New York City - Chrysler Building

View from Empire State Building towards Chrysler Building.

 

Blick vom Empire State Building Richtung Chryler Building.

 

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At 1,046 ft (319 m), it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework, and it was the world's tallest building for 11 months after its completion in 1930. As of 2019, the Chrysler is the 12th-tallest building in the city, tied with The New York Times Building.

 

Originally a project of real estate developer and former New York State Senator William H. Reynolds, the building was commissioned by Walter Chrysler, the head of the Chrysler Corporation. The construction of the Chrysler Building, an 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. 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 landmarks 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 and 43rd streets in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The land was donated to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1902. The site is roughly a trapezoid with a 201-foot-long (61 m) frontage on Lexington Avenue; a 167-foot-long (51 m) frontage on 42nd Street; and a 205-foot-long (62 m) frontage on 43rd Street. The site bordered the old Boston Post Road, 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. 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.

 

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.

 

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. With a height of 1,046 feet (319 m), the Chrysler is the 12th-tallest building in the city as of 2019, tied with The New York Times Building. The building is constructed of a steel frame infilled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. The structure contains 3,862 exterior windows. Approximately fifty metal ornaments protrude at the building's corners on five floors reminiscent of gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals. The 31st-floor contains gargoyles[26] as well as replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps, and the 61st-floor is adorned with eagles as a nod to America's national bird.

 

The design of the Chrysler Building makes extensive use of bright "Nirosta" stainless steel, an austenitic alloy developed in Germany by Krupp. It was the first use of this "18-8 stainless steel" in an American project, composed of 18% chromium and 8% nickel. Nirosta was used in the exterior ornaments, the window frames, the crown, and the needle. 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...." Stainless steel producers used the Chrysler Building to evaluate the durability of the product in architecture. In 1929, the 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.

 

Form

 

The Chrysler Building's height and legally mandated setbacks influenced Van Alen in his design. 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. 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. Above the 31st floor, there are no more setbacks until the 60th floor, above which the structure is funneled into a Maltese cross shape that "blends the square shaft to the finial", according to author and photographer Cervin Robinson.

 

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."

 

Facade

 

Base and shaft

 

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. There are storefronts consisting of large Nirosta-steel-framed windows at ground level. Office windows penetrate the second through fourth floors.

 

The west and east elevations contain the air shafts above the fourth floor, while the north and south sides contain the receding setbacks. Below the 16th floor, the facade is clad with white brick, interrupted by white-marble bands in a manner similar to basket weaving. The inner faces of the brick walls are coated with a waterproof grout mixture measuring about 1⁄16 inch (1.6 mm) thick. The windows, arranged in grids, do not have window sills, the frames being flush with the facade. 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 spandrels between the columns of windows on each floor. There are abstract reliefs on the 20th through 22nd-floor spandrels, while the 24th floor contains 9-foot (2.7 m) decorative pineapples.

 

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. There are Nirosta-steel decorations above the setbacks. 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. The 31st floor also contains a gray and white frieze of hubcaps and fenders, which both symbolize the Chrysler Corporation and serves as a visual signature of the building's Art Deco design. The bonnet embellishments take the shape of Mercury's winged helmet and resemble hood ornaments installed on Chrysler vehicles at the time.

 

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.

 

Crown and spire

 

The Chrysler Building is renowned for, and recognized by its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower. 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. 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. The windows are repeated, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks. 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. 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."

 

Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) originated its transmission from the top of the Chrysler Building in 1938. WCBS-TV transmissions were shifted to the Empire State Building in 1960 in response to competition from RCA's transmitter on that building. For many years WPAT-FM and 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.

 

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.The V-shaped fluorescent "tube lighting" – hundreds of 480V 40W bulbs framing 120 window openings – was added in 1981, although it had been part of the original design. Until 1998, the lights were turned off at 2 a.m., but The New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum convinced Tishman Speyer to keep the lights on until 6 a.m. 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.

 

History

 

In the mid-1920s, New York's metropolitan area surpassed London's as the world's most populous metropolitan area and its population exceeded ten million by the early 1930s. The era was characterized by profound social and technological changes. Consumer goods such as radio, cinema, and the automobile became widespread. In 1927, Walter Chrysler's automotive company, the Chrysler Corporation, became the third-largest car manufacturer in the United States, behind Ford and General Motors. The following year, Chrysler was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year".

 

The economic boom of the 1920s and speculation in the real estate market fostered a wave of new skyscraper projects in New York City. The Chrysler Building was built as part of an ongoing building boom that resulted in the city having the world's tallest building from 1908 to 1974. 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 from the street. This led to the construction of Art Deco structures in New York City with significant setbacks, large volumes, and striking silhouettes that were often elaborately decorated. 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.[The Chrysler Building project was shaped by these circumstances.

 

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. Prior to his involvement in planning the building, Reynolds was best known for developing Coney Island's 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.

 

Planning

 

In 1921, Reynolds rented a large plot of land at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street with the intention of building a tall building on the site. 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. Reynolds hired the architect William Van Alen to design a forty-story building there in 1927. Van Alen's original design featured many Modernist stylistic elements, with glazed, curved windows at the corners.

 

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. 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. The relationship between them became tense over disagreements on how best to run the firm. 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. The architects' partnership dissolved acrimoniously several months later, with lawsuits over the firm's clients and assets lasting over a year. 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.

 

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. The proposal was changed again two weeks later, with official plans for a 63-story building. A little more than a week after that, the plan was changed for the third time, with two additional stories added. By this time, 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue were both hubs for construction activity, due to the removal of the 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.

 

In April 1928, Reynolds signed a 67-year lease for the plot and finalized the details of his ambitious project. 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. Reynolds's main contribution to the building's design was his insistence that it have a metallic crown, despite Van Alen's initial opposition; the metal-and-crystal crown would have looked like "a jeweled sphere" at night. Originally, the skyscraper would have risen 808 feet (246 m), with 67 floors. These plans were approved in June 1928. Van Alen's drawings were unveiled in the following August and published in a magazine run by the American Institute of Architects (AIA).

 

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 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.

 

Final plans and start of construction

 

With the design complete, groundbreaking for the Reynolds Building took place on September 19, 1928, but by late 1928, Reynolds did not have the means to carry on construction. Walter Chrysler offered to buy the building in early October 1928, and Reynolds sold the plot, lease, plans, and architect's services to Chrysler on October 15, 1928, for more than $2.5 million. That day, the Goodwin Construction Company began demolition of what had been built. A contract was awarded on October 28, and demolition was completed on November 9. 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 arcade; a facade of stone below the fifth floor and brick-and-terracotta above; and a three-story bronze-and-glass "observation dome" at the top. However, Chrysler wanted a more progressive design, and he worked with Van Alen to redesign the skyscraper to be 925 ft (282 m) tall. At the new height, Chrysler's building would be taller than the 792-foot (241 m) Woolworth Building, a building in lower Manhattan that was the world's tallest at the time. 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.

 

From late 1928 to early 1929, modifications to the design of the dome continued. 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. The final design of the dome included several arches and triangular windows. Lower down, various architectural details were modeled after Chrysler automobile products, such as the hood ornaments of the Plymouth (see § Designs between setbacks). The building's gargoyles on the 31st floor and the eagles on the 61st floor, were created to represent flight, and to embody the machine age of the time. Even the topmost needle was built using a process similar to one Chrysler used to manufacture his cars, with precise "hand craftmanship". In his autobiography, Chrysler says he suggested that his building be taller than the Eiffel Tower.

 

Meanwhile, excavation of the new building's 69-foot-deep (21 m) foundation began in mid-November 1928 and was completed in mid-January 1929, when bedrock was reached. A total of 105,000,000 pounds (48,000,000 kg) of rock and 36,000,000 pounds (16,000,000 kg) of soil were excavated for the foundation, equal to 63% of the future building's weight. Construction of the building proper began on January 21, 1929. 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. The steel structure was "a few floors" high by June 1929, 35 floors high by early August, and completed by September. Despite a frantic steelwork construction pace of about four floors per week, no workers died during the construction of the skyscraper's steelwork. 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". In total, 391,881 rivets were used, and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were laid to create the non-loadbearing walls of the skyscraper. Walter Chrysler personally financed the construction with his income from his car company. The Chrysler Building's height officially surpassed the Woolworth's on October 16, 1929, thereby becoming the world's tallest structure.

 

Completion

 

In January 1930, it was announced that the Chrysler Corporation would maintain satellite offices in the Chrysler Building during Automobile Show Week. The skyscraper was never intended to become the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters, which remained in Detroit. The first leases by outside tenants were announced in April 1930, before the building was officially completed. 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. By June, it was reported that 65% of the available space had been leased. By August, the building was declared complete, but the New York City Department of Construction did not mark it as finished until February 1932.

 

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. The Chrysler Building was thus the first man-made structure to be taller than 1,000 feet (300 m); and as one newspaper noted, the tower was also taller than the highest points of five states. The tower remained the world's tallest for 11 months after its completion. 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. The city had attempted to repeal the tax exemption, but Cooper Union had opposed that measure. Because the Chrysler Building retains the tax exemption, it has paid Cooper Union for the use of their land since opening. 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. In his autobiography, Chrysler wrote that he wanted to erect the building "so that his sons would have something to be responsible for".

 

Van Alen's satisfaction at these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee. 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. 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. However, the lawsuit against Chrysler markedly diminished Van Alen's reputation as an architect, which, along with the effects of the Great Depression and negative criticism, ended up ruining his career. 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."

 

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 4 feet (1.2 m) taller than the Chrysler Building, 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." Another revision brought the Empire State Building's roof to 1,250 feet (380 m), making it the tallest building in the world by far when it opened on May 1, 1931. However, the Chrysler Building is still the world's tallest steel-supported brick building. 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. By contrast, Empire State had only leased 23 percent of its space and was popularly derided as the "Empty State Building".

 

Impact

 

Reception

 

The completed Chrysler Building garnered mixed reviews in the press. Van Alen was hailed as the "Doctor of Altitude" by Architect magazine, while architect Kenneth Murchison called Van Alen the "Ziegfeld of his profession", comparing him to popular Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. 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." 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."

 

The journalist George S. Chappell called the Chrysler's design "distinctly a stunt design, evolved to make the man in the street look up". Douglas Haskell stated that the building "embodies no compelling, organic idea", and alleged that Van Alen had abandoned "some of his best innovations in behalf of stunts and new 'effects'". Others compared the Chrysler Building to "an upended swordfish", or claimed it had a "Little Nemo"-like design. Lewis Mumford, a supporter of the 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". 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."

 

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. George H. Douglas wrote in 2004 that the Chrysler Building "remains one of the most appealing and awe-inspiring of skyscrapers". Architect Le Corbusier called the building "hot jazz in stone and steel". 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. 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".

 

The LPC said that the tower "embodies the romantic essence of the New York City skyscraper". 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."

 

As icon

 

The Chrysler Building appears in several films set in New York and is widely considered one of the most positively acclaimed buildings in the city. 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". 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. In 2007, the building ranked ninth among 150 buildings in the AIA's List of America's Favorite Architecture.

 

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" which "wins many a New Yorker's vote for the city's most iconic and beloved skyscraper". Frommer's states that the Chrysler was "one of the most impressive Art Deco buildings ever constructed". Insight Guides' 2016 edition maintains that the Chrysler Building is considered among the city's "most beautiful" buildings. Its distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia, Two Prudential Plaza in Chicago, and the Al Kazim Towers in Dubai. In addition, the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Paradise, Nevada, contains the "Chrysler Tower", a replica of the Chrysler Building measuring 35 or 40 stories tall. A portion of the hotel's interior was also designed to resemble the Chrysler Building's interior.

 

In media

 

While seen in many films, the Chrysler Building almost never appears as a main setting in them, prompting architect and author James Sanders to quip it should win "the Award for Best Supporting Skyscraper". The building was supposed to be featured in the 1933 film King Kong, but only makes a cameo at the end thanks to its producers opting for the Empire State Building in a central role. The Chrysler Building notably appears in the background of 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), Armageddon (1998), Deep Impact (1998), Godzilla (1998), and A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001). The building also appears in other films, such as Spider-Man (2002), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Two Weeks Notice (2002), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010), The Avengers (2012) and Men in Black 3 (2012). The building is mentioned in the number "It's the Hard Knock Life" for the musical Annie, and it is the setting for the post-game content in the Squaresoft video game Parasite Eve.

 

The Chrysler Building is frequently a subject of photographs. In December 1929, Walter Chrysler hired Margaret Bourke-White to take publicity images from a scaffold 400 feet (120 m) high. She was deeply inspired by the new structure and especially smitten by the massive eagle's-head figures projecting off the building. In her autobiography, Portrait of Myself, Bourke-White wrote, "On the sixty-first floor, the workmen started building some curious structures which overhung 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue below. When I learned these were to be gargoyles à la Notre Dame, but made of stainless steel as more suitable for the twentieth century, I decided that here would be my new studio. There was no place in the world that I would accept as a substitute."

 

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. In 1930, several of her photographs were used in a special report on skyscrapers in the then-new Fortune magazine. Bourke-White worked in a 61st-floor studio designed by John Vassos until she was evicted in 1934. In 1934, 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. On October 5, 1998, Christie's auctioned the photograph for $96,000. In addition, 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.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Das Chrysler Building ist ein 1930 fertiggestellter Wolkenkratzer im Stil des Art déco in Manhattan in New York City und zählt zu den Wahrzeichen der Metropole.

 

Der Büroturm befindet sich im Viertel Turtle Bay an der Lexington Avenue, Ecke 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. Er steht auf einem Grundstück der privaten Hochschule Cooper Union, hat die Adresse „405 Lexington Avenue“ und ist nur einen Block vom Grand Central Terminal entfernt. Schräg gegenüber steht mit dem Chanin Building ein weiterer bekannter Wolkenkratzer im Art-déco-Stil.

 

Das Chrysler Building ist 318,8 Meter (1046 Fuß) hoch und damit zusammen mit dem 2007 erbauten New York Times Tower auf Rang 13 der höchsten Gebäude in New York City. Unter den höchsten Gebäuden der Vereinigten Staaten nehmen beide Gebäude den 21. Rang ein (jeweils Stand 2023). Auftraggeber war Walter Percy Chrysler, der es ursprünglich für die Chrysler Corporation zwischen 1928 und 1930 bauen ließ. Für die Planung des Wolkenkratzers im Art-déco-Stil war der Architekt William Van Alen verantwortlich. Das Gebäude zählt zu den schönsten Wolkenkratzern jener Epoche.

 

Geschichte

 

Entstehungsbedingungen

 

Das Chrysler Building im Stadtkontext, gesehen vom Empire State Building aus. Weiter rechts der Trump World Tower

Paradoxerweise entstanden viele Wolkenkratzer in der Zeit der Weltwirtschaftskrise. Das liegt zum einen an der Hochphase vor der Krise: Das Bruttosozialprodukt der USA war nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg innerhalb von acht Jahren um 50 % gestiegen, und dieser Konjunktursprung führte zu zahlreichen Neubauten und Planungen von Geschäftshäusern. Zum anderen kamen den Bauherren bei der anschließenden Ausführung während der Krise die radikal gesunkenen Arbeitslöhne nach dem Börsencrash 1929 zugute. Sie konnten für das gleiche Geld wesentlich mehr Arbeiter einstellen als geplant. Die Macht der Gewerkschaften war gebrochen, die Arbeitslöhne waren niedrig, Arbeiter standen in Massen zur Verfügung. Ein Gebäude dieses Ausmaßes hätte unter normalen Verhältnissen in dieser kurzen Bauzeit nicht errichtet werden können. Pro Woche wurden durchschnittlich vier Stockwerke errichtet, für die damaligen Verhältnisse ein Rekord. (Ähnliche Effekte konnte man auch später beobachten: Das höchste Gebäude der Welt, der Burj Khalifa in Dubai, wurde 2010, in der Zeit der Finanzkrise, fertig. Geplant wurde er jedoch vor dem Wirtschaftsabschwung.)

 

Baugeschichte

 

Obwohl das Gebäude speziell für den Autohersteller Chrysler konstruiert und gebaut wurde, bezahlte die Firma weder für den Bau, noch besaß sie es jemals. Walter P. Chrysler hatte entschieden, privat dafür aufzukommen, um es an seine Kinder weitergeben zu können.

 

Die Grundsteinlegung für das Gebäude fand am 19. September 1928 statt. Am 27. Mai 1930 wurde es feierlich eingeweiht. Mit 319 Metern war es bei der Eröffnung das höchste Gebäude der Welt und auch das erste, das die 1000-Fuß-Marke (305 Meter) durchbrach. Bis zum Dach misst es 282 Meter; da die Metallspitze aber zur Grundstruktur des Gebäudes gehört, wird sie zur offiziellen Höhe mitgezählt.

 

Während der Erbauung hatte es bis in die letzten Tage einen Wettlauf mit dem Turm der Bank of Manhattan (heute 40 Wall Street oder The Trump Building) gegeben, den das Chrysler Building für sich entschied. Der Architekt William Van Alen hatte 1930 die 56 Meter hohe Spitze bis zum letzten Moment geheim gehalten, damit der Konkurrent, die Bank of Manhattan, deren Gebäude gerade 283 Meter Höhe erreicht hatte, nicht mehr reagieren konnte. Die einzelnen Bestandteile dieser Metallspitze waren im Heizungsschacht des Gebäudes zunächst gelagert und vormontiert worden. Dann wurden die riesigen Stahlplatten heimlich auf das 65. Geschoss gebracht, dort zusammengeschraubt und anschließend in einem Stück mit einem Drehkran auf das Gebäude aufgesetzt, das damit 319 Meter Höhe erreichte und die Konkurrenz deutlich übertrumpfte. Dieses Unterfangen dauerte weniger als 1½ Stunden. Dieser Stahlaufbau, genannt „Vortex“ (lat. Wirbel, Drehung), dient lediglich als Dekoration, wiegt 30 Tonnen und ist ein Beispiel des Art déco.

 

Allerdings blieb das Chrysler Building nur kurz das höchste Gebäude der Welt. 1931 wurde in Midtown Manhattan das Empire State Building mit einer Höhe von 381 Metern fertiggestellt und war damit deutlich höher als alle anderen Gebäude. Bis zum Jahr 1969 blieb das Chrysler Building jedoch der zweithöchste Wolkenkratzer der Welt und gehörte noch bis in die späten 1990er Jahre zu den „Top Ten“ der weltweit höchsten Gebäude.

 

Spätere Entwicklung

 

Im 67. Stockwerk befand sich eine besonders während der Prohibition bekannte Restaurant-Bar, der so genannte Cloud Club, in der ehemaligen ‚Wohnung‘ des Firmengründers Walter P. Chrysler.

 

Lediglich die Lobby des Chrysler Building ist der Öffentlichkeit zur Besichtigung zugänglich (inkl. eigenem Subway-Zugang, jedoch nur werktags). Um zu den noch im Stil des Art déco gehaltenen Aufzügen zu gelangen, braucht man einen speziellen Ausweis oder einen Termin bei einer der dort ansässigen Firmen.

 

Nach dem Tod von Walter P. Chrysler 1940 kam das Gebäude zur W.P Chrysler Building Corporation, die es zusammen mit der Erbenfamilie 1953 für 18 Millionen US-Dollar an den Immobilienmakler William Zeckendorf verkaufte. 1960 erwarben die Immobilieninvestoren Sol Goldman und Alex DiLorenzo mittels Finanzierung durch die Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) das Gebäude. Die wiederum übernahm 1975 die Anteile für 35 Millionen US-Dollar. Im Dezember 1976 wurde das Hochhaus zur National Historic Landmark erklärt.

 

Bis 1979 wurde das Gebäude für rund 23 Millionen US-Dollar komplett renoviert. Im September 1979 wurde es von Jack Kent Cooke übernommen. Nach dem Tod von Cooke 1997 übernahm das Immobilienunternehmen Tishman Speyer Properties zusammen mit The Travelers Companies, Inc. (ab 1998 Teil der Citigroup) das Gebäude für eine geschätzte Summe von 210 bis 250 Millionen US-Dollar (187 bis 223 Millionen Euro). Im März 2001 übernahm die deutsche Investmentgesellschaft TMW Immobilien AG[5] aus München über ihre US-amerikanische Tochter für rund 390 Millionen US-Dollar rund 75 Prozent des Gebäudes. Zu den größten Anteilseignern der TMW gehörten der Ergo Trust der Ergo Group, die Provinzial Versicherung sowie drei deutsche Privatbanken.

 

Zwischen Herbst 2001 und Juli 2008 befand sich das Gebäude im Besitz der zur Ergo Group gehörenden GVP Gesellschaft für Vertriebs- und Produktmanagement AG (heute Ideenkapital Financial Service AG) aus Düsseldorf, die hierfür einen geschlossenen Immobilienfonds (ProVictor) auflegte. Sie verkaufte das Gebäude zu einem Anteil von 90 Prozent am 9. Juli 2008 an den Staatsfonds Abu Dhabi Investment Council (Mubadala) für 800 Millionen US-Dollar (713 Millionen Euro).

 

Reuters-Informationen zufolge wurde im März 2019 das sanierungsbedürftige Chrysler Building für lediglich 150 Millionen US-Dollar an ein Unternehmen verkauft, das je zur Hälfte der österreichischen Signa Holding und dem amerikanisch-deutschen Unternehmen RFR Group der deutschstämmigen Immobilieninvestoren Aby Rosen und Michael Fuchs gehört.[1] Weiteren Medienberichten zur Folge waren der Grund für den extrem niedrigen Verkaufspreis des Chrysler Gebäudes an das Gemeinschaftsunternehmen von Signa und RFR der bevorstehende extrem hohe Bodenpachtanstieg von 7,75 Millionen Dollar im Jahr 2018 auf 31,5 Millionen US-Dollar im Jahr 2023. Bis 2028 soll die Pacht weiter auf 41 Millionen US-Dollar steigen und 2029 auf 67 Millionen US-Dollar. Eigentümer des Bodengrundes unter dem Gebäude ist seit 1902 die Cooper Union, die wiederum – als eine Stiftung – die Pacht steuerfrei einnimmt.

 

Nutzer des Gebäudes

 

Die Chrysler Corporation bezog das Gebäude 1930 als dessen Ankermieter und nutzte die Räumlichkeiten bis in die 1950er Jahre als Abteilungshauptquartier. Weitere Mieter der ersten Stunde waren Time und Texaco. Weil Time Bedarf an mehr Büroräumen hatte, zog es 1937 ins Rockefeller Center um. Texaco zog 1967 nach Purchase, New York, weil das Unternehmen die Arbeitsplätze in eine Vorortumgebung verlegen wollte.

 

Zu den Nutzern des Gebäudes in der Gegenwart gehören: Regus, Creative Artists Agency, Blank Rome, Clyde & Co, InterMedia Partners, Troutman Sanders Reprieve und YES Network.

 

Baustil

 

Das Gebäude wurde im Stil des Art déco errichtet. Am Gebäude finden sich Zierelemente aus rostfreiem Stahl, die an Wasserspeier (Gargoylen) erinnern, Flügelhelm-artige Figuren, die den Chrysler-Kühlerfiguren von 1926 nachempfunden sind,[23] und Adlerköpfe – das Wappentier der Vereinigten Staaten. Außerdem wurden am 31. Stockwerk Zierelemente in Form von Chrysler-Motorhauben und Kachelfriese in Form von Chrysler-Radkappen als Zierrat an der Fassade verwendet. Auch die Kuppel des Gebäudes ist aus nichtrostendem Stahl gefertigt.[2] Die Spitze bildet eine sich pyramidenhaft verjüngende Turmkrone aus Kacheln und Nickeltafeln, aus der eine 27 Tonnen schwere Nickelstahlnadel ragt.[24]

 

Die für die New Yorker Skyline so unverwechselbare Beleuchtung kommt durch unscheinbare Leuchtstofflampen zustande, die an den Fensterrahmen angebracht sind. Die Fenster sind als Schiebefenster gestaltet und lassen sich in allen Etagen öffnen.

 

Höhe

 

Bei seiner Fertigstellung im Jahr 1930 war das Chrysler Building mit 319 Metern Höhe das höchste Gebäude der Erde und übertraf das 283 Meter hohe Bank of Manhattan Company Building (heute 40 Wall Street). Auch überrundete es als erstes Bauwerk den Eiffelturm, der aufgrund kaum vorhandener Nutzflächen nicht als Gebäude, sondern lediglich als Bauwerk gewertet wird. Doch schon ein Jahr nach der Fertigstellung, im Mai 1931, wurde es vom Empire State Building um 62 Meter (381 Meter hoch) überholt. Fortan war es noch bis zur Fertigstellung des 344 Meter hohen John Hancock Center in Chicago im Jahr 1969 das zweithöchste Gebäude der Welt.

 

Innerhalb New Yorks wurde es 1972 und 1973 durch die Türme des World Trade Center (417 Meter und 415 Meter) erneut übertroffen. Nach deren Zerstörung 2001 wurde es zeitweise wieder zum zweithöchsten Gebäude New York Citys, bis 2009 der 366 Meter hohe Bank of America Tower fertig wurde (bereits 2007 erreichte der New York Times Tower dieselbe Höhe wie das Chrysler Building). Seit 2014 ist auch das Gebäude 432 Park Avenue höher. Inzwischen rangiert das Chrysler Building zusammen mit dem New York Times Tower nur noch auf Platz zwölf der höchsten Gebäude in New York. Unter Berücksichtigung seiner 2003 fertiggestellten Antenne ist auch das Conde Nast Building höher als das Chrysler Building. Seitdem der Eiffelturm über eine Fernseh- und Funkturmantenne verfügt, ist auch dieser wieder höher als das Chrysler Building (aktuell misst der Eiffelturm 330 Meter).

 

Ähnliche Gebäude

 

Im Laufe der Zeit sind in den USA, wie auch weltweit, eine Reihe von Wolkenkratzern entstanden, bei denen man sich in der Planung und Konzeption am Chrysler Building orientierte. Dies gilt insbesondere für die Spitze des Gebäudes. Besonders bekannt sind diesbezüglich Bauten wie der One Liberty Place in Philadelphia oder die Al Kazim Towers in Dubai, die jedoch beide niedriger als das Chrysler Building sind. Das New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas zitiert unter anderem auch das Chrysler Building.

 

Schutzausweisung

 

Das Gebäude kam 1976 als National Historic Landmark ins National Register of Historic Places und wurde 1978 von der Landmarks Preservation Commission als New York City Landmark ausgewiesen.

 

Daten

 

Etagen: 77

Höhe: 318,92 m

Höhe Dach: 282 m

Höchstes Stockwerk: 274 m

Höchste Aussichtsetage: 238,66 m

Fenster: 3.750

Stahl: 21.000 t

Ziegelsteine: 4.000.000

Wasserrohre: 50 km

Elektrokabel: 1000 km

 

(Wikipedia)

Done