110- by 76-Foot Work on Ceiling Was Installed in 1930; Chrysler Building Mural Awakens |website=The New York Times |date=March 21, 1999 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/21/realestate/postings-110-76-foot-work-ceiling-was-installed-1930-chrysler-building-mural.html |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} The mural is painted in the shape of a "Y" with ocher and golden tones. The central image of the mural is a "muscled giant whose brain directs his boundless energy to the attainment of the triumphs of this mechanical era", according to a 1930 pamphlet that advertised the building. The mural's Art Deco style is manifested in characteristic triangles, sharp angles, slightly curved lines, chrome ornaments, and numerous patterns.<ref name="Dunlap 1999" /> The mural depicts several silver planes, including the ''[[Spirit of St. Louis]]'', as well as furnaces of incandescent steel and the building itself.{{sfn|Miller|2015|pp=259–260}}{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}}
When the building opened, the first and second floors housed a public exhibition of Chrysler vehicles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DALX2AsrZTcC |title=Chrysler |publisher=MotorBooks International |isbn=978-1-61060-871-8 |page=21 |access-date=November 5, 2017 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=September 18, 1997 |title=Chrysler Building Lures 20 Bidders With Romance and Profit Potential |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/18/nyregion/chrysler-building-lures-20-bidders-with-romance-and-profit-potential.html |access-date=November 5, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The exhibition, known as the Chrysler Automobile Salon, was near the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Streets, and opened in 1936.<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 12, 1936 |title=Chrysler Salon Popular; 25,000 Have Visited Display Since Opening Saturday |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/11/12/archives/chrysler-salon-popular-25000-have-visited-display-since-opening.html |access-date=November 16, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The ground floor featured "invisible glass" [[display window]]s,{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=303}}<ref name="AF-1937">{{cite magazine |date=January 1937 |title=Chrysler Automobile Salon |url=https://usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1937-01.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228091214/https://www.usmodernist.org/AF/AF-1937-01.pdf |archive-date=February 28, 2020 |url-status=live |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=13–14 |journal=Architectural Forum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Berger |first=Meyer |date=January 23, 1956 |title=About New York; 'Invisible' Windows Crack in Chrysler's Salon—1811 Cognac for Eisenhower |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1956/01/23/archives/about-new-york-invisible-windows-crack-in-chryslers-salon1811.html |access-date=November 16, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> a {{convert|51|ft|m|adj=on}} diameter turntable upon which automobiles were displayed, and a ceiling with lights arranged in concentric circles.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=303}}<ref name="AF-1937" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=November 11, 1936 |title=Chrysler Has Special Salon in Own Building; Cars on Turntable Behind Invisible Glass |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/11/11/archives/chrysler-has-special-salon-in-own-building-cars-on-turntable-behind.html |access-date=November 16, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Escalators led to the showroom's second floor where [[Plymouth (automobile)|Plymouths]], [[Dodge]]s, and [[DeSoto (automobile)|DeSoto]]s were sold.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=305}} The Chrysler Salon remained operational through at least the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 25, 1962 |title=Camera Notes; Press Picture Exhibit Among Local Shows |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1962/03/25/archives/camera-notes-press-picture-exhibit-among-local-shows.html |access-date=November 16, 2020 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==== Elevators ====
{{multiple image
| align = right
| direction = horizontal
| width1 = 150
| image1 = Chrysler express elevator.jpg
| caption1 = Open doors
| width2 = 110
| caption2 = Closed doors
| width3 = 150
| image3 = Chrysler_elevator.jpg
| caption3 = Elevator interior with inlaid wood
}}
There are 32 elevators in the skyscraper, clustered into four banks.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} At the time of opening, 28 of the elevators were for passenger use.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=171}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=5}} Each bank serves different floors within the building, with several "express" elevators going from the lobby to a few landings in between, while "local" elevators connect the landings with the floors above these intermediate landings.<ref>{{cite web |title=Elevator Problems In High Buildings |work=The New York Times |date=May 11, 1930 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/11/97799980.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211720/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/11/97799980.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> As per Walter Chrysler's wishes, the elevators were designed to run at a rate of {{convert|900|ft/min|m/min}},<ref name="The New York Times 1929">{{Cite news |date=March 10, 1929 |title=Chrysler Building 809 Feet In Height |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/03/10/107095825.pdf |access-date=November 2, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> despite the {{convert|700|ft/min|m/min|adj=on}} speed restriction enforced in all city elevators at the time.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}} This restriction was loosened soon after the Empire State Building opened in 1931, as that building had also been equipped with high-speed elevators.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=183}} The Chrysler Building also had three of the longest elevator shafts in the world at the time of completion.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}}
Over the course of a year, Van Alen painstakingly designed these elevators with the assistance of L.T.M. Ralston, who was in charge of developing the elevator cabs' mechanical parts.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} The cabs were manufactured by the [[Otis Elevator Company]],<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.otis.com/_layouts/ProjectItemPopup.aspx?productItemNo=8&siteURL=http://www.otis.com/site/cn-eng/Pages/GlobalProjectGallery.aspx?menuID=6 |title=Global Project Gallery: Chrysler Building |access-date=February 15, 2016 |publisher=[[Otis Elevator Company]] |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |url=http://www.hevac-heritage.org/biographies/surnames_M-R/otis/O2-OTIS.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160223032611/http://www.hevac-heritage.org/biographies/surnames_M-R/otis/O2-OTIS.pdf |archive-date=February 23, 2016 |url-status=live |title=Early 20th Century New York, 1900–1931 |access-date=February 15, 2016 |publisher=CIBSE Heritage Group |last=Roberts |first=Euring Brian}}</ref> while the doors were made by the Tyler Company. The dimensions of each elevator were {{convert|5.5|ft|m}} deep by {{convert|8|ft|m}} wide.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} Within the lobby, there are ziggurat-shaped Mexican onyx panels above the elevator doors.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}} The doors are designed in a [[lotus flower|lotus]] pattern and are clad with steel and wood.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978|p=5}} When the doors are closed, they resemble "tall fans set off by metallic palm fronds rising through a series of silver parabolas, whose edges were set off by curved lilies" from the outside, as noted by Curcio. However, when a set of doors is open, the cab behind the doors resembles "an exquisite Art Deco room".{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} These elements were influenced by [[ancient Egyptian art|ancient Egyptian designs]], which significantly impacted the Art Deco style.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=171}} According to Vincent Curcio, "these elevator interiors were perhaps the single most beautiful and, next to the dome, the most important feature of the entire building."{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}}
Even though the woods in the elevator cabs were arranged in four basic patterns, each cab had a unique combination of woods.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=284}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} Curcio stated that "if anything the building is based on patterned fabrics, [the elevators] certainly are. Three of the designs could be characterized as having 'geometric', 'Mexican' and vaguely 'art nouveau' motifs, which reflect the various influences on the design of the entire building."{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} The roof of each elevator was covered with a metal plate whose design was unique to that cab, which in turn was placed on a polished wooden pattern that was also customized to the cab. Hidden behind these plates were ceiling fans.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=171}} Curcio wrote that these elevators "are among the most beautiful small enclosed spaces in New York, and it is fair to say that no one who has seen or been in them has forgotten them".{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} Curcio compared the elevators to the curtains of a Ziegfeld production, noting that each lobby contains lighting that peaks in the middle and slopes down on either side.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=428}} The decoration of the cabs' interiors was also a nod to the Chrysler Corporation's vehicles: cars built during the building's early years had dashboards with wooden moldings.{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}} Both the doors and cab interiors were considered to be works of extraordinary [[marquetry]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Knowles |first=Eric |title=Art Deco |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |series=Shire Collections |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-7478-1521-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhjDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA115 |access-date=November 5, 2017 |page=115}}</ref>
==== Basement ====
<span class="anchor" id="Subway entrance"></span>On the 42nd Street side of the Chrysler Building, a staircase from the street leads directly under the building to the [[New York City Subway]]'s {{NYCS trains|Grand Central}} at [[Grand Central–42nd Street station]].<ref>{{Cite NYCS map|neighborhood|Midtown East}}</ref> It is part of the structure's original design.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/24/317430812.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122191228/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/24/317430812.pdf |archive-date=November 22, 2019 |url-status=live |title=Subway Construction Planned For the Chrysler Building |date=November 24, 1929 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 2, 2017}}</ref> The [[Interborough Rapid Transit Company]], which at the time was the operator of all the routes serving the 42nd Street station, originally sued to block construction of the new entrance because it would cause crowding,<ref>{{cite news |title=I.R.T. Fights Passage To Chrysler Building |work=The New York Times |date=January 3, 1930 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/03/96016116.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106152134/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/03/96016116.pdf |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref> but the [[New York City Board of Transportation]] pushed to allow the corridor anyway.<ref>{{cite web |title=Transit Board To Test I.R.T. Bar On Passage |work=The New York Times |date=January 13, 1930 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/13/92060547.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211728/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/13/92060547.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref> Chrysler eventually built and paid for the building's subway entrance.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}} Work on the new entrance started in March 1930<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/03/22/96077616.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126174139/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/03/22/96077616.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |url-status=live |title=TO Begin Chrysler Tunnel; To Connect Skyscraper With Grand Central Terminal and Subway. |date=March 22, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 10, 2017}}</ref> and it opened along with the Chrysler Building two months later.<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/29/96136569.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811212226/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/29/96136569.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |title=New Building Linked to Subway. |date=May 29, 1930 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 10, 2017}}</ref>
The basement also had a "hydrozone water bottling unit" that would filter tap water into drinkable water for the building's tenants. The drinkable water would then be bottled and shipped to higher floors.<ref>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=Answers About the Chrysler Building |first=David |last=Stravitz |date=December 11, 2009 |url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/11/answers-about-the-chrysler-building-part-3/ |access-date=November 3, 2017}}</ref>
==== Upper stories ====
===== Cloud Club =====
[[File:Chrysler Building Office North Facing Window.jpg|thumb|right|upright|View from one of the north-facing triangular windows]]
{{main|Cloud Club}}
The private [[Cloud Club]] formerly occupied the 66th through 68th floors.<ref name="enc-nyc" /> It opened in July 1930 with some three hundred members, all wealthy males who formed the city's elite.{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=260}}<ref name="McGrath 2005">{{cite web |last=McGrath |first=Charles |title=A Lunch Club for the Higher-Ups |website=The New York Times |date=May 26, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/a-lunch-club-for-the-higherups.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Gray 1990">{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |title=Streetscapes: The Cloud Club; Still Exciting, but Still Vacant |website=The New York Times |date=January 14, 1990 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/14/realestate/streetscapes-the-cloud-club-still-exciting-but-still-vacant.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> Its creation was spurred by [[Texaco]]'s wish for a proper restaurant for its executives prior to renting fourteen floors in the building. The Cloud Club was a compromise between William Van Alen's modern style and Walter Chrysler's stately and traditional tastes.<ref name="McGrath 2005" /> A member had to be elected and, if accepted, paid an initial fee of $200, plus a $150 to $300 annual fee.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} Texaco executives comprised most of the Cloud Club's membership.<ref name="Hudson 1977" /> The club and its dining room may have inspired the Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club at the [[Rainbow Room]] in [[30 Rockefeller Plaza]].<ref>{{cite web |date=October 16, 2012 |title=Rainbow Room |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2505.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215043348/https://www1.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2505.pdf |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |access-date=November 5, 2017 |website=[[Government of New York City|nyc.gov]] |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |page=4}}</ref>
There was a [[Tudor Revival architecture|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.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=260}}<ref name="McGrath 2005" /> The main dining room had a futuristic appearance, with polished granite columns and etched glass appliqués in Art Deco style.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}<ref name="Gray 1990" /> There was a mural of a cloud on the ceiling and a mural of Manhattan on the dining room's north side.<ref name="McGrath 2005" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|pp=281–283}} The 66th and 67th floors were connected by a Renaissance-style marble and bronze staircase.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}<ref name="Gray 1990" /> The 67th floor had an open bar with dark-wood paneling and furniture.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} On the same floor, Walter Chrysler and Texaco both had private dining rooms.<ref name="Gray 1990" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} Chrysler's dining room had a black and frosted-blue glass frieze of automobile workers.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} Texaco's dining room contained a mural across two walls; one wall depicted a town in [[New England]] with a Texaco gas station, while the other depicted an oil refinery and Texaco truck. The south side of the 67th floor also contained a library with wood-paneled walls and fluted pilasters.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} The 68th floor mainly contained service spaces.<ref name="Gray 1990" />
In the 1950s and 1960s, members left the Cloud Club for other clubs. Texaco moved to [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]] in 1977,<ref name="Hudson 1977">{{cite web |last=Hudson |first=Edward |title=Texaco Is on the Way |website=The New York Times |date=August 14, 1977 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/14/archives/long-island-weekly-texaco-is-on-the-way-texaco-is-on-way-to-county.html |access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> and the club closed two years later.<ref name="McGrath 2005" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=281}} Although there have been several projects to rehabilitate the club or transform it into a disco or a gastronomic club, these plans have never materialized,<ref name="Gray 1990" /><ref name="McDowell 2000">{{cite web |last=McDowell |first=Edwin |title=Reviving High Life, 67 Floors Up; Chrysler Building Redoes the Cloud Club's Old Space |website=The New York Times |date=April 11, 2000 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/11/nyregion/reviving-high-life-67-floors-up-chrysler-building-redoes-cloud-club-s-old-space.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> as then-owner Cooke reportedly did not want a "conventional" restaurant operating within the old club.<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/05/realestate/commercial-property-unusual-spaces-a-striking-medley-for-the-right-renter.html |title=Commercial Property: Unusual Spaces; A Striking Medley For the Right Renter |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=May 5, 1991 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> Tishman Speyer rented the top two floors of the old Cloud Club.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> The old staircase has been removed, as have many of the original decorations,<ref name="Gray 1990" /> which prompted objections from the Art Deco Society of New York.<ref name="McDowell 2000" />
===== Private Chrysler offices =====
Originally, Walter Chrysler had a two-story apartment on the 69th and 70th floors with a fireplace and a private office. The office also contained a gymnasium and the loftiest bathrooms in the city.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 17, 2014 |title=New York Scrapers – Art Deco II |url=http://in-arch.net/NYC/nyc2a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618193811/http://www.in-arch.net/NYC/nyc2a.html |archive-date=June 18, 2016 |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=in-Arch.net}}</ref> The office had a medieval ambience with leaded windows, elaborate wooden doors, and heavy plaster.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} Chrysler did not use his gym much, instead choosing to stay at the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters in Detroit.<ref name="NYTimes-Stravitz-Answers1-2009" /> Subsequently, the 69th and 70th floors were converted into a dental clinic.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> In 2005, a report by ''The New York Times'' found that one of the dentists, Charles Weiss, had operated at the clinic's current rooftop ___location since 1969.<ref>{{cite web |last=Hamilton |first=William L. |title=On Top of the World, Drafting, Dreaming and Drilling |website=The New York Times |date=May 26, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/on-top-of-the-world-drafting-dreaming-and-drilling.html |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The office still had the suite's original bathroom and gymnasium.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> Chrysler also had a unit on the 58th through 60th floors, which served as his residence.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252018%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201930%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201930%2520-%25202258.pdf |title=Chrysler's Loftiest Apartment |work=The New York Sun |last=Zismer |first=Gustave |page=55 |date=April 16, 1930 |access-date=November 3, 2017 |via=[[Old Fulton New York Postcards]]}}</ref>
===== Observation deck and attic =====
From the building's opening until 1945, it contained a {{convert|3900|ft2|m2}} [[observation deck]] on the 71st floor, called "Celestial".<ref>{{cite web |last=Schellenbaum |first=Amy |title=Peek Inside 1945's 'Celestial' Chrysler Building Observatory |website=Curbed |date=February 28, 2014 |url=https://www.curbed.com/2014/2/28/10137796/peek-inside-1945s-celestial-chrysler-building-observatory |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} For fifty cents visitors could transit its circumference through a corridor with vaulted ceilings painted with celestial motifs and bedecked with small hanging glass planets.{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}}<ref name="Bascomb 2005">{{cite web |last=Bascomb |first=Neal |title=New York Observed; Knockin' on Heaven's Door |website=The New York Times |date=October 30, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/nyregion/thecity/knockin-on-heavens-door.html |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The center of the observatory contained the toolbox that Walter P. Chrysler used at the beginning of his career as a mechanic;<ref name="enc-nyc" /><ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=97}} it was later preserved at the [[Chrysler Technology Center]] in [[Auburn Hills, Michigan]].{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=64}} An image of the building resembling a rocket hung above it.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} According to a contemporary brochure, views of up to {{convert|100|mi|km}} were possible on a clear day;<ref name="Bascomb 2005" /> but the small triangular windows of the observatory created strange angles that made viewing difficult, depressing traffic. When the Empire State Building opened in 1931 with two observatories at a higher elevation, the Chrysler observatory lost its clientele.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" /> After the observatory closed, it was used to house radio and television broadcasting equipment.<ref name="McCain 1988">{{cite web |last=McCain |first=Mark |title=Commercial Property: Tower Offices; Both Views and Prestige Draw Tenants to the Top |website=The New York Times |date=June 26, 1988 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/realestate/commercial-property-tower-offices-both-views-prestige-draw-tenants-top.html |access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> Since 1986, the old observatory has housed the office of architects Harvey Morse and Cowperwood Interests.<ref name="McCain 1988" /><ref name="mrbellers">{{cite web |last=Michaelis |first=David |url=http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=114 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519083624/http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=114 |archive-date=May 19, 2009 |title=Inside the Needle: The Chrysler Building Gets Lit by David Michaelis |publisher=MrBellersNeighborhood |date=March 31, 2002 |access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref>
The stories above the 71st floor are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire and do not contain office space.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=400}} They are very narrow, have low and sloping roofs, and are only used to house radio transmitters and other mechanical and electrical equipment.<ref name="jayebee.com" /> For example, the 73rd floor houses the motors of the elevators and a {{convert|15000|gal|L|adj=on}} water tank, of which {{convert|3500|gal|L}} are reserved for extinguishing fires.<ref name="mrbellers" />
{{Clear}}
== History ==
[[File:Chrysler Building 2005 4.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A view of the Chrysler Building from the Empire State Building|The Chrysler Building from the [[Empire State Building]], both erected as part of New York City's 1920s building boom]]
In the mid-1920s, [[New York metropolitan area|New York's metropolitan area]] surpassed [[Greater London|London's]] as the [[List of largest cities throughout history|world's most populous metropolitan area]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Boehm |first1=Lisa Krissoff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iUhBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA197 |title=America's Urban History |last2=Corey |first2=Steven Hunt |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-81332-3 |page=197 |access-date=November 1, 2017}}</ref> and its population exceeded ten million by the early 1930s.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 1, 2002 |title=New York Urbanized Area: Population & Density from 1800 (Provisional) |url=http://demographia.com/db-nyuza1800.htm |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=DEMOGRAPHIA}}</ref> The era was characterized by profound social and technological changes. Consumer goods such as radio, cinema, and the automobile became widespread.<ref name="Lewis 2005" /> In 1927, Walter Chrysler's automotive company, the [[Chrysler]] Corporation, became the third-largest car manufacturer in the United States, behind [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]] and [[General Motors]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date=June 2, 1928 |title=Chrysler and Dodge Brothers Unite to Form Third Largest Producer |pages=853, 857 |journal=Automotive Industries |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Smale |first=Ian |date=December 25, 2008 |title=The Chrysler Building 405 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City |url=https://www.chryslerclub.org/walterp.html |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=Chrysler Products Club}}</ref> The following year, Chrysler was named ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's "[[Time Person of the Year|Person of the Year]]".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=December 16, 2006 |title=Person of the Year: A Photo History |url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2019712_2019703_2019660,00.html |magazine=Time |language=en-US |issn=0040-781X |access-date=November 1, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />
The [[Roaring Twenties|economic boom of the 1920s]] and speculation in the real estate market fostered a wave of new skyscraper projects in New York City.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" /> The Chrysler Building was built as part of an ongoing building boom that resulted in the city having the [[List of tallest buildings|world's tallest building]] from 1908 to 1974.<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2009 |title=History of Measuring Tall Buildings |url=http://www.ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170820074715/http://ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archive-date=August 20, 2017 |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat |language=en-US}}</ref> Following the end of [[World War I]], European and American architects came to see simplified design as the epitome of the modern era and [[Art Deco]] skyscrapers as symbolizing progress, innovation, and modernity. The [[1916 Zoning Resolution]] restricted the height that street-side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before needing to be [[Setback (architecture)|setback]] from the street.{{Efn|As per the 1916 Zoning Act, the wall of any given tower that faces a street could only rise to a certain height, proportionate to the street's width, at which point the building had to be set back by a given proportion. This system of setbacks would continue until the tower reaches a floor level in which that level's floor area was 25% that of the ground level's area. After that 25% threshold was reached, the building could rise without restriction.{{sfn|Kayden|Municipal Art Society|2000|p=8}} This law was superseded by the [[1961 Zoning Resolution]].{{sfn|Kayden|Municipal Art Society|2000|pp=11–12}}|name=zoning}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Penafiel |first=Karen |date=June 28, 2006 |title=The Empire State Building: An Innovative Skyscraper |url=https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/3180/title/the-empire-state-building-an-innovative-skyscraper |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=Buildings Review |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021035/https://www.buildings.com/article-details/articleid/3180/title/the-empire-state-building-an-innovative-skyscraper |url-status=dead}}</ref> This led to the construction of [[Art Deco architecture of New York City|Art Deco structures in New York City]] with significant setbacks, large volumes, and striking silhouettes that were often elaborately decorated.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=417}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Young |first=Michelle |date=December 7, 2011 |title=How Zoning Shaped the New York Skyline |url=http://untappedcities.com/2011/12/07/how-zoning-shaped-the-new-york-skyline/ |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=Untapped Cities}}</ref> Art Deco buildings were constructed for only a short period of time; but because that period was during the city's late-1920s real estate boom, the numerous skyscrapers built in the Art Deco style predominated in the city skyline, giving it the romantic quality seen in films and plays.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=3}} The Chrysler Building project was shaped by these circumstances.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />
=== Development ===
Originally, the Chrysler Building was to be the Reynolds Building, a project of real estate developer and former New York state senator [[William H. Reynolds (New York politician)|William H. Reynolds]].{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=606}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}<ref name="jayebee.com" /> Prior to his involvement in planning the building, Reynolds was best known for developing [[Coney Island]]'s [[Dreamland (Coney Island, 1904)|Dreamland amusement park]]. When the amusement park was destroyed by a fire in 1911, Reynolds turned his attention to [[Manhattan]] real estate, where he set out to build the tallest building in the world.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=606}}{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}
==== Planning ====
In 1921, Reynolds rented a large plot of land at the corner of [[Lexington Avenue]] and [[42nd Street (Manhattan)|42nd Street]] with the intention of building a tall building on the site.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=280}} Reynolds did not develop the property for several years, prompting the Cooper Union to try to increase the assessed value of the property in 1924. The move, which would force Reynolds to pay more rent, was unusual because property owners usually sought to decrease their property assessments and pay fewer taxes.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 9, 1924 |title=Cooper Union Seeks Higher Tax Assessment: Former Valuation Would Force Lessee, William H. Reynolds, to Pay Higher Rent |page=6 |work=The New York Herald, New York Tribune |id={{ProQuest|1113201557}}}}</ref> Reynolds hired the architect [[William Van Alen]] to design a forty-story building there in 1927.<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005">{{Cite news |last=Bascomb |first=Neal |date=May 26, 2005 |title=For the Architect, a Height Never Again to Be Scaled |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/for-the-architect-a-height-never-again-to-be-scaled.html |access-date=November 1, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Van Alen's original design featured many [[Modern architecture|Modernist]] stylistic elements, with glazed, curved windows at the corners.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=606}}
[[File:Chrysler Building Nov 2021.jpg|thumb|Chrysler Building from The SUMMIT at [[One Vanderbilt]] with the [[Headquarters of the United Nations|United Nations headquarters]] in the background ]]
Van Alen was respected in his field for his work on the Albemarle Building at Broadway and 24th Street, designing it in collaboration with his partner [[H. Craig Severance]].<ref name="Gray 1998">{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=March 22, 1998 |title=Streetscapes/William Van Alen; An Architect Called the 'Ziegfeld of His Profession' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/realestate/streetscapes-william-van-alen-an-architect-called-the-ziegfeld-of-his-profession.html |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=97}} Van Alen and Severance complemented each other, with Van Alen being an original, imaginative architect and Severance being a shrewd businessperson who handled the firm's finances.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=2}} The relationship between them became tense over disagreements on how best to run the firm.<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" /> A 1924 article in the ''[[Architectural Review]]'', praising the Albemarle Building's design, had mentioned Van Alen as the designer in the firm and ignored Severance's role.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=817}}{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=4}}{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=109}} The architects' partnership dissolved acrimoniously several months later, with lawsuits over the firm's clients and assets lasting over a year.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=4}}{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=109}} The rivalry influenced the design of the future Chrysler Building, since Severance's more traditional architectural style would otherwise have restrained Van Alen's more modern outlook.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|pp=108–109}}
==== Refinement of designs ====
By February 2, 1928, the proposed building's height had been increased to 54 stories, which would have made it the tallest building in Midtown.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 2, 1928 |title=54-Story Skyscraper, Tallest in Midtown, Planned at Lexington Avenue and 42d Street |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/02/95549248.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211710/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/02/95549248.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 8, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The proposal was changed again two weeks later, with official plans for a 63-story building.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 16, 1928 |title=Skyscraper Plans Filed.; 63-Story Offices to Rise on Lexington Av. Between 42d and 43d. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/16/91475150.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106145536/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/16/91475150.pdf |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 8, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A little more than a week after that, the plan was changed for the third time, with two additional stories added.<ref>{{Cite news |date=February 25, 1928 |title=Tallest Building In World Is Planned; Skyscraper of 64 Stories, 800 Feet in Height, to Be Built in Grand Central Zone. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/25/109855379.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211807/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/02/25/109855379.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 8, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By this time, 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue were both hubs for construction activity, due to the removal of the [[IRT Third Avenue Line|Third Avenue Elevated's]] 42nd Street spur, which was seen as a blight on the area. The adjacent 56-story Chanin Building was also under construction. Because of the elevated spur's removal, real estate speculators believed that Lexington Avenue would become the "Broadway of the East Side", causing a [[ripple effect]] that would spur developments farther east.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 4, 1928 |title=Building Activity On Lexington Av. The World's Tallest Structure Planned for the Grand Central Zone. Avenue Dormant For Years. Realty Values on the Increase as Large Plots Are Assembled for Improvement. A $12,000,000 Project. Old Parish House Passes. Seminary Leased Recently. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/03/04/95557551.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211730/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/03/04/95557551.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 8, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
In April 1928, Reynolds signed a 67-year lease for the plot and finalized the details of his ambitious project.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=146}} Van Alen's original design for the skyscraper called for a base with first-floor showroom windows that would be triple-height, and above would be 12 stories with glass-wrapped corners, to create the impression that the tower was floating in mid-air.<ref name="jayebee.com" /><ref name="NYEP-Reynolds-Tallest-1928">{{cite news |date=July 28, 1929 |title=Reynolds Building Will Be Tallest Structure in World |page=12 |work=New York Evening Post |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252011%2FNew%2520York%2520Evening%2520Post%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Evening%2520Post%25201928%2520Grayscale%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Evening%2520Post%25201928%2520Grayscale%2520-%25205602.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211724/http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/New%20York%20Evening%20Post/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201928%20Grayscale/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Post%201928%20Grayscale%20-%205602.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> Reynolds's main contribution to the building's design was his insistence that it have a metallic crown, despite Van Alen's initial opposition;{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}} the metal-and-crystal crown would have looked like "a jeweled sphere" at night.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=189}} Originally, the skyscraper would have risen {{convert|808|ft|m|0}}, with 67 floors.<ref name="emporis" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=July 29, 1928 |title=Grand Central Zone To Have Tallest Building In World |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/07/29/121606495.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211718/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/07/29/121606495.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 2, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="NYEP-Reynolds-Tallest-1928" /> These plans were approved in June 1928.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 6, 1928 |title=Approve New Skyscraper |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/06/06/91523940.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126063437/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1928/06/06/91523940.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 2, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Van Alen's drawings were unveiled in the following August and published in a magazine run by the [[American Institute of Architects]] (AIA).{{sfn|Kingston|2017|pp=145}}
Reynolds ultimately devised an alternate design for the Reynolds Building, which was published in August 1928. The new design was much more conservative, with an [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] dome that a critic compared to Governor [[Al Smith]]'s bowler hat, and a brick arrangement on the upper floors that simulated windows in the corners, a detail that remains in the current Chrysler Building. This design almost exactly reflected the shape, setbacks, and the layout of the windows of the current building, but with a different dome.<ref name="jayebee.com" />
With the design complete, groundbreaking for the Reynolds Building took place on September 19, 1928,<ref name="Elsheshtawy 2009 p. 154">{{cite book |last=Elsheshtawy |first=Yasser |title=Dubai: Behind an Urban Spectacle |publisher=Taylor & Francis |series=Planning, History and Environment Series |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-135-26119-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1VSOAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA154 |page=154}}</ref><!--The groundbreaking date may not be correct; see talk.--> but by late 1928, Reynolds did not have the means to carry on construction.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=161}}
====Chrysler's plans and restart of construction====
Walter Chrysler offered to buy the building in early October 1928,<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1113459887}} |title=Reynolds Said To Have Sold '67-Story Tower': Walter Chrysler, Automobile Maker, Reported to Have Bought Highest Building |date=October 3, 1928 |page=42 |issn=1941-0646 |work=New York Herald Tribune |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |date=October 4, 1928 |title=Chrysler Deal Pending; Auto Man's Office Fails to Confirm Rumor of Realty Purchase. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/10/04/archives/chrysler-deal-pending-auto-mans-office-fails-to-confirm-rumor-of.html |access-date=March 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and Reynolds sold the plot, lease, plans, and architect's services to Chrysler on October 15, 1928,{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=161}}<ref name="NYTimes-Chrysler-Plans-1928" /> for more than $2.5 million.<ref>{{cite news |id={{ProQuest|1113396658}} |title=Reynolds's 68-Story Plan Nets $2,500,000 in Sale to Chrysler |date=October 17, 1928 |page=1 |issn=1941-0646 |work=New York Herald Tribune}}</ref> That day, the Goodwin Construction Company began demolition of what had been built.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=109}}<ref name="NYTimes-Chrysler-Plans-1928" /> A contract was awarded on October 28,<ref>{{Cite news |date=October 28, 1928 |title=Prizes for Building Workers In Novel Poster Safety Campaign |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and demolition was completed on November 9.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=109}} Chrysler's initial plans for the building were similar to Reynolds's, but with the 808-foot building having 68 floors instead of 67. The plans entailed a ground-floor [[Pedestrian zone|pedestrian arcade]]; a facade of stone below the fifth floor and [[Brickwork|brick]]-and-[[architectural terracotta|terracotta]] above; and a three-story bronze-and-glass "observation dome" at the top.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}<ref name="NYTimes-Chrysler-Plans-1928" /> However, Chrysler wanted a more progressive design, and he worked with Van Alen to redesign the skyscraper to be {{convert|925|ft|m|abbr=on}} tall.{{sfn|Kingston|2017|p=164}} At the new height, Chrysler's building would be taller than the {{convert|792|ft|m|adj=on}} [[Woolworth Building]], a building in [[lower Manhattan]] that was the world's tallest at the time.<ref name="Gray 1992">{{cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=November 15, 1992 |title=Streetscapes: 40 Wall Street; A Race for the Skies, Lost by a Spire |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/11/15/realestate/streetscapes-40-wall-street-a-race-for-the-skies-lost-by-a-spire.html |access-date=November 3, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes-Chrysler-Plans-1928" /> At one point, Chrysler had requested that Van Alen shorten the design by ten floors, but reneged on that decision after realizing that the increased height would also result in increased publicity.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=605}}
[[File:New York City Chrysler Building 02.jpg|thumb|upright|One of the [[Radiator (engine cooling)|radiator]] cap–themed [[Ornament (art)|ornaments]]]]
From late 1928 to early 1929, modifications to the design of the dome continued.<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" /> In March 1929, the press published details of an "artistic dome" that had the shape of a giant thirty-pointed star, which would be crowned by a sculpture five meters high.<ref name="The New York Times 1929" /><ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=57}} The final design of the dome included several arches and triangular windows.<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" /> Lower down, various architectural details were modeled after Chrysler automobile products, such as the hood ornaments of the [[Plymouth (automobile)|Plymouth]] (see {{section link||Facade}}).<ref name="jayebee.com" /><ref name="emporis" /> The building's gargoyles on the 31st floor and the eagles on the 61st floor, were created to represent flight,{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=424}} and to embody the machine age of the time.<ref name="jayebee.com" /><ref name="emporis" /> Even the topmost needle was built using a process similar to one Chrysler used to manufacture his cars, with precise "hand craftmanship".{{sfn|Curcio|2001|pp=423–424}} In his autobiography, Chrysler says he suggested that his building be taller than the [[Eiffel Tower]].<ref name="Chrysler-Autobiography-1950">{{Cite book |last=Chrysler |first=Walter P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRI-ygAACAAJ |title=Life of an American Workman |publisher=Benediction Classics |year=1950 |isbn=9781849023276 |pages=197 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}
Meanwhile, excavation of the new building's {{convert|69|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} foundation began in mid-November 1928{{sfn|Stravitz|2002|p=54}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=420}} and was completed in mid-January 1929, when bedrock was reached.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=109}} A total of {{convert|105000000|lb|kg}} of rock and {{convert|36000000|lb|kg}} of soil were excavated for the foundation, equal to 63% of the future building's weight.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=420}} Construction of the building proper began on January 21, 1929.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=109}} The [[Carnegie Steel Company]] provided the steel beams, the first of which was installed on March 27; and by April 9, the first upright beams had been set into place.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=420}} The steel structure was "a few floors" high by June 1929, 35 floors high by early August,{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=420}} and completed by September.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" /> Despite a frantic steelwork construction pace of about four floors per week,<ref>{{Cite news |date=August 4, 1929 |title=4 Floors Added Weekly; Brick and Steel Are Being Placed Rapidly in Chrysler Building. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/04/archives/4-floors-added-weekly-brick-and-steel-are-being-placed-rapidly-in.html |access-date=March 20, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> no workers died during the construction of the skyscraper's steelwork.<ref name="NYTimes-Safety-1930">{{cite web |date=January 19, 1930 |title=Lauds Safety Record |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/19/96905885.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211716/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/19/96905885.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Chrysler lauded this achievement, saying, "It is the first time that any structure in the world has reached such a height, yet the entire steel construction was accomplished without loss of life".<ref name="NYTimes-Safety-1930" /> In total, 391,881 rivets were used,<ref>{{cite book |last=Chrysler |first=W.P. |title=The Chrysler Building |publisher=Chrysler Tower Corporation |year=1930 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AYOGWG1d064C |page=8}}</ref> and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were laid to create the non-loadbearing walls of the skyscraper.{{sfn|Stravitz|2002|pp=54, 158}} Walter Chrysler personally financed the construction with his income from his car company.<ref>{{cite book |last=Grigg |first=N.S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v5TgZ8ckYagC |title=Infrastructure Finance: The Business of Infrastructure for a Sustainable Future |publisher=Wiley |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-470-59727-9 |series=Wiley Finance |page=52 |access-date=November 3, 2017}}</ref> The Chrysler Building's height officially surpassed the Woolworth's on October 16, 1929, thereby becoming the world's tallest structure.<ref>{{cite news |date=October 16, 1929 |title=Chrysler Building Now Tallest Edifice; Tower Height of 808 Feet Surpasses Woolworth Structureby Sixteen Feet. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/10/16/96000806.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211724/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/10/16/96000806.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
====Competition for "world's tallest building" title====
The same year that the Chrysler Building's construction started, banker [[Dover Corporation#Founding|George L. Ohrstrom]] proposed the construction of a 47-story office building at [[40 Wall Street]] downtown, designed by Van Alen's former partner Severance. Shortly thereafter, Ohrstrom expanded his project to 60 floors, but it was still shorter than the Woolworth and Chrysler buildings.<ref name="Gray 1992" /> That April, Severance increased 40 Wall's height to {{convert|840|ft|m}} with 62 floors, exceeding the Woolworth's height by {{convert|48|ft|m}} and the Chrysler's by {{convert|32|ft|m}}.<ref name="Gray 1992" /> 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building started competing for the title of "[[List of tallest buildings in the world|world's tallest building]]".<ref name="Davies y631" /><ref>{{cite web |author=Emporis GmbH |title=Emporis Data "...a celebrated three-way race to become the tallest building in the world." |url=http://www.emporis.com/building/the-trump-building-new-york-city-ny-usa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224222332/http://www.emporis.com/building/the-trump-building-new-york-city-ny-usa |url-status=usurped |archive-date=February 24, 2012 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |publisher=Emporis.com |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |title=The Manhattan Company – Skyscraper.org; "...'race' to erect the tallest tower in the world." |url=http://www.skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150515170003/http://skyscraper.org/TALLEST_TOWERS/t_manco.htm |archive-date=May 15, 2015 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |publisher=Skyscraper.org}}</ref>{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=281}} The [[Empire State Building]], on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, entered the competition in 1929.{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|pp=388–389}} The race was defined by at least five other proposals, although only the Empire State Building would survive the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]].{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=612}}{{efn|These proposals included the 100-story [[Metropolitan Life North Building]]; a {{convert|1050|ft|adj=on}} tower built by [[Abraham E. Lefcourt]] at Broadway and 49th Street; a 100-story tower developed by the [[Fred F. French]] Company on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets; an 85-story tower to be developed on the site of the Belmont Hotel near Grand Central Terminal; and the Noyes-Schulte Company's proposed tower on Broadway between Duane and Worth Streets. Only one of these projects was even partially completed: the base of the Metropolitan Life North Building.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|pp=610, 612}}}} The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, which helped fuel the building boom in major cities.{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|pp=388–389}} Van Alen expanded the Chrysler Building's height to {{convert|925|ft|m}}, prompting Severance to increase the height of 40 Wall Street to {{convert|927|ft|m}} in April 1929.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=281}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=130}} Construction of 40 Wall Street began that May and was completed twelve months later.<ref name="Gray 1992" />
In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a {{convert|125|ft|m|adj=mid|-long}} spire.{{sfn|Stravitz|2002|p=161}}{{sfn|Binder|2006|p=102}}{{efn|According to [[Robert A. M. Stern]], the spire was {{convert|185|ft}} long.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=605}}}} He had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the Chrysler Building,{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=130}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=605}} ensuring that Severance did not know the Chrysler Building's ultimate height until the end.<ref name="Davies y631" /> The spire was delivered to the site in four sections.{{sfn|Stravitz|2002|p=161}} On October 23, 1929, one week after the Chrysler Building surpassed the Woolworth Building's height and one day before the [[Wall Street Crash of 1929]], the spire was assembled. According to one account, "the bottom section of the spire was hoisted to the top of the building's dome and lowered into the 66th floor of the building."<ref name="Gray 1992" /> Then, within 90 minutes the rest of the spire's pieces were raised and riveted in sequence,{{sfn|Stravitz|2002|p=xiii, 161}} raising the tower to 1,046 feet.{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=426}}{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=110}} Van Alen, who witnessed the process from the street along with its engineers and Walter Chrysler,{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=426}} compared the experience to watching a butterfly leaving its cocoon.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=605}}{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=110}} In the October 1930 edition of ''[[Architectural Forum]]'', Van Alen explained the design and construction of the crown and needle:{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=425}}<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />
{{blockquote|A high spire structure with a needle-like termination was designed to surmount the dome. This is 185 feet high and 8 feet square at its base. It was made up of four corner angles, with light angle strut and diagonal members, all told weighing 27 tons. It was manifestly impossible to assemble this structure and hoist it as a unit from the ground, and equally impossible to hoist it in sections and place them as such in their final positions. Besides, it would be more spectacular, for publicity value, to have this cloud-piercing needle appear unexpectedly.}}
The steel tip brought the Chrysler Building to a height of {{convert|1046|ft|m}}, greatly exceeding 40 Wall Street's height.{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=14}}{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}} Contemporary news media did not write of the spire's erection, nor were there any press releases celebrating the spire's erection. Even the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'', which had virtually continuous coverage of the tower's construction, did not report on the spire's installation until days after the spire had been raised.{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=258}}
Chrysler realized that his tower's height would exceed the Empire State Building's as well, having ordered Van Alen to change the Chrysler's original roof from a stubby [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] dome to the narrow steel spire.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=130}} However, the Empire State's developer [[John J. Raskob]] reviewed the plans and realized that he could add five more floors and a spire of his own to his 80-story building{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=131}} and acquired additional plots to support that building's height extension.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=230}}<ref>{{cite news |date=November 19, 1929 |title=Enlarges Site For 1,000-Foot Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/19/107107719.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191102004515/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/11/19/107107719.pdf |archive-date=November 2, 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=October 24, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Two days later, the Empire State Building's co-developer, former governor Al Smith, announced the updated plans for that skyscraper, with an observation deck on the 86th-floor roof at a height of {{convert|1050|ft|m}}, higher than the Chrysler's 71st-floor observation deck at {{convert|783|ft}}.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=131}}
=== Completion ===
[[File:Chrysler Building Midtown Manhattan New York City 1932.jpg|thumb|right|The Chrysler Building in 1932]]
In January 1930, it was announced that the Chrysler Corporation would maintain satellite offices in the Chrysler Building during Automobile Show Week.<ref name="NYTimes-Division-Offices-1930">{{Cite news |year=1930 |title=Division Offices Opened In New Chrysler Bldg. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/05/132757162.pdf |access-date=November 4, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The skyscraper was never intended to become the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters, which remained in Detroit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Langworth |first1=Richard M. |last2=Norbye |first2=Jan P. |date=1985 |title=The Complete History of Chrysler Corporation 1924–1985 |url=https://archive.org/details/completehistoryo0000lang_k6h5/page/46/mode/2up |___location=Skokie, Illinois |publisher=Publications International |page=47 |isbn=0-88176-200-8}}</ref> The first leases by outside tenants were announced in April 1930, before the building was officially completed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 22, 1930 |title=Universal Atlas Cement Co. Leases in Chrysler Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/04/22/96104542.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811212428/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/04/22/96104542.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=2}} The building was formally opened on May 27, 1930, in a ceremony that coincided with the 42nd Street Property Owners and Merchants Association's meeting that year. In the lobby of the building, a bronze plaque that read "in recognition of Mr. Chrysler's contribution to civic advancement" was unveiled. Former Governor Smith, former Assemblyman [[Martin G. McCue]], and 42nd Street Association president [[George W. Sweeney]] were among those in attendance.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=2}}<ref name="NYT-Chrysler-Open-1930">{{cite web |date=May 28, 1930 |title=Chrysler Building, City's Highest, Open |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/28/96134315.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211733/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/05/28/96134315.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By June, it was reported that 65% of the available space had been leased.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 15, 1930 |title=Chrysler Building Is On Paying Basis |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/06/15/107110925.pdf |access-date=November 4, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> By August, the building was declared complete, but the New York City Department of Construction did not mark it as finished until February 1932.{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=2}}
The added height of the spire allowed the Chrysler Building to surpass [[40 Wall Street]] as the tallest building in the world and the Eiffel Tower as the tallest structure.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=131}} The Chrysler Building was thus the first man-made structure to be taller than {{convert|1000|ft|m}}{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=95}} and, by extension, the world's first [[supertall skyscraper]].<ref name="skyscraperCenter" /> As one newspaper noted, the tower was also taller than the [[List of U.S. states by elevation|highest points of five states]].<ref>{{cite news |date=April 4, 1930 |title=First Building To Rise Above 1,000 Feet High |page=9 |work=The Troy Times |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252018%2FTroy%2520NY%2520Times%2FTroy%2520NY%2520Times%25201930%2FTroy%2520NY%2520Times%25201930%2520-%25201438.pdf |access-date=November 3, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> The tower remained the world's tallest for 11 months after its completion.<ref name="skyscraperCenter" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |title=The History of Measuring Tall Buildings |website=Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat |access-date=May 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120410072709/http://www.ctbuh.org/AboutCTBUH/History/MeasuringTall/tabid/1320/language/en-US/Default.aspx |archive-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Chrysler Building was appraised at $14 million, but was exempt from city taxes per an 1859 law that gave tax exemptions to sites owned by the Cooper Union.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 23, 1929 |title=Chrysler Building Escapes City Taxes |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/04/23/95931899.pdf |access-date=November 2, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The city had attempted to repeal the tax exemption, but Cooper Union had opposed that measure.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 11, 1932 |title=Opposes Taxation Of Chrysler Tower |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/06/11/100830264.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126174138/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/06/11/100830264.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Because the Chrysler Building retains the tax exemption, it has paid Cooper Union for the use of their land since opening.<ref name="NYTimes-Stravitz-Answers1-2009" /> While the Chrysler Corporation was a tenant, it was not involved in the construction or ownership of the Chrysler Building; rather, the tower was a project of Walter P. Chrysler for his children.<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=82}} In his autobiography, Chrysler wrote that he wanted to erect the building "so that his sons would have something to be responsible for".<ref name="Chrysler-Autobiography-1950" />{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}}
Van Alen's satisfaction at these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee.<ref name="jayebee.com" /> Chrysler alleged that Van Alen had received bribes from suppliers, and Van Alen had not signed any contracts with Walter Chrysler when he took over the project.<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" /> Van Alen sued and the courts ruled in his favor, requiring Chrysler to pay Van Alen $840,000, or six percent of the total budget of the building.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=117–118}} However, the lawsuit against Chrysler markedly diminished Van Alen's reputation as an architect, which, along with the effects of the [[Great Depression in the United States|Great Depression]] and negative criticism, ended up ruining his career.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=610}}<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" /> Van Alen ended his career as professor of sculpture at the nearby [[Beaux-Arts Institute of Design]] and died in 1954. According to author [[Neal Bascomb]], "The Chrysler Building was his greatest accomplishment, and the one that guaranteed his obscurity."<ref name="NYTimes-Never-Again-Scaled-2005" />
The Chrysler Building's distinction as the world's tallest building was short-lived. John Raskob realized the 1,050-foot Empire State Building would only be {{convert|4|ft|m}} taller than the Chrysler Building,{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=131}} and Raskob was afraid that Walter Chrysler might try to "pull a trick like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute."{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=235}} Another revision brought the Empire State Building's roof to {{convert|1250|ft|m}}, making it the tallest building in the world by far{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=247}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=185}} when it opened on May 1, 1931.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=227–228}} However, the Chrysler Building is still the world's tallest steel-supported brick building.<ref name="emporis" /> The Chrysler Building fared better commercially than the Empire State Building did: by 1935, the Chrysler had already rented 70 percent of its floor area.<ref>{{cite book |last=Moore |first=L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7JrlCQAAQBAJ |title=Anything Goes: A Biography of the Roaring Twenties |publisher=Atlantic Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-78239-868-4 |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref> By contrast, Empire State had only leased 23 percent of its space{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=273}} and was popularly derided as the "Empty State Building".<ref>* {{cite news |title=NYT Travel: Empire State Building |work=The New York Times |url=http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/new-york/new-york-city/attractions.html |url-status=dead |access-date=October 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019094149/http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/new-york/new-york-city/attractions.html |archive-date=October 19, 2010}} * {{cite news |last=Smith |first=Adam |date=August 18, 2008 |title=A Renters' Market in London |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=July 10, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100419214305/http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1833243,00.html |archive-date=April 19, 2010}}</ref>
=== <span class="anchor" id="Ownership"></span><span class="anchor" id="Later history"></span> Use ===
====<span class="anchor" id="20th century"></span> 1940s to 1960s====
[[File:NYCbyPinHt update.jpg|thumb|left|Height comparison of buildings in New York City]]
The Chrysler family inherited the property after the death of Walter Chrysler in 1940, with the property being under the ownership of W.P. Chrysler Building Corporation.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=ix}} In 1944, the corporation filed plans to build a 38-story annex to the east of the building, at 666 Third Avenue.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 27, 1944 |title=Chrysler Addition To Cost $3,000,000 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/27/86731393.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211748/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1944/09/27/86731393.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1949, this was revised to a 32-story annex costing $9 million.<ref>{{cite web |date=November 24, 1949 |title=Chrysler Building Plans Expansion |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/11/24/96479297.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211713/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/11/24/96479297.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The annex building, designed by [[Reinhard, Hofmeister & Walquist]],<ref name="RealDeal-666Third">{{cite web |date=March 30, 2015 |title=666 Third Avenue |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/property/666-third-avenue/ |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The Real Deal New York |archive-date=January 29, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170129171611/https://therealdeal.com/new-research/topics/property/666-third-avenue/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=June 25, 1950 |title=Sales Of Flooring Show Big Increase |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/06/25/91104991.pdf |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> had a facade similar to that of the original Chrysler Building. The stone for the original building was no longer manufactured, and had to be specially replicated.<ref>{{cite web |date=September 2, 1951 |title=Old Brick Duplicated |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/09/02/105217514.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106145546/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/09/02/105217514.pdf |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Construction started on the annex in June 1950,<ref>{{cite news |date=June 21, 1950 |title=Chrysler Starts New Skyscraper |page=4 |work=Buffalo Courier-Express |agency=Associated Press |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspapers%252021%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%25201950%2FBuffalo%2520NY%2520Courier%2520Express%25201950%2520-%25206255.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211717/http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%2021/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201950/Buffalo%20NY%20Courier%20Express%201950%20-%206255.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> and the first tenants started leasing in June 1951.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 21, 1951 |title=Chrysler Tenants Lease In New Annex |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/06/21/91641646.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211716/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/06/21/91641646.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The building itself was completed by 1952,<ref name="RealDeal-666Third" /> and a [[sky bridge]] connecting the two buildings' seventh floors was built in 1959.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 14, 1959 |title=Bridge Is Built to Link Offices in 2 Buildings |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/08/14/80543481.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211714/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1959/08/14/80543481.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 4, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
The family sold the building in 1953 to [[William Zeckendorf]]<ref name="NYTimes-New-Owner-1997">{{cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=November 25, 1997 |title=A New Owner To Take Over An Old Classic |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/25/nyregion/a-new-owner-to-take-over-an-old-classic.html |access-date=February 15, 2016 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=478}} for its assessed price of $18 million.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=635}} The 1953 deal included the annex and the nearby [[Graybar Building]], which, along with the Chrysler Building, sold for a combined $52 million. The new owners were Zeckendorf's company [[Webb and Knapp]], who held a 75% interest in the sale, and the Graysler Corporation, who held a 25% stake. At the time, it was reported to be the largest real estate sale in New York City's history.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bradley |first=John A. |date=October 10, 1953 |title=Chrysler, Graybar Buildings Sold for a Record 52 Million; Principals in Record $52,000,000 Real Estate Deal |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/10/10/110067504.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210106145547/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1953/10/10/110067504.pdf |archive-date=January 6, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=October 10, 1953 |title=Chrysler Building Sold For $52 Million |page=9 |work=Union Sun and Journal |agency=Associated Press |___location=Lockport, New York |url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252018%2FLockport%2520NY%2520Union%2520Sun%2520Journal%2FLockport%2520NY%2520Union%2520Sun%2520Journal%25201953%2FLockport%2520NY%2520Union%2520Sun%2520Journal%25201953%2520-%25203926.pdf |access-date=November 3, 2017 |via=[[Fultonhistory.com]]}}</ref> In 1957, the Chrysler Building, its annex, and the Graybar Building were sold for $66 million to [[Lawrence Wien]]'s realty syndicate, setting a new record for the largest sale in the city.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 26, 1957 |title=Chrysler Building In 66 Million Sale |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/07/26/84749696.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210811211732/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1957/07/26/84749696.pdf |archive-date=August 11, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
[[File:Chrysler Building 1965 (cropped).tif|thumb|The Chrysler Building in 1965]]
In 1960, the complex was purchased by [[Sol Goldman]] and Alex DiLorenzo,<ref>{{cite web |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=June 3, 1979 |title=The Goldman-DiLorenzo Empire And the Toss of a Coin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/03/archives/the-goldmandilorenzo-empire-and-the-toss-of-a-coin-the-great.html |access-date=November 3, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> who received a mortgage from the [[Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=August 30, 1975 |title=Foreclosure Begun on Chrysler Building |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/08/30/76597349.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126063435/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1975/08/30/76597349.pdf |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |url-status=live |access-date=November 3, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The next year, the building's stainless steel elements, including the needle, crown, gargoyles, and entrance doors, were polished for the first time.{{sfn|Cobb|2010|p=121}}<ref name="NYTimes-Scrubbing-1961">{{cite web |date=September 22, 1961 |title=10 Men Giving Chrysler Building First Scrubbing |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1961/09/22/archives/10-men-giving-chrysler-building-first-scrubbing-crew-mast-use-elbow.html |access-date=November 6, 2017 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> A group of ten workers steam-cleaned the facade below the 30th floor, and manually cleaned the portion of the tower above the 30th floor, for a cost of about $200,000.<ref name="NYTimes-Scrubbing-1961" /> Under Goldman and DiLorenzo's operation, the building began to develop leaks and cracked walls, and about {{convert|1200|yd3}} of garbage piled up in the basement. The scale of the deterioration led one observer to say that the Chrysler Building was being operated "like a tenement in the South Bronx".{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=478}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=March 12, 1978 |title=Future of the Chrysler Building Is Looking Up |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/12/archives/future-of-the-chrysler-building-is-looking-up.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The Chrysler Building remained profitable until 1974, when the owners faced increasing taxes and fuel costs.<ref name="m105002039">{{Cite news |last=Lewis |first=John |date=April 18, 1976 |title=Chrysler Building hopes to be old self |pages=522, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105002173/ 553] |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105002039/chrysler-building-hopes-to-be-old/ |access-date=July 5, 2022}}</ref>
====1970s to mid-1990s====
Foreclosure proceedings against the building began in August 1975, when Goldman and DiLorenzo [[Default (finance)|defaulted]] on the $29 million first mortgage and a $15 million second mortgage.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Horsley |first=Carter B. |date=August 30, 1975 |title=Foreclosure Begun on Chrysler Building |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/08/30/archives/foreclosure-begun-on-chrysler-building.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |date=September 2, 1975 |title=Chrysler Building Faces Foreclosure In Mortgage Suit |page=2 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|133947316}}}}</ref> The building was about 17 percent vacant at the time.<ref name="nyt-1975-10-15" /> Massachusetts Mutual acquired the Chrysler Building for $35 million,<ref name="Goldberger 1978" /> purchasing all the outstanding debt on the building via several transactions.<ref name="AR 1978-05" /> The next year, the Chrysler Building was designated as a [[National Historic Landmark]].<ref name="nhlsum" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Pitts |first=Carolyn |date=August 1976 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Chrysler Building |url={{NHLS url |id=76001237}} |access-date=May 3, 2009 |website=National Park Service |format=PDF}} and {{NHLS url|id=76001237|title=Accompanying 1 photo, exterior, undated|photos=y}} {{small|(164 KB)}}</ref> Texaco, one of the building's major tenants, was relocating to [[Westchester County, New York]], by then,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Baugh |first=Glenda |date=November 17, 1975 |title=Texaco plans county 'home' |pages=3 |work=The Herald Statesman |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105003508/texaco-plans-county-homeglenda-baugh/ |access-date=July 5, 2022}}</ref> vacating hundreds of thousands of square feet at the Chrysler Building.<ref name="m105002039" /><ref name="nyt-1975-10-15">{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |date=October 15, 1975 |title=About Real Estate |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/10/15/archives/about-real-estate-chrysler-building-facing-test.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In early 1978, Mass Mutual devised plans to renovate the facade, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, elevators, lobby murals, and Cloud Club headquarters for $23 million.<ref name="Goldberger 1978">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=March 24, 1978 |title=Owners of the Chrysler Building To Spend $23 Million to Renovate It |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/24/archives/owners-of-the-chrysler-building-to-spend-23-million-to-renovate-it.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Moritz |first=Owen |date=March 24, 1978 |title=Pledge a Soaring Future for Chrysler Building |pages=142 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105003431/pledge-a-soaring-future-for-chrysler/ |access-date=July 5, 2022}}</ref><ref name="AR 1978-05">{{cite magazine |date=May 1978 |title="Total restoration" planned for Chrysler Building |url=https://usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1978-05.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228155357/https://www.usmodernist.org/AR/AR-1978-05.pdf |archive-date=February 28, 2020 |url-status=live |magazine=Architectural Record |volume=163 |pages=37}}</ref> At a press conference announcing the renovation, mayor [[Ed Koch]] proclaimed that "the steel eagles and the gargoyles of the Chrysler Building are all shouting the renaissance of New York".{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=478}}<ref name="Goldberger 1978" /> Massachusetts Mutual had hired [[Josephine Sokolski]], who had proposed modifying Van Alen's original lobby design substantially.<ref name="nyt-1980-08-18">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=August 18, 1980 |title=The Chrysler Building at 50: A City's Enduring Symbol; An Appraisal 'Almost Entirely Rented' Declared City Landmark The Chrysler Tower, at 50, Enjoying New Lease on Life Reaching for the Top |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/08/18/archives/the-chrysler-building-at-50-a-citys-enduring-symbol-an-appraisal.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|pp=478–479}}
After the renovation was announced, the [[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] (LPC) considered designating the Chrysler Building as a city landmark.<ref name="Goldberger 1978" /> Though Mass Mutual had proclaimed "sensitivity and respect" for the building's architecture,<ref name="Goldberger 1978" /> it had opposed the city landmark designation, concerned that the designation would hinder leasing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=July 12, 1978 |title=Landmark Tag Fought By Chrysler Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/07/12/archives/landmark-tag-fought-by-chrysler-building.html |access-date=November 7, 2017 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=478}} At the time, the building had {{convert|500000|ft2|m2}} of vacant floor space, representing 40% of the total floor area.<ref name="Goldberger 1978" /> The owners hired the Edward S. Gordon Company as the building's leasing agent, and the firm leased {{convert|750000|ft2|m2}} of vacant space within five years.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oser |first=Alan S. |date=January 9, 1980 |title=Real Estate; Chrysler Building's Rescue |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/01/09/archives/real-estate-chrysler-buildings-rescue.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The LPC designated the lobby and facade as city landmarks in September 1978.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=478}} Massachusetts Mutual had hired [[Josephine Sokolski]] to renovate the lobby, but the LPC objected that many aspects of Sokolski's planned redesign had deviated too much from Van Alen's original design.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|pp=478–479}}<ref name="nyt-1978-11-14">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=November 14, 1978 |title=Chrysler Lobby Focus of Dispute |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/14/archives/chrysler-lobby-focus-of-dispute-an-appraisal-should-be-left-alone.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As a result of these disputes, the renovation of the lobby was delayed.<ref name="nyt-1978-11-14" />[[File:Chrysler Building Oct 2021 14.jpg|thumb|The Chrysler Building seen from ground level|left]]The building was sold again in August 1979, this time to entrepreneur and [[Washington Redskins]] owner [[Jack Kent Cooke]], in a deal that also transferred ownership of the [[Los Angeles Kings]] and [[Los Angeles Lakers|Lakers]] to [[Jerry Buss]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Saxon |first=Wolfgang |date=September 1, 1979 |title=The Chrysler Tower Is Sold' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/01/archives/the-chrysler-tower-is-sold-faith-in-new-york-city.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |id={{ProQuest|134367257}} |title=Massachusetts Mutual Life Completes Sale Of Chrysler Building |date=September 4, 1979 |page=6 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> At the time, the building was 96 percent occupied. The new owners hired Kenneth Kleiman of Descon Interiors to redesign the lobby and elevator cabs in a style that was much closer to Van Alen's original design.<ref name="nyt-1980-08-18" />{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}} Cooke also oversaw the completion of a lighting scheme at the pinnacle, which had been part of the original design but was never completed.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}} The lighting system, consisting of 580 fluorescent tubes installed within the triangular windows of the top stories, was first illuminated in September 1981.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}}<ref>{{cite news |last=Kernan |first=Michael |date=September 17, 1981 |title=The Night Light: The Chrysler Building's Old Glory in New York Lighting Up the N.Y. Night |page=C1 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|147252078}}}}</ref>
Cooke next hired Hoffman Architects to restore the exterior and spire from 1995 to 1996.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}}<ref name="nyt-1995-12-17">{{Cite news |last=Gray |first=Christopher |date=December 17, 1995 |title=Streetscapes: The Chrysler Building;Skyscraper's Place in the Sun |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/17/realestate/streetscapes-the-chrysler-building-skyscraper-s-place-in-the-sun.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The joints in the now-closed observation deck were polished, and the facade restored, as part of a $1.5 million project. Some damaged steel strips of the needle were replaced and several parts of the gargoyles were re-welded together.<ref name="nyt-1995-12-17" /> The cleaning received the [[New York Landmarks Conservancy]]'s Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award for 1997.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards for 1991–2001 |url=http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/moses_awards/lucy_g._moses_preservation_awards_for_1991_-_2001/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105234218/http://www.nylandmarks.org/events/moses_awards/lucy_g._moses_preservation_awards_for_1991_-_2001/ |archive-date=January 5, 2012 |access-date=November 6, 2017 |work=New York Landmarks Conservancy}}</ref> Cooke died in April 1997, and his mortgage lender [[Fuji Bank]] moved to foreclose on the building the next month.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Kirk |date=May 10, 1997 |title=Once Again, A Landmark Faces a Suit To Foreclose |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/10/nyregion/once-again-a-landmark-faces-a-suit-to-foreclose.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |postscript=none}}; {{cite news |last=Walsh |first=Sharon |date=May 24, 1997 |title=Cooke's Chrysler Building Target of Foreclosure Suit |page=F1 |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |id={{ProQuest|1457987386}}}}</ref> Shortly after Fuji announced its intent to foreclose, several developers and companies announced that they were interested in buying the building.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Feldman |first=Amy |date=May 19, 1997 |title=Chrysler Bldg. attracts bids |magazine=Crain's New York Business |volume=13 |issue=20 |page=1 |id={{ProQuest|219140232}} |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Dow Jones |date=May 23, 1997 |title=Bids on Chrysler Building |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/23/nyregion/bids-on-chrysler-building.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Ultimately, 20 potential buyers submitted bids to buy the Chrysler Building and several adjacent buildings.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=September 18, 1997 |title=Chrysler Building Lures 20 Bidders With Romance and Profit Potential |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/18/nyregion/chrysler-building-lures-20-bidders-with-romance-and-profit-potential.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==== Late 1990s to 2010s ====
[[Tishman Speyer Properties]] and the [[The Travelers Companies|Travelers Insurance Group]] won the right to buy the building in November 1997, having submitted a bid for about $220 million (equal to ${{Inflation|US|220|1997|r=-1}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}}). Tishman Speyer had negotiated a 150-year lease from the Cooper Union, which continued to own the land under the Chrysler Building.<ref name="NYTimes-New-Owner-1997" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Pacelle |first=Mitchell |date=November 25, 1997 |title=Chrysler Building Gets a New Owner As Tishman Speyer Wins Bidding War |page=A6 |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |issn=0099-9660 |id={{ProQuest|398648095}}}}</ref> In 1998, Tishman Speyer announced that it had hired [[Beyer Blinder Belle]] to renovate the building and incorporate it into a commercial complex known as the [[Chrysler Building#Chrysler Center|Chrysler Center]].{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}}<ref name="nyt-1998-06-282">{{Cite news |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |date=June 28, 1998 |title=Chrome Spire By Chrysler To Meet Crystal By Johnson |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/28/nyregion/chrome-spire-by-chrysler-to-meet-crystal-by-johnson.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> As part of this project, [[EverGreene Architectural Arts]] restored the ''Transport and Human Endeavor'' mural in the lobby, which had been covered up during the late-1970s renovation.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}}<ref name="Dunlap 1999" /> The renovation cost $100 million.<ref name="A 1999-11" /> In 2001, a 75 percent stake in the building was sold for US$300 million (equal to ${{Inflation|US|300|2001|r=-1}} million in {{Inflation-year|US}}) to TMW, the German arm of an [[Atlanta]]-based investment fund.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=March 5, 2001 |title=German Group Buys Stake In Skyscraper |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/05/nyregion/german-group-buys-stake-in-skyscraper.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The building was 95 percent occupied by 2005.<ref name="Pascus a585">{{cite web |last=Pascus |first=Brian |date=October 4, 2024 |title=How the Chrysler Building fell on hard times, and what can be done |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2024/10/how-the-chrysler-building-fell-on-hard-times/ |access-date=October 11, 2024 |website=Commercial Observer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bascomb |first=Neal |date=May 26, 2005 |title=Before the Crash: Bringing in the Blue Chips |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/before-the-crash-bringing-in-the-blue-chips.html |access-date=July 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
In June 2008, it was reported that the [[Abu Dhabi Investment Council]] was in negotiations to buy TMW's 75 percent ownership stake, Tishman Speyer's 15 percent stake, and a share of the Trylons retail structure next door for US$800 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=NYC Trophy Update: GM Tower Gone, Chrysler Building Going, Macklowe Prizes on Block…Plus, a Spire to Inspire |website=Commercial Property Executive |date=June 11, 2008 |url=https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/nyc-trophy-update-gm-tower-gone-chrysler-building-going-macklowe-prizes-on-blockplus-a-spire-to-inspire/ |access-date=April 21, 2022}}</ref> The transaction was completed the next month, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Council assumed a 90 percent stake in the building, with Tishman Speyer retaining 10 percent.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bagli |first=Charles V. |date=July 10, 2008 |title=Abu Dhabi Buys 90% Stake in Chrysler Building |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/nyregion/10chrysler.html |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name="abudabhi">{{Cite news |last=Frangos |first=Alex |date=July 10, 2008 |title=Abu Dhabi Fund Acquires Most of Chrysler Building |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121561441265439259 |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Tishman continued to manage the building and paid the Cooper Union $7.5 million a year.<ref name="Pascus a585" /> From 2010 to 2011, the building's energy, plumbing, and waste management systems were renovated. This resulted in a 21 percent decrease in the building's total energy consumption and 64 percent decrease in water consumption. In addition, 81 percent of waste was recycled. In 2012, the building received a [[Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design|LEED]] Gold accreditation from the [[U.S. Green Building Council]], which recognized the building's environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.<ref name="realdeal20121029" />
==== RFR Holding operation ====
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Tishman Speyer put the Chrysler Building's leasehold for sale again in January 2019.<ref>{{cite web |date=January 9, 2019 |title=Owners of Chrysler Building to sell iconic NYC skyscraper |url=https://abc7ny.com/5040800/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110074029/https://abc7ny.com/5040800/ |archive-date=January 10, 2019 |access-date=January 10, 2019 |website=ABC7 New York |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Morris |first=Keiko |date=January 9, 2019 |title=Chrysler Building, a Famed Slice of Manhattan Skyline, Is on the Block |language=en-US |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/chrysler-building-a-famed-slice-of-manhattan-skyline-is-on-the-block-11547035200 |access-date=July 5, 2022 |issn=0099-9660}}</ref> That March, the media reported that [[Aby Rosen]]'s RFR Holding LLC, in a joint venture with the Austrian [[Signa Holding|Signa Group]], had reached an agreement to purchase the leasehold<ref name="signa">{{cite news |last=Seythal |first=Thomas |date=March 15, 2019 |title=Austria's Signa, RFR Holding buy New York's Chrysler Building |work=Reuters |editor-last=Hummel |editor-first=Tassilo |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-property-chryslerbuilding/austrias-signa-rfr-holding-buy-new-yorks-chrysler-building-idUSKCN1QW210 |access-date=May 13, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |first=Lily |last=Katz |date=March 8, 2019 |title=Chrysler Building to Sell to RFR for About $150 Million |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-08/rfr-is-said-to-be-serious-bidder-for-nyc-s-chrysler-building |access-date=March 10, 2019 |work=[[Bloomberg News]]}}</ref> at a steeply discounted $150 million.<ref>{{cite web |last=Isidore |first=Chris |date=March 8, 2019 |title=Iconic Chrysler Building will sell at a huge loss |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/08/business/chrysler-building-sale/index.html |access-date=August 17, 2019 |publisher=CNN |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |first=Ginia |last=Bellafante |date=December 27, 2019 |title=9 Ways New York Changed That We Didn't See Coming |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/27/nyregion/nyc-decade-2010s.html |access-date=December 27, 2019 |website=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In exchange, Rosen had to pay the Cooper Union $32.5 million a year, a steep increase from the rate the previous leaseholders had paid.<ref name="Velsey r667" /><ref name="Seemuth x039">{{cite web |last=Seemuth |first=Mike |date=September 5, 2024 |title=RFR Holding Plans to Resolve Debt Issues Without Selling Top Buildings |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2024/09/rfr-holding-distress-sales-sl-green-new-york/ |access-date=September 6, 2024 |website=Commercial Observer}}</ref>
Rosen initially planned to convert the building into a hotel,<ref>{{cite web |last=Kim |first=Elizabeth |date=March 13, 2019 |title=Developer May Open Hotel Inside The Chrysler Building |url=https://gothamist.com/news/developer-may-open-hotel-inside-the-chrysler-building |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Gothamist |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=Sun |first=Kevin |date=March 12, 2019 |title=CThe Chrysler Hotel? Aby Rosen to consider conversion for $151M trophy asset |url=https://therealdeal.com/2019/03/12/the-chrysler-hotel-aby-rosen-to-consider-conversion-for-151m-trophy-asset/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US}}</ref> but he dropped these plans in April 2019, citing difficulties with the ground lease.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vamburkar |first=Meenal |date=April 18, 2019 |title=Aby Rosen is no longer planning a hotel for the Chrysler Building |url=https://therealdeal.com/2019/04/18/aby-rosen-is-no-longer-planning-a-hotel-for-the-chrysler-building/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Plitt |first=Amy |date=April 18, 2019 |title=Aby Rosen scraps hotel plan for iconic Chrysler Building |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2019/4/18/18484888/chrysler-building-aby-rosen-hotel-scrapped |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Curbed NY}}</ref> Rosen then announced plans for an observation deck on the 61st-story setback,<ref>{{cite web |last=Deffenbaugh |first=Ryan |date=April 8, 2019 |title=New Chrysler Building owner could bring back observation deck |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/new-chrysler-building-owner-could-bring-back-observation-deck |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Crain's New York Business |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=Muldowney |first=Decca |date=April 3, 2019 |title=Aby Rosen plans to restore 'Sleeping Beauty' Chrysler Building to Art Deco glory |url=https://therealdeal.com/2019/04/03/aby-rosen-plans-to-restore-sleeping-beauty-chrysler-building-to-art-deco-glory/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US}}</ref> which the LPC approved in May 2020.<ref>{{cite web |last=Spivack |first=Caroline |date=May 20, 2020 |title=An observation deck is coming to the Chrysler Building |url=https://ny.curbed.com/2020/5/20/21264740/chrysler-building-new-observation-deck |access-date=April 21, 2022 |website=Curbed NY |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=O'Regan |first=Sylvia Varnham |date=May 21, 2020 |title=Chrysler Building Observation Deck Gets Landmarks Approval |url=https://therealdeal.com/2020/05/21/aby-rosen-is-bringing-back-the-chrysler-buildings-observation-deck/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |date=May 22, 2020 |title=Observation Deck Coming Back To 61st Floor Of Iconic Chrysler Building |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/observation-deck-coming-back-to-61st-floor-of-iconic-chrysler-building/ |access-date=April 21, 2022 |publisher=CBS News}}</ref> He also wanted to reopen the Cloud Club and attract multiple restaurateurs.<ref name="Velsey r667" /> Rosen sought to renegotiate the terms of his ground lease with Cooper Union in 2020,<ref>{{cite web |last=Geiger |first=Daniel |date=May 7, 2020 |title=Inside the drama over control of the iconic Chrysler Building: Real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen and Cooper Union are renegotiating a critical $150 million deal |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/aby-rosen-attempts-to-renegotiate-chrysler-building-with-cooper-union-2020-5 |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Business Insider |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=Brenzel |first=Kathryn |date=May 6, 2020 |title=Aby Rosen in Talks to Rework Chrysler Building Deal |url=https://therealdeal.com/2020/05/06/aby-rosen-seeks-to-rework-chrysler-building-ground-lease/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US}}</ref> and he evicted storeowners from all of the building's shops in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to renovate the retail space.<ref name="Pascus a585" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hudson |first=Erin |date=March 24, 2020 |title=Chrysler Building Retail Tenants Didn't Get Leases Renewed |url=https://therealdeal.com/2020/03/24/retail-tenants-disappearing-from-chrysler-building/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US}}</ref> To attract tenants following the onset of the [[COVID-19 pandemic in New York City]] in 2020,<ref>{{cite web |last=Hughes |first=C. J. |date=September 15, 2020 |title=Rosen gambles on Midtown's recovery with a sweeping renovation |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/who-owns-block/rosen-gambles-midtowns-recovery-sweeping-renovation |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Crain's New York Business |postscript=none}}; {{Cite web |last=Balbi |first=Danielle |date=December 18, 2020 |title=Aby Rosen On Working From Home, Chrysler Building Renovation |url=https://therealdeal.com/2020/12/18/aby-rosen-says-firms-have-been-too-nice-nice-with-employees/ |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=The Real Deal New York |language=en-US}}</ref> he converted the Chrysler Building's ground-floor space into a tenant amenity center.<ref>{{cite web |last=Read |first=Bridget |date=October 7, 2022 |title=What Happened to the Gramercy Park Hotel? |url=https://www.curbed.com/2022/10/gramercy-park-hotel-lawsuit-pandemic.html |access-date=November 3, 2022 |website=Curbed}}</ref> RFR estimated that it had spent $170 million to renovate the building.<ref name="Velsey r667" /> RFR and Signa attempted to restructure the ground lease again in 2021 and 2023, both times without success.<ref name="Velsey r667" /><ref name="Kaleta r298">{{cite web |last=Kaleta |first=Philip |date=October 11, 2024 |title=A Wrestling Match Over Control of the Chrysler Building in Manhattan |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/11/us/a-wrestling-match-over-control-of-the-chrysler-building.html |access-date=October 11, 2024 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> By then, according to an anonymous source cited by ''[[Curbed]]'', RFR was losing an estimated $1 million a month from the Chrysler Building's operation.<ref name="Velsey r667" />
In December 2023, Signa's creditors ordered the company to sell its stake in the Chrysler Building, following Signa's insolvency.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Peter |last1=Grant |first2=Helena |last2=Smolak |title=Chrysler Building's Fate Is Uncertain After Co-Owner Is Forced to Sell |url=https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/chrysler-building-co-owner-signa-ordered-to-sell-stake-825acecc |work=Wall Street Journal |date=December 19, 2023 |language=en-US |access-date=April 6, 2024 |page= |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Pascus |first=Brian |title=Signa Holding Selling Its 50% Stake In Chrysler Building |website=Commercial Observer |date=December 19, 2023 |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2023/12/signa-holding-selling-50-stake-chrysler-building/ |access-date=April 6, 2024}}</ref> RFR offered to buy Signa's ownership stake for a nominal fee of $1.<ref name="Kaleta r298" /> Meanwhile, RFR sought to lease the building's retail space to luxury stores, signing their first luxury tenant in March 2024.<ref>{{cite web |last=Baird-Remba |first=Rebecca |title=British Coffee Chain WatchHouse Inks Lease at Chrysler Building |website=Commercial Observer |date=March 4, 2024 |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2024/03/watchhouse-chrysler-building-lease-405-lexington-avenue/ |access-date=April 6, 2024 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Jones |first=Sasha |title=Chrysler Building Signs First Tenant As Part Of Its Luxury Retail Repositioning |website=Bisnow |date=March 1, 2024 |url=https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/retail/chrysler-building-watchhouse-lease-123152 |access-date=April 6, 2024}}</ref> By mid-2024, the building was aging significantly, and RFR had listed about {{Convert|650000|ft2}} of the Chrysler Building's office space as being "immediately available for rent".<ref name="Seemuth x039" /><ref name="nyt-2024-07-12" /> ''The New York Times'' reported that employees had complained about pest infestations, fountains with brown water, weak cellular reception, elevator delays, and poor natural lighting.<ref name="nyt-2024-07-12">{{Cite news |last=Kodé |first=Anna |date=July 12, 2024 |title=The Chrysler Building, the Jewel of the Manhattan Skyline, Loses Its Luster |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/realestate/chrysler-building-manhattan.html |access-date=July 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Additionally, it would cost millions of dollars to upgrade the building to meet modern energy-efficiency codes.<ref name="Pascus a585" /> The Cooper Union moved to terminate RFR's ground lease of the Chrysler Building in September 2024, and RFR sued the college to prevent the termination of its leasehold.<ref name="Kaleta r298" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Brenzel |first1=Kathryn |last2=Walter-Warner |first2=Holden |title=RFR sues Cooper Union to stop Chrysler Building eviction |website=The Real Deal |date=September 27, 2024 |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/09/27/rfr-sues-cooper-union-to-stop-chrysler-building-eviction/ |access-date=September 28, 2024 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Hallum |first=Mark |title=RFR Trying to Stop Ground Lease Termination on Chrysler Building |website=Commercial Observer |date=September 27, 2024 |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2024/09/rfr-holding-ground-lease-termination-chrysler-building/ |access-date=September 28, 2024 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Elstein |first=Aaron |title=RFR on verge of losing Chrysler Building |website=Crain's New York Business |date=September 27, 2024 |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/rfr-verge-losing-chrysler-building-cooper-union |access-date=September 28, 2024}}</ref> In its lawsuit, RFR claimed that the Cooper Union had driven away some tenants and had directed other tenants to make rent payments to the college rather than to RFR.<ref name="Elstein r764">{{cite web |last=Elstein |first=Aaron |date=October 9, 2024 |title=Embattled RFR accuses Chrysler Building landlord of driving away tenants |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/rfr-says-chrysler-building-landlord-cooper-union-drove-away-tenants |access-date=October 11, 2024 |website=Crain's New York Business}}</ref> Subsequently, the Cooper Union requested that RFR be evicted,<ref>{{cite web |last=Bockmann |first=Rich |title=Cooper Union seeks to eject Aby Rosen from Chrysler Building |website=The Real Deal |date=October 21, 2024 |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/10/21/cooper-union-seeks-to-eject-aby-rosen-from-chrysler-building/ |access-date=October 22, 2024 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Elstein |first=Aaron |title=Chrysler Building landlord asks judge to 'eject and remove' operator RFR |website=Crain's New York Business |date=October 21, 2024 |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/chrysler-building-landlord-cooper-union-asked-judge-evict-rfr |access-date=October 22, 2024}}</ref> and a state judge ordered tenants to pay rent to the Cooper Union that October.<ref name="Elstein z873">{{cite web |last=Elstein |first=Aaron |date=October 31, 2024 |title=Judge orders RFR to hand over Chrysler Building to Cooper Union |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/judge-orders-rfr-hand-over-chrysler-building-cooper-union |access-date=November 1, 2024 |website=Crain's New York Business |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Bockmann |first=Rich |date=October 31, 2024 |title=Cooper Union scores Chrysler Building rents while battle with RFR continues |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/10/31/cooper-union-gets-chrysler-building-rents-in-rfr-dispute/ |access-date=November 1, 2024 |website=The Real Deal}}</ref> RFR's lease was ultimately terminated in January 2025,<ref>{{cite web |last=Velsey |first=Kim |title=Cooper Union Will Take the Chrysler Back From Aby Rosen |website=Curbed |date=January 30, 2025 |url=https://www.curbed.com/article/aby-rosen-rfr-cooper-union-loses-chrysler-building.html |access-date=February 1, 2025 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Bockmann |first=Rich |title=Aby Rosen loses battle over Chrysler Building |website=The Real Deal |date=January 30, 2025 |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/01/29/aby-rosen-loses-battle-for-chrysler-building/ |access-date=February 1, 2025}}</ref> and the Cooper Union began seeking buyers for the building's ground lease that May.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cooper Union marketing Chrysler Building ground lease |website=The Real Deal |date=May 19, 2025 |url=https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/05/19/cooper-union-marketing-chrysler-building-ground-lease/ |access-date=May 21, 2025 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Cuba |first=Julianne |title=The Chrysler Building has hit the market |website=Crain's New York Business |date=May 20, 2025 |url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-estate/cooper-union-marketing-ground-lease-chrysler-building |access-date=May 21, 2025 |postscript=none}}; {{cite web |last=Weiss |first=Lois |title=Chrysler Building On the Market as Its Landowner Seeks to Boost Income |website=Commercial Observer |date=May 19, 2025 |url=https://commercialobserver.com/2025/05/chrysler-building-sale-2025/ |access-date=May 21, 2025}}</ref>
== Chrysler Center ==
<!--[[Chrysler Center]] links here-->
{{multiple image
| direction = vertical
| width = 180
| image1 = Chrysler Building and Calyon Building.jpg
| caption1 = Chrysler East (on the left), seen next to the original building
| image2 = Chrysler trylons 25dec.jpg
| caption2 = Chrysler Trylons
}}
Chrysler Center is the building complex consisting of the Chrysler Building to the west, Chrysler Building East to the east, and the Chrysler Trylons commercial pavilion in the middle. After Tishman Speyer had acquired the entire complex, the firm renovated it completely from 1998 to 2000.<ref name="Dunlap 2001" />
The structure at 666 Third Avenue, known as the Kent Building at the time, was renovated and renamed Chrysler Building East.<ref name="Dunlap 2001" /> This [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] building, built in 1952,<ref name="RealDeal-666Third" /> is {{convert|432|ft|m}} high and has 32 floors.<ref>{{ctbuh|115170|name=Kent Building}}</ref><ref name="emporis-calyon">{{Cite web |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/114867 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924142806/https://www.emporis.com/buildings/114867 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |title=Calyon Building |work=[[Emporis]]}}</ref> The mechanical systems were modernized and the interior was modified.<ref name="emporis-calyon" /><ref name="Holusha 1999" /> Postmodern architect [[Philip Johnson]] designed a new facade of dark-blue glass, which was placed about {{convert|4|in}} in front of the Kent Building's existing facade.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}} The structure did not resemble its western neighbor; Johnson explained that he did not "even like the architecture" of the Chrysler Building, despite acknowledging it as "the most loved building in New York".{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|pp=479–480}}<ref name="nyt-1998-06-282" /> His design also included a {{convert|135000|ft2|m2|adj=on}} extension.<ref name="emporis-calyon" /><ref name="Holusha 1999">{{cite web |last=Holusha |first=John |title=Commercial Property /Lexington and Third Avenues, 42d and 43d Streets; The Making of the Chrysler Center |website=The New York Times |date=May 30, 1999 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/30/realestate/commercial-property-lexington-third-avenues-42d-43d-streets-making-chrysler.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> which surrounded the elevator core on the western end of the original Kent Building.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|pp=479–480}}<ref name="nyt-1998-06-282" /> The expansion used {{convert|150000|ft2}} of unused [[air rights]] above the buildings in the middle of the block.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=479}} The Kent Building was not a New York City designated landmark, unlike the Chrysler Building, so its renovation did not require the LPC's approval.<ref name="A 1999-11">{{cite magazine |url=https://usmodernist.org/AJ/A-1999-11.pdf |title=Trophy towers |first=Cheryl C. |last=Effron |volume=88 |issue=11 |date=Nov 1999 |magazine=Journal of the American Institute of Architects |pages=140–142 |id={{ProQuest|227865425}}}}</ref> After the addition, the total area of the Kent building was {{convert|770000|ft2|m2}}.<ref name="ts-center">{{cite web |title=Chrysler Center |website=Tishman Speyer |url=http://www.tishmanspeyer.com/properties/chrysler-center |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref>
A new building, also designed by Philip Johnson, was built between the original skyscraper and the annex.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |title=Chrome Spire By Chrysler To Meet Crystal By Johnson |website=The New York Times |date=June 28, 1998 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/28/nyregion/chrome-spire-by-chrysler-to-meet-crystal-by-johnson.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> This became the Chrysler Trylons, a commercial pavilion three stories high with a retail area of {{convert|22000|ft2|m2}}.<ref name="Dunlap 2001" /> Its design consists of three triangular glass "trylons" measuring {{cvt|57|ft}}, {{cvt|68|ft}}, and {{cvt|73|ft}} tall; each is slanted in a different direction.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=480}}<ref name="Dunlap 2001" /> The trylons are supported by vertical steel [[mullion]]s measuring {{cvt|10|in}} wide; between the mullions are 535 panes of reflective gray glass.<ref name="Dunlap 2001" /> The retail structures themselves are placed on either side of the trylons.{{sfn|Stern|Fishman|Tilove|2006|p=480}} Due to the complexity of the structural work, structural engineer [[Severud Associates]] built a replica at [[Rimouski]], Quebec. Johnson designed the Chrysler Trylons as "a monument for 42nd Street [...] to give you the top of the Chrysler Building at street level."<ref name="Dunlap 2001">{{cite web |last=Dunlap |first=David W. |title=Commercial Real Estate; Philip Johnson's Latest Creation Is Now Stopping Traffic |website=The New York Times |date=May 9, 2001 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/09/nyregion/commercial-real-estate-philip-johnson-s-latest-creation-is-now-stopping-traffic.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref>
After these modifications, the total leasable area of the complex was {{convert|2062772|ft2|m2}}.<ref name="ts-center" /> The total cost of this project was about one hundred million dollars.<ref name="Dunlap 2001" /> This renovation has won several awards and commendations, including an [[Energy Star]] rating from the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]];<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/science/earth/new-york-citys-effort-to-track-energy-efficiency-yields-some-surprises.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/science/earth/new-york-citys-effort-to-track-energy-efficiency-yields-some-surprises.html |archive-date=January 1, 2022 |url-access=limited |title=New York City's Effort to Track Energy Efficiency Yields Some Surprises |last=Navarro |first=Mireya |date=December 24, 2012 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 6, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref> a LEED Gold designation;<ref name="realdeal20121029">{{Cite news |url=https://therealdeal.com/2012/10/29/chrysler-building-gets-a-green-makeover/ |title=Chrysler Building gets a green makeover |date=October 29, 2012 |work=The Real Deal New York |access-date=November 6, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> and the Skyscraper Museum Outstanding Renovation Award of 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.skyscraper.org/PROGRAMS/EVENTS_ARCHIVE/MAKING_NEW_YORK_HISTORY_2001/mnyh01.htm |title=The 2001 Making New York History Awards |date=November 15, 2001 |website=The Skyscraper Museum |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref>
== Tenants ==
In January 1930, the Chrysler Corporation opened satellite offices in the Chrysler Building during Automobile Show Week.<ref name="NYTimes-Division-Offices-1930" /> In addition to the Chrysler Salon product showroom on the first and second floors, the building had a lounge and a theater for showing films of Chrysler products.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=305}} Other original large tenants included [[Time, Inc.]] and [[Texaco]] oil.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=439}} Needing more office space,<ref>{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/05/02/98130355.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201163526/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/05/02/98130355.pdf |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |url-status=live |title=Business Moving Marked By Speed |date=May 2, 1938 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> Time moved to [[Rockefeller Center]] in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf |title=Rockefeller Center Designation Report |last=Adams |first=Janet |year=1985 |publisher=[[Government of New York City|City of New York]] |page=198 (PDF p.203) |access-date=November 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107113311/http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/1985RockefellerCenter.pdf |archive-date=November 7, 2017 |url-status=dead |postscript=none}}; {{Cite book |title=Time Inc: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1923–1941 |url=https://archive.org/details/timeincintimateh0002elso |url-access=registration |last=Elson |first=Robert T. |date=1968 |publisher=Atheneum |isbn=9780689100772 |editor-last=Norton-Taylor |editor-first=Duncan |edition=1st |pages=[https://archive.org/details/timeincintimateh0002elso/page/334 334] |language=en}}</ref> By October 1946, [[television transmitter]] equipment for [[CBS]] was located in the Chrysler Building spire,<ref name="gettyimages/1157692788">{{cite web |title=CBS television transmitter equipment located in the Chrysler Building tower (spire). |url=https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/television-transmitter-equipment-located-in-the-chrysler-news-photo/1157692788 |website=[[Getty Images]] |access-date=June 8, 2025 |language=en-us |date=October 1, 1946}}</ref> fed by cables from CBS television studios located nearby in the [[Grand Central Terminal]] building, above the former waiting room.<ref name="adweek/grand-central">{{cite news |title=As Grand Central Turns 100, A Look At Its TV News Past |url=https://www.adweek.com/tvnewser/as-grand-central-turns-100-a-look-at-its-tv-news-past/ |access-date=June 11, 2025 |agency=[[Adweek]] |date=February 3, 2013}}</ref><ref name="CBS TV Studios NYC">{{cite book |last1=Ellerbee |first1=Bobby |title=The History of CBS New York Television Studios: 1937-1965 |publisher=Eyes of a Generation.com |url=https://eyesofageneration.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-History-of-CBS-New-York-Television-Studios-1937-1965-Rev-1.pdf}}</ref>
In 1977, Texaco relocated to a more suburban workplace in [[Purchase, New York]].<ref name="Hudson 1977" /> In addition, the offices of Shaw Walker and J. S. Bache & Company were immediately atop the Chrysler Salon, while [[A. B. Dick]], [[Pan American World Airways]], Adams Hats, [[Schrafft's]], and [[Florsheim Shoes]] also had offices in the building.<ref>{{cite web |work=The New York Times |title=Answers About the Chrysler Building, Part 2 |date=December 10, 2009 |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/answers-about-the-chrysler-building-part-2/ |access-date=November 16, 2020}}</ref> By the 21st century, many of the Chrysler Building's tenants leased space there because of the building's historical stature, rather than because of its amenities.<ref name="nyt-2024-07-12" />
Notable tenants in the 21st century include:
* [[Creative Artists Agency]]<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/inside-caas-new-chrysler-building-695615 |title=Inside CAA's New Chrysler Building Offices in New York (Exclusive Photos) |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=February 20, 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Clyde & Co]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.clydeco.com/locations/office/new-york/___location |title=Locations |publisher=Clyde & Co |access-date=March 6, 2017}}</ref>
* [[InterMedia Partners]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.intermediaadvisors.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpContact&s=interMedia |archive-url=https://archive.today/20110713045949/http://www.intermediaadvisors.com/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpContact&s=interMedia |url-status=dead |title=Contact InterMedia Partners |archive-date=July 13, 2011}}</ref>
* [[IWG plc|IWG]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crainsnewyork.com/dcce/20090217/12/real_estate/122/deals_active/2382931 |title=Cachet still counts at Chrysler Building |first=Theresa |last=Agovino |date=February 17, 2009 |work=Crain's New York Business}}</ref>
* [[PA Consulting]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.paconsulting.com/locations/united-states |title=United States |website=PA Consulting}}</ref>
* [[Troutman Sanders]]<ref name="abudabhi" />
* [[YES Network]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.yesnetwork.com/about/ |title=About |publisher=YES Network |date=March 19, 2002 |access-date=January 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119055402/http://web.yesnetwork.com/about/ |archive-date=January 19, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Impact <span class="anchor" id="Influence"></span> ==
=== Reception ===
The completed Chrysler Building garnered mixed reviews in the press. Van Alen was hailed as the "Doctor of Altitude" by ''[[American Institute of Architects#Magazine|Architect]]'' magazine, while architect [[Kenneth Murchison]] called Van Alen the "Ziegfeld of his profession", comparing him to popular [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] producer [[Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.]]<ref name="Gray 1998" />{{sfn|Murchison|1930|p=24}} The building was praised for being "an expression of the intense activity and vibrant life of our day", and for "teem[ing] with the spirit of modernism, ... the epitome of modern business life, stand[ing] for progress in architecture and in modern building methods."{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Murchison|1930|p=78}}<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Eugene |last=Clute |title=The Chrysler Building |journal=Architectural Forum |volume=53 |date=October 1930 |page=406}}</ref> An anonymous critic wrote in ''[[Architectural Forum]]''{{'s}} October 1930 issue: "The Chrysler...stands by itself, something apart and alone. It is simply the realization, the fulfillment in metal and masonry, of a one-man dream, a dream of such ambitions and such magnitude as to defy the comprehension and the criticism of ordinary men or by ordinary standards."<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=400}} Walter Chrysler himself regarded the building as a "monument to me".<ref name="nyt-2024-07-12" />
The journalist [[George S. Chappell]] called the Chrysler's design "distinctly a stunt design, evolved to make the man in the street look up".<ref name="Gray 1998" />{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} [[Douglas Haskell]] stated that the building "embodies no compelling, organic idea",<ref name="Gray 1998" /> and alleged that Van Alen had abandoned "some of his best innovations in behalf of stunts and new 'effects'".{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}} Others compared the Chrysler Building to "an upended swordfish",{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=65}}<ref>{{cite web |last=Stephens |first=Bret |title=New York as Skyscraper |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=August 3, 2008 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121762156747405585 |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref> or claimed it had a "[[Little Nemo]]"-like design.{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=65}} [[Lewis Mumford]], a supporter of the [[International Style (architecture)|International Style]] and one of the foremost architectural critics of the United States at the time, despised the building for its "inane romanticism, meaningless voluptuousness, [and] void symbolism".<ref name="Lewis 2005">{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Michael J. |title=Dancing to New Rules, a Rhapsody in Chrome |website=The New York Times |date=May 26, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/dancing-to-new-rules-a-rhapsody-in-chrome.html |access-date=November 4, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |first=Lewis |last=Mumford |title=Notes on Modern Architecture |magazine=The New Republic |volume=66 |date=March 18, 1931 |page=120}}</ref>{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}} The public also had mixed reviews of the Chrysler Building, as Murchison wrote: "Some think it's a freak; some think it's a stunt."{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=610}}{{sfn|Murchison|1930|p=24}} The architectural professor Gail Fenske<ref name="Fenske Urban History">{{cite journal |last1=Fenske |first1=Gail |title=Architect, Engineer, and Builder |journal=[[Journal of Urban History]] |date=July 2016 |volume=42 |issue=4 |pages=811–821 |doi=10.1177/0096144216635148 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0096144216635148 |access-date=June 8, 2025 |quote=Gail Fenske is professor of architecture in the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation at Roger Williams University.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> said that, although the Chrysler Building was criticized as "too theatrical" at the time of its completion, the general public quickly took a liking to "the city's crowning skyscraper".<ref name="Pascus a585" />
Later reviews were more positive. Architect [[Robert A. M. Stern]] wrote that the Chrysler Building was "the most extreme example of the [1920s and 1930s] period's stylistic experimentation", as contrasted with 40 Wall Street and its "thin" detailing.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|pp=605–606}} George H. Douglas wrote in 2004 that the Chrysler Building "remains one of the most appealing and awe-inspiring of skyscrapers".{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=95}} Architect [[Le Corbusier]] called the building "hot jazz in stone and steel".{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=259}} Architectural critic [[Ada Louise Huxtable]] stated that the building had "a wonderful, decorative, evocative aesthetic", while [[Paul Goldberger]] noted the "compressed, intense energy" of the lobby, the "magnificent" elevators, and the "magical" view from the crown.<ref name="Louie 2005">{{Cite news |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/how-it-sparkled-in-the-skyline.html |title=How It Sparkled in the Skyline |last=Louie |first=Elaine |date=May 26, 2005 |work=The New York Times |access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> Anthony W. Robins said the Chrysler Building was "one-of-a-kind, staggering, romantic, soaring, the embodiment of 1920s skyscraper pizzazz, the great symbol of Art Deco New York".{{sfn|Robins|2017|p=81}} Kim Velsey of ''Curbed'' said that the building "is unabashedly over the top" because of "its steel gargoyles, Moroccan marble lobby, and illuminated spire".<ref name="Velsey r667" />
The LPC said that the tower "embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper".{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=1}} [[Pauline Frommer]], in the travel guide ''[[Frommer's]]'', gave the building an "exceptional" recommendation, saying: "In the Chrysler Building we see the roaring-twenties version of what Alan Greenspan called 'irrational exuberance'—a last burst of corporate headquarter building before stocks succumbed to the thudding crash of 1929."<ref name="frommers" />
=== As icon ===
The Chrysler Building appears in several films set in New York<ref name="bs20050529">See: * {{cite web |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2005/05/29/in-its-own-little-empire-chrysler-building-is-film-star-too/ |title=In its own little empire, Chrysler Building is film star, too |last=Barry |first=Dan |date=May 29, 2005 |website=The Baltimore Sun |access-date=November 6, 2017 |archive-date=June 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170609221755/http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2005-05-29/entertainment/0505280417_1_chrysler-building-empire-state-building-manhattan |url-status=live}} * {{cite web |last=Barry |first=Dan |title=In the Background, but No Bit Player |website=The New York Times |date=May 26, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/in-the-background-but-no-bit-player.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> and is widely considered one of the most positively acclaimed buildings in the city.{{sfn|Binder|2006|pp=62–63}}<ref name="jayebee.com" /> A 1996 survey of New York architects revealed it as their favorite, and ''The New York Times'' described it in 2005 as "the single most important emblem of architectural imagery on the New York skyline".<ref name="Lewis 2005" /> In mid-2005, the [[Skyscraper Museum]] in [[Lower Manhattan]] asked 100 architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 of the city's towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place, with 90 respondents placing it on their ballots.<ref>{{cite news |title=In a City of Skyscrapers, Which Is the Mightiest of the High? Experts Say It's No Contest |first=David W. |last=Dunlap |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/nyregion/in-city-of-skyscrapers-which-is-the-mightiest-of-the-high.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 1, 2005 |access-date=April 8, 2008}}</ref> In 2007, the building ranked ninth among 150 buildings in the AIA's ''[[List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA|List of America's Favorite Architecture]]''.<ref>{{cite web |website=FavoriteArchitecture.org |publisher=AIA |url=http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php |title=List of America's Favorite Architecture |year=2007 |access-date=September 27, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110510113118/http://favoritearchitecture.org/afa150.php |archive-date=May 10, 2011}}</ref> The building was included in the [[Lego]] Company's architecture set representing the New York City skyline.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dinsay |first1=Sid |title=Review - LEGO Architecture New York City |url=https://bricknerd.com/home/review-lego-architecture-new-york-city-20-2016 |website=BrickNerd |access-date=June 18, 2025 |date=February 23, 2016}}</ref>
The Chrysler Building is widely heralded as an Art Deco icon. ''[[Fodor's]] New York City 2010'' described the building as being "one of the great art deco masterpieces"{{sfn|Hart|2009|p=123}} which "wins many a New Yorker's vote for the city's most iconic and beloved skyscraper".{{sfn|Hart|2009|p=129}} ''Frommer's'' states that the Chrysler was "one of the most impressive Art Deco buildings ever constructed".<ref name="frommers">{{cite web |title=Chrysler Building |website=Frommer's Travel Guides |url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/new-york-city/attractions/chrysler-building |access-date=October 20, 2017}}</ref> ''[[Insight Guides]]''{{'}} 2016 edition maintains that the Chrysler Building is considered among the city's "most beautiful" buildings.<ref>{{cite book |title=Insight Guides: Explore New York |publisher=APA |series=Insight Explore Guides |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-78005-703-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKwxBgAAQBAJ |access-date=November 8, 2017}}</ref> Its distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including [[One Liberty Place]] in [[Philadelphia]],<ref>{{cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/11/15/arts/architecture-view-giving-new-life-to-philadelphia-s-skyline.html |title=Giving New Life to Philadelphia's Skyline |quote=The tower resembles nothing so much as the Chrysler Building... |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 15, 1987 |access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref> [[Two Prudential Plaza]] in Chicago,<ref>{{cite news |last=Gapp |first=Paul |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-12-23-9004150913-story.html |title=Too Prudent |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 23, 1990 |access-date=March 17, 2021}}</ref> and the [[Al Kazim Towers]] in [[Dubai]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |publisher=National Engineering Bureau |entry=Al Kazim Towers; overview with Media City Buildings |encyclopedia=ART on FILE: Contemporary Architecture, Urban Design and Public Art |jstor=community.14740821 |title=Al Kazim Towers; overview with Media City Buildings |author=National Engineering Bureau}}</ref> In addition, the [[New York-New York Hotel and Casino]] in [[Paradise, Nevada]], contains the "Chrysler Tower",<ref>{{cite web |title=New York-New York |url=https://www.emporis.com/buildings/122180/new-york-new-york-las-vegas-nv-usa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150321211318/http://www.emporis.com/buildings/122180/new-york-new-york-las-vegas-nv-usa |url-status=usurped |archive-date=March 21, 2015 |website=Emporis |access-date=March 23, 2022}}</ref> a replica of the Chrysler Building measuring 35 or 40 stories tall.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-15">{{Cite news |last=Goldberger |first=Paul |date=January 15, 1997 |title=New York-New York, It's a Las Vegas Town |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/15/nyregion/new-york-new-york-it-s-a-las-vegas-town.html |access-date=August 18, 2022 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=New York Looms Large in Las Vegas |website=Chicago Tribune |date=January 3, 1997 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-01-03-9701040154-story.html |access-date=August 19, 2022}}</ref> A portion of the hotel's interior was also designed to resemble the Chrysler Building's interior.<ref name="nyt-1997-01-15" />
=== In media ===
<!--Please do not add anymore "Popular culture" entries without adding [[WP:IRS|reliable sources]] to support the section. Thanks.-->
While seen in many films, the Chrysler Building almost never appears as a main setting in them, prompting architect and author [[James Sanders (architect)|James Sanders]] to quip it should win "the Award for Best Supporting Skyscraper".<ref name="bs20050529" /> The building was supposed to be featured in the 1933 film ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'', but only makes a [[cameo appearance|cameo]] at the end thanks to its producers opting for the Empire State Building in a central role.<ref name="bs20050529" /> The Chrysler Building appears in the background of ''[[The Wiz (film)|The Wiz]]'' (1978); as the setting of much of ''[[Q - The Winged Serpent]]'' (1982); in the initial credits of ''The Shadow of the Witness'' (1987); and during or after apocalyptic events in ''[[Independence Day (1996 film)|Independence Day]]'' (1996), ''[[Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon]]'' (1998), ''[[Deep Impact (film)|Deep Impact]]'' (1998), ''[[Godzilla (1998 film)|Godzilla]]'' (1998), and ''[[A.I. Artificial Intelligence]]'' (2001).<ref name="bs20050529" /> The building also appears in other films, such as ''[[Spider-Man (2002 film)|Spider-Man]]'' (2002),<ref>{{cite web |title=Spider-Man's Movie Guide To The Real New York City |website=CBS New York |date=July 27, 2010 |url=http://newyork.cbslocal.com/guide/spider-mans-movie-guide-to-the-real-new-york-city/ |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> ''[[Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer]]'' (2007),<ref>{{cite book |last=Sanderson |first=P. |title=The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City |publisher=Gallery Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4165-3141-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u4PMIT0Rv7cC&pg=PA49 |access-date=November 6, 2017 |page=49}}</ref> ''[[Two Weeks Notice]]'' (2002),<ref name="bs20050529" /> ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010 film)|The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'' (2010),<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2010/07/13/the-sorcerers-apprentice-more-magical-than-expected/ |title=The Sorcerer's Apprentice: More Magical Than Expected |last=Pinkerton |first=Nick |date=July 13, 2010 |newspaper=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=September 9, 2019}}</ref> ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'' (2012)<ref>{{cite book |first1=Helmut |last1=Anheier |first2=Marcus |last2=Lam |first3=David B. |last3=Howard |editor1-last=Halle |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Beveridge |editor2-first=Andrew |title=New York and Los Angeles: The Uncertain Future |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-977838-6 |page=505 |url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199778386.001.0001/acprof-9780199778386 |access-date=April 27, 2022 |chapter=The Nonprofit Sector in New York City and Los Angeles}}</ref> and ''[[Men in Black 3]]'' (2012).<ref name="nyt-2024-07-12" /><ref>{{cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Erin |title=Inside Men in Black III's Chrysler Building Time Jump |website=Popular Mechanics |date=May 25, 2012 |url=http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/digital/visual-effects/inside-men-in-black-3s-chrysler-building-time-jump-9130426 |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> The building is mentioned in the number "[[It's the Hard Knock Life]]" for the musical ''[[Annie (musical)|Annie]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last=Brockes |first=Emma |title=Annie reminds New York it can shine like the top of the Chrysler building |website=The Guardian |date=November 5, 2012 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/emma-brockes-blog/2012/nov/05/annie-new-york-shine-broadway |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> and it is the setting for the post-game content in the [[Square Enix|Squaresoft]] video game ''[[Parasite Eve (video game)|Parasite Eve]]''.<ref>{{cite web |last=Glick |first=Brian |title=Parasite Eve – Review |url=https://archive.rpgamer.com/games/pe/pe/reviews/pestrev3.html |year=2017 |website=RPGamer |access-date=September 18, 2020}}</ref> In addition, the introductory scenes of the TV show ''[[Sex and the City]]'' depict the Chrysler Building.<ref name="nyt-2024-07-12" />
In December 1929, Walter Chrysler hired [[Margaret Bourke-White]] to take publicity images from a scaffold {{convert|400|ft|m}} high.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=76}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Keller |first=E. |title=Margaret Bourke-White: A Photographer's Life |publisher=Lerner |series=Lerner Biographies |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-8225-4916-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXgNCY5QZlwC&pg=PA52 |access-date=November 6, 2017 |pages=52–53}}</ref>{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=232}} She was deeply inspired by the new structure and especially smitten by the massive eagle's-head figures projecting off the building.<ref>{{cite web |title=Photographs – New York Auction, 4 April 2023 – 167 – Margaret Bourke-White – Gargoyle, Chrysler Building, New York City |url=https://www.phillips.com/detail/margaret-bourkewhite/NY040123/167 |date=2023 |website=Phillips Auction House |access-date=April 14, 2023}}</ref> According to one account, Bourke-White wanted to live in the building for the duration of the photo shoot, but the only person able to do so was the janitor, so she was instead relegated to co-leasing a studio with [[Time Inc.]]<ref name="Louie 2005" /> In 1930, several of her photographs were used in a special report on skyscrapers in the then-new ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' magazine.<ref>{{cite web |last=Bascomb |first=Neal |title=Before the Crash: Bringing in the Blue Chips |website=The New York Times |date=May 26, 2005 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/before-the-crash-bringing-in-the-blue-chips.html |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> Bourke-White worked in a 61st-floor studio designed by [[John Vassos]]{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=76}}<ref name="Louie 2005" /> until she was evicted in 1934.<ref name="Louie 2005" /> That year, Bourke-White's partner Oscar Graubner took a famous photo called "Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building", which depicts her taking a photo of the city's skyline while sitting on one of the 61st-floor eagle ornaments.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=76}}<ref>{{cite web |title=[Margaret Bourke-White atop the Chrysler Building] |website=Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2011660317/ |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> On October 5, 1998, [[Christie's]] auctioned the photograph for $96,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gary.saretzky.com/photohistory/mbwcatLR.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061221005154/http://gary.saretzky.com/photohistory/mbwcatLR.pdf |archive-date=December 21, 2006 |url-status=live |title=Margaret Bourke-White In Print: An Exhibition, Exhibition at Archibald S. Alexander Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, January–June 2006 |year=2006 |first=Gary D. |last=Saretzky |page=3 |access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref>
The Chrysler Building has been the subject of other photographs as well. During a January 1931 dance organized by the Society of Beaux-Arts, six architects, including Van Alen, were photographed while wearing costumes resembling the buildings that each architect designed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gray |first=Christopher |title=A New Age of Architecture Ushered in Financial Gloom |website=The New York Times |date=January 1, 2006 |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/01/realestate/a-new-age-of-architecture-ushered-in-financial-gloom.html |access-date=November 6, 2017 |postscript=none}}; {{cite book |last=Dupre |first=Judith |title=Skyscrapers |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Incorporated |year=2001 |isbn=978-1-57912-153-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vYXcngEACAAJ |access-date=November 6, 2017 |pages=36–37}}</ref> In 1991, the photographer [[Annie Leibovitz]] took pictures of the dancer [[David Parsons (dancer)|David Parsons]] reclining on a ledge near the top of the building.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 8, 2005 |title=Parsons is dancer who's at the top |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/02/04/parsons-is-dancer-who-s-at-the-top/ |access-date=July 12, 2024 |website=Tampa Bay Times |postscript=none}}; {{Cite news |last=Jowitt |first=Deborah |date=May 3, 1998 |title=DANCE; Onward and Upward, Gambling on Success |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/05/03/arts/dance-onward-and-upward-gambling-on-success.html |access-date=July 12, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
{{Clear}}
== See also ==
* [[Architecture of New York City]]
* [[List of buildings and structures]]
* [[List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets]]
* [[List of tallest buildings and structures in the world]]
* [[List of tallest buildings in the United States]]
* [[List of tallest buildings in New York City]]
* [[List of tallest freestanding structures in the world]]
* [[List of tallest freestanding steel structures]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan from 14th to 59th Streets]]
== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{Notelist}}
=== Citations ===
{{reflist|1=30em}}
=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |last=Bascomb |first=Neal |title=[[Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City]] |publisher=Broadway Books |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7679-1268-6}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lcir7wwIzhIC&pg=PA102 |title=101 of the World's Tallest Buildings |last=Binder |first=Georges |publisher=Council of Tall Buildings in Urban Habitats |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-86470-173-9}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E30rCBeM8nkC |title=The History of Stainless Steel |last=Cobb |first=Harold M. |publisher=ASM International |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-61503-011-8 |series=Asm Handbook}}
* {{cite report |url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0992.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303212401/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0992.pdf |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |url-status=live |title=Chrysler Building |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |date=September 12, 1978 |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978}}}}
* {{cite report |url=https://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0996.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809043637/http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0996.pdf |archive-date=August 9, 2016 |url-status=live |title=Chrysler Building Interior |date=September 12, 1978 |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |ref={{harvid|Landmarks Preservation Commission Interior|1978}}}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8djsCB8-OUC&pg=PA426 |title=Chrysler: The Life and Times of an Automotive Genius |last=Curcio |first=Vincent |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-514705-6 |series=Automotive History and Personalities}}
* {{cite book |last=Douglas |first=G.H. |title=Skyscrapers: A Social History of the Very Tall Building in America |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7864-2030-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IxDUUqut-XkC}}
* {{cite book |last=Hart |first=M.T. |title=Fodor's New York City 2010 |publisher=Fodor's |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4000-0837-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pqO__EGJAY4C}}
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpeNSAfYASoC&pg=PA9 |title=Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience |last=Kayden |first=Jerold S. |author2=The Municipal Art Society of New York |publisher=Wiley |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-471-36257-9 |ref={{harvid|Kayden|Municipal Art Society|2000}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Kingston |first=G.C. |title=William Van Alen, Fred T. Ley and the Chrysler Building |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4766-6847-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18dADgAAQBAJ&pg=PA175}}
* {{cite book |last=Miller |first=Donald L. |title=Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-4165-5020-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg1DCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA259}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Murchison |first=Kenneth M |title=The Chrysler Building, as I See It. |journal=The American Architect |volume=138 |date=September 1930 |pages=24–33, 78}}
* {{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/manhattanskyscra00nash_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/manhattanskyscra00nash_0/page/63 63] |title=Manhattan Skyscrapers |last1=Nash |first1=E. |last2=McGrath |first2=N. |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-1-56898-181-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Rasenberger |first=Jim |title=High Steel: The Daring Men Who Built the World's Greatest Skyline, 1881 to the Present |publisher=HarperCollins |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-06-174675-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDSxwPx-yJ4C}}
* {{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Donald |title=The Architecture of New York City: Histories and Views of Important Structures, Sites, and Symbols |publisher=J. Wiley |publication-place=New York |year=1994 |isbn=978-0-471-01439-3 |oclc=45730295}}
* {{cite book |last=Robins |first=Anthony W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cnC6DgAAQBAJ |title=New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham's Jazz Age Architecture |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-4384-6396-4 |series=Excelsior Editions |oclc=953576510}}
* {{cite New York 2000}}
* {{cite New York 1930}}
* {{cite book |last=Stravitz |first=David |title=The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon Day by Day |year=2002 |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |isbn=1-56898-354-9}}
* {{cite book |title=The Empire State Building: The Making of a Landmark |url=https://archive.org/details/empirestatebuild0000taur_w8o4 |url-access=registration |last=Tauranac |first=John |publisher=Scribner |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-684-19678-7}}
* {{cite book |title=Building the Empire State |last1=Willis |first1=Carol |last2=Friedman |first2=Donald |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-393-73030-2}}
{{refend}}
== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |author-link=Judith Dupré |last=Dupré |first=Judith |date=2013 |title=Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings-Revised and Updated |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8-bXwAEACAAJ |publisher=Hachette/Black Dog & Leventhal |pages=36–37 |isbn=978-1-57912-942-2}}
* {{cite book |last1=Terranova |first1=Antonio |last2=Manferto |first2=Valeria |title=Skyscrapers |year=2003 |publisher=White Star |isbn=88-8095-230-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sH6UAAAACAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last=Willis |first=Carol |author-link=Carol Willis (architectural historian) |title=Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skylines in New York and Chicago |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=1995 |isbn=978-1-56898-044-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ITT7GXSQnIC}}
== External links ==
* {{official website}}
* {{S-start}}
{{S-ach|rec}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Eiffel Tower]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[History of the world's tallest structures|World's tallest structure]]|years=1930–1931}}
{{S-aft|rows=3|after=[[Empire State Building]]}}
{{S-bef|rows=2|before=[[40 Wall Street]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Skyscraper#History of the tallest skyscrapers|Tallest building in the world]]|years=1930–1931}}
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{{S-ttl|title=[[List of tallest buildings in the United States|Tallest building in the United States]]|years=1930–1931}}
{{s-end}}
{{Subject bar|portal1=Architecture|portal2=National Register of Historic Places|portal3=New York City|portal4=United States|commons=Category:Chrysler Building|wikiquote=Chrysler Building}}
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