Subject
Architecture and City Planning
architectural exteriors
architectural interiors
business, commerce and trade
Automobiles
Description
View of tower and spire
The exterior decoration of this 77-storey building incorporates elaborate iconography based on automobiles, including hub caps, mud flaps and a stainless steel spire that figures prominently on the skyline. The interiors are embellished with murals, marquetry and metalwork
it is the foremost Art Deco skyscraper in New York. In a celebrated race for skyline priority, Van Alen surpassed Severance's 282.55 m Bank of Manhattan in November 1929. He had the 56.39 m Chrysler spire assembled inside the building and in 90 minutes had hoisted it into position, before an unsuspecting public. At 318.52 m, it remained the tallest building in the world until the Empire State Building (381 m) opened in 1931.