View allAll Photos Tagged loadbearing
A half-timbered house is essentially a simple thing. It consists of a load-bearing beam structure, filled with
clay, straw or dried bricks. Built quickly and cheaply. The frame was made of slow-growing, strong pine wood from the Harz. Some loam and a lick of paint over it and you could live in it.
Een vakwerkhuisje is in wezen een simpel ding. Het bestaat uit een dragende balkstructuur, ingevuld met
klei, stro of gedroogde stenen. Snel en goedkoop gebouwd. Voor het geraamte diende het langzaam groeiende, sterke pijnboomhout uit de Harz. Wat leem en een lik verf eroverheen en je kon erin wonen.
Ein Fachwerkhaus ist im Grunde eine einfache Sache. Es besteht aus einer tragenden Balkenkonstruktion, ausgefüllt mit
Ton, Stroh oder getrocknete Steine. Schnell und günstig gebaut. Als Rahmen diente langsam wachsendes, kräftiges Kiefernholz aus dem Harz. Etwas Lehm und ein wenig Farbe darüber und schon konnte man darin wohnen.
Europe, The Netherlands, Rotterdam Zuid , Waalhaven OZ, Gust Romijn bridge (cut from T&B)
The Gust Romein bridge connects the Zuider Park green zone with the Waalhaven industrial quarter by crossing the Waalhaven rail freight emplacement.
Form follows function in this bridge, also on a 'micro' level: The barriers are loadbearing and thru CAD/CAM it was possible to vary the size of the cut-out lozenges in such a way that they don’t interfere with the load-bearing capacity: they are smaller in the zones where the load stresses are the highest. The colour red was chosen to make a connection with the nearby red container cranes. The bridge was designed by the Delft (of course) based IPV.
The giant ship's propeller In the BG flags the head office of Smit (part of Boskalis, once known as Smit Internationale), a company that specializes in towing, salvage and heavy transport.
This place also show one of Rotterdam's spatial problems - dikes and transport infrastructure almost severes the contact between Charlois (a living quarter) and Waalhaven (a harbour quarter were many people work).
The Nikon1 lens used here is the 1 Nikkor VR 10-30mm f/3.5-5.6, the first Nikon 1 lens. It was superseded by the more compact LP version of the lens with scaled-down optics, motorized zoom action and no possibility to attach a sun hood. The pics shot with this newer lens are here.
This is number 283 of Rotterdam Harbour & Industry and 1024 of Minimalism & explict graphism.
Victorian property undergoing renovation.
Bundled fibre-optic cables along with a tangle of other assorted wiring.
LR4191 © Joe O'Malley 2021
Beneath the pier, silence becomes structural—held, distributed, and sustained by the pylons below. Light is permitted only where the architecture allows it, while darkness gathers as mass rather than absence. The water passes through. The structure endures.
Probably before the end of 1901, Donaldson erected the building called the "Donaldson Block" at 56 Main St. As far as is known, the first occupants of its two storefronts were the Western Union Telegraph and Cable Co. and George Baldwin, photographer.
The rich visual record that exists of Saranac Lake during its period of greatest growth and prosperity is mainly the result of the work of three men: Baldwin, William L. Distin, and William F. Kollecker. Plates and prints by these photographers form a priceless part of the Saranac Lake Free Library's Adirondack Collection.
In 1898, William L. Distin and family moved to Saranac Lake from Montreal and took up residence in the Donaldson Block, probably on the third floor, front, soon after the building was completed. He went into partnership with Baldwin and they worked out of the shop and studio downstairs in the north storefront. After a few years, Baldwin left to work in Lake Placid and Distin absorbed his business and acquired at least some of his glass plate negatives.
Distin bought 56 Main for $12,500 from Donaldson in August, 1908. This was the year after his son, William G. Distin, Sr., returned to Saranac Lake as a Columbia University graduate.
The surround and the edges of the facade are trimmed with brick quoining. Flanking the surround, the paired, sash windows have cyclopean, limestone lintels and sills. The facade has two cornices: a narrow one above the first floor and a wider one, supported by fifteen large, scrolled brackets, at the roof-line.
The crowning touch of the Donaldson Block facade is a hefty swan's neck pediment with a rectangular pedestal between the "necks". Up until the 1920's, at least, a large sphere surmounted the pedestal and a very tall flag-pole stood behind it.
The walls of this building may or may not be loadbearing. Whichever, removal of one and a half stories of the rear, brick wall and a substantial portion of the rear foundation wall when the addition was built resulted in noticeable out-bulging at the north-west corner and separation of brick adjacent to this corner at second story rear. This problem seems to have been checked by placement of a 3 x 45 inch steel strap secured to the bulging zone by four large bolts.
As for the addition itself, it is a clapboarded structure rising from a half level below the basement to the floor of the second story. It is not particularly distinctive.
Like many of Main Street's buildings, the Donaldson Block's sidewalls do not meet its facade at a right angle because of the street's curvature. This effect, though, is more pronounced at this address than at any other. Also, this building is farther removed from the curb-line than any other in the District.
Opened in 2001, the Forum was commissioned to replace the library which was sadly destroyed in a fire. Hopkin Architects redesigned the old library site along with an adjacent car park to form a complete city block for the building’s combined mixed uses. These include library and archive services, local visitor and business centres, a heritage exhibition, retail, bar and restaurant facilities, and the regional BBC centre for television and radio. Commercial office space occupies one third of the building, generating further income, as does a new underground car park.
Constructed in loadbearing brickwork, the Forum creates a sense of civic gravitas. The three-storey building shelters a horseshoe-shaped enclosure housing a new public space. The semi-circular end encloses the library and provides it with a continuous elevation to the west, while the eastern end opens to the city through a spectacular glazed wall, framing the Gothic church tower of St Peter Mancroft.
Within the horseshoe, the new public space provides a space for people to variously congregate, linger in the café or orientate themselves before using the building’s more formal facilities. The courtyard roof is supported by bow-string steel trusses forming leaf shaped panels, infilled with acoustically absorbent material or glazing.
Serpentine Sackler Gallery. Zaha Hadid architects 2009-2013. Archtiects’ Description: The tailored, glass-fi bre woven textile membrane is an integral part of the building’s loadbearing structure. It stretches between and connects a perimeter ring beam and a set of fi ve interior columns that articulate the roof’s highpoints. Instead of using perimeter columns, the edge beam – a twisted ladder truss supported on three points – dips down to the supporting ground in front, in the back, and on the free west side. On the east side this edge beam (and thus the roof of the extension) swings above the parapet of the Magazine. (The “Magazine” is the brick building adjoining, dating from 1805).
Germany, Nordhein-Westfalen, Essen-Gelsenkirchen, Zeche Zollverein, Shaft tower, Rail system (cut from T)
The Zollverein – an extensive former colliery and coking plant complex that's made accessible for the public. A paradise for legal urbexers.
The Zollverein was in operation from 1847- 1986 and was (in)famous for its impact on the environment and also for its efficiency and the high quality of its Bauhaus inspired architecture and industrial 'urban plan'. It's transformed into an industry-park now and a UNESCO World Heritage site as a “representative example for the development of heavy industry in Europe”.
The pithead (height 52 m) and the shaft building (‘Shaft 12’) on the right, were designed in 1932 by the Bauhaus inspired architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer ). The centralization and rationalization scheme that was behind the creation of shaft 12, made 500 workers redundant. It was the new logistical nerve centre of the colliery. Coal from all the 11 interconnected underground Zollverein coalfields (max depth 1049 m ) was hoisted up with a speed of 18 m/s through it by 2 MW engines. The max capacity of the Pithead was 12 KT/day.
As said earlier, The architecture of the edifice is functionalist. It has a metal frame and the façade is not loadbearing. In a metal trellis frame, 12 cm wide bricks and metal-rimmed glass is used in a fixed pattern of 2 x 6 m. Drain pipes are hidden behind the façade and even the gently sloping roof is hidden from view retaining the clean and cubic form of the building. A close up pic is here.
Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer are considered to be the most influential modern colliery and steel industry architects and Shaft 12 is their “chef-d'oeuvre”. Some architectural historians question if the architects distanced themselves enough from the national-socialist rearmament and autarky programs of the time.
(Main source of the info: Zollverein Word Heritage Site – Stiftung Zollverein (ed.) – Klartext GmbH (2008), a "must buy" book if you plan to visit the Zollverein)
One of the attractions of the park is that you can use a new walkway that follows the narrow gauge industrial rail tracks that the coal carts followed getting from the shaft tower to the processing facilities. Displayed here is a switch – emptied coal carts, coming from the processing facilities can go either to the left to the cart storage and maintenance building or the left, back to the shaft building.
Click here to see where this picture was taken. [?]
This is number 6 of the Zollverein (coal factory) album
and 934 of Minimalism/Explicit graphism.
In Germania, the Badger mech is a basic-duty powersuit, to increase endurance and loadbearing capabilities. As of yet, these suits remain low-volume, but it is suggested they could be a revolutionary force if deployed in high-enough numbers.
Square lashing is a type of lashing knot used to bind poles together. Large structures can be built with a combination of square and diagonal lashing, with square lashing generally used on load bearing members and diagonal lashing usually applied to cross bracing. If any gap exists between the poles then diagonal lashing should be used.
1. Begin with a clove hitch on the vertical pole beneath the horizontal pole and tuck the loose end under the wrapping.
2. Wrap in a square fashion about three times around the poles.
3. Frap two or three times, pulling often to work the joint as tight as possible.
4. Tie two half hitches around the horizontal pole
5. Cinch the half hitches into a clove hitch, an additional clove hitch may be added if desired.
When the turns are taken around the vertical pole they should be inside the previous turns. The ones around the cross pole should be on the outside of the previous turns. This makes sure that the turns remain parallel and hence the maximum contact between the rope and wood is maintained.
Strength is improved if care is taken to lay the rope wraps and fraps in parallel with a minimum of crossing.
From Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round_lashing#Round_lashing
glenn.cockwell.com/scouting/creating_a_square_lashing.htm
Post Processing:
PhotoShop Elements 5: posterization, ink edges
Picnik: vignette
Part of my set entitled, "Colonial Williamsburg"
Two western region diesel hydraulic locomotives inside the new diesel shed
D1000 'Western' class introduction
'Western' class number D1013 Western Ranger The 'Western' class diesel - hydraulic locomotives came into being due to the introduction of Krauss - Maffei's experimental ML3000 3,000 bhp locomotive. This German design used the same Maybach MD650 engines and Mekydro K184 transmissions as used in the Swindon built 'Warship' class, but uprated to 1,500 bhp. Although details of the ML3000 were sent to Swindon for consideration, the Western Region decided to design their own locomotive from the ground up. Based around Maybach MD655 engines of 1,380 bhp and Voith L360rV transmissions, the body used the stressed - skin method of construction so successfully employed in the D800s. Voith transmissions were specified as Mekydro units were required for the 'Hymek' class and this decision was also made to spread the workload among the various suppliers. All of the engines though would be built by Bristol Siddeley Engines from their plant at Ansty, while 103 transmissions would be supplied by the North British Locomotive company and Voith Engineering of Glasgow with another 60 sets produced in Germany.
The order for 74 locomotives was placed by the British Transport Commission in September 1959 just prior to the completion of the final design. Construction was to be split between Swindon, who were to build the first 35 'Westerns', and also Crewe who were to built the last 39. Various problems with the final design details meant that the first member of the class was not delivered Maybach MD655 engine until December 1961, and so to relieve pressure on Swindon, the decision was taken that the last 5 of the locomotives due to built there, would be constructed at Crewe instead. Therefore, Swindon built 'Western' numbers D1000 - 29, while Crewe built numbers D1035 - 73 and D1030 - 4 in that order.
Initially the class were to be named after West Country beauty spots and the suggestion was that number D1000 was to become 'Cheddar Gorge' before this proposal was dropped in favour of the 'Western' names. The class also became the subject of various livery experiments. The first 'Western', D1000 Western Enterprise, was outshopped in a unique desert sand livery with wheels, roofpanels, bogies and window frames in black. Buffer beams and front skirts were painted in carmine red. The second 'Western' locomotive, D1001 Western Pathfinder, was delivered in a maroon livery with window frames in white while the buffer beams and front skirts were in yellow. The next three locomotives, D1002 - 4, were painted in the traditional Brunswick Green but with small yellow panels applied around the headcodes. The first Crewe built 'Westerns', D1035 - 8, were similarly painted. There then followed a public competition to decide the most popular livery (yes, British Railways did ask the public for their opinion sometimes) and the winning colour that the public chose was maroon. Other examples of the class were given this livery together with the small yellow panel around the headcode. One exception to this was number D1015 Western Champion, which was outshopped in a livery described as Golden Ochre with the buffer beams painted in red.
In Service.
As stated, D1000 'Western Enterprise' Voith L630rV hydraulic transmissionentered traffic in December 1961 and was soon sent to Plymouth Laira for trials, while in February 1962, D1001 'Western Pathfinder' was chosen for various trials against the prototype of what would become the Class 47's, D0280 'Falcon'.
Within a month, the first signs of a bogie design fault appeared and it was found that soft suspension between the bogies and the body frame on D1000 created excessive movement of the cardan shafts that transmit the drive from the engine to the transmission. This movement weakened the cardan shaft joints and also set up stresses within the transmission. D1001's transmissions were also inspected and the same amount of wear was discovered. Stiffening and repositioning the'Western' class locomotive in the popular maroon livery torque reaction arms effected a temporary repair, however in 1963, a return of the unsatisfactory riding qualities meant that all but four of the class were restricted to 80 mph. A programme of bogie modifications, including replacing the rubber side blocks with metal fittings, was begun and by April 1964, 50 members of the 'Western' class were restored to working at 90 mph.
Many of the mechanical problems that effected the 'Westerns' were related to the train heating boiler, but also problems were found with the compressors and exhausters, dynostarts and engine fuel pumps. Many of the faults were blamed on Bristol Siddeley Engines who manufactured the Maybach engine under licence, and in some instances, materials appeared to have been used which were not to the design specification. One example of this was the compressors lower central shaft roller bearing which had a cheaper alternative installed, while on some of the crankcases, the wrong type of welding rod had been used in its construction.
One unusual design problem on the 'Westerns' concerned the windscreen wipers when in use at high speed. Numbers D1006 'Western Stalwart' and D1039 'Western King' were fitted with experimental rotary wipers of a design used on ships. Although these type of wipers swept away the water, they produced an opaque film on the windscreen and this restriction to the drivers vision cancelled the project.
By the late 1960's, apart from one or two engine problems, the 'Westerns' were giving sterling service. The bogies were giving 150,000 miles between general repairs while the Voith transmission was shown to be a more reliable unit compared to the Mekydro transmission on the 'Warships'. The class soldiered on into the early 1970's due to the unavailability of the English Electric Class 50, and as maintenance staff had been told to keep the 'Westerns' running without major repairs, it was not uncommon to see plumes of blue smoke from the locomotives exhausts.
Withdrawal.
The first withdrawals of the class occurred in May 1973 of numbers D1019 'Western Challenger' and D1032 'Western Marksman'. Seven other members were withdrawn during 1973 including D1017 - 20, the only 'Westerns' not to be fitted with dual brakes. 1974 saw another 11 withdrawn, however 1975 witnessed 18 withdrawals, leaving 34 of the class to run into 1976 mainly due to Class 50 shortages. When the problems with the 50's traction motors was rectified, 27 'Westerns' were withdrawn during 1976 leaving numbers D1010 / 13 / 22 / 23 / 41 / 48 / 58 remaining at the start of 1977. D1022 and D1058 had gone in January leaving five survivors, although numbers D1013 'Western Ranger' and D1023 'Western Fusilier' performed the 'Western Tribute' tour on the 26th of February. These last five 'Westerns' were all withdrawn on the 28th of February 1977, the last of the Western Region diesel-hydraulics.
Preservation.
Seven 'Westerns' have been saved for preservation, five of which were still in BR service until 28th of February 1977. They are numbers :
D1010 'Western Campaigner' although this engine masquerades as D1035 'Western Yeoman',
D1013 'Western Ranger',
D1015 'Western Champion',
D1023 'Western Fusilier',
D1041 'Western Prince',
D1048 'Western Lady', and
D1062 'Western Courier'
Specifications.
Wheel arrangement Co-Co Wheel diameter 3ft 7in
Weight 108 tonnes Height 12ft 117/8 in
Length 68ft Width 9ft
Minimum curve negotiable 4½ chains Maximum speed 90mph
Wheelbase 54ft 8in Heating type Steam - Spanner Mk III
Brake force 82 tonnes Tractive effort 72,600 lb (later 70,000 lb)
Total engine horsepower 2,700 hp Power at rail 2,350 hp
Fuel tank capacity 850 gallons Boiler water capacity 800 gallons
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The 'Hymek' class were unique by the fact that they were the only Type 3 diesel-hydraulics to be built as this design was not part of the Modernisation Plan for Britain's railways. Beyer Peacock were hoping for a share of the diesel orders then being placed for Britain's railways and were in fact building shunting locomotives plus 200 sets of underframes for the Brush Type 2 locomotives. With an intention of supplying complete locomotives for future orders, Beyer Peacock looked into the possibility of building main-line diesel-hydraulics, and although BR employed Type 2 D6300 class and Type 4 Warship class, no plans were announced for a Type 3 machine of 1501 to 1750 hp.
In response, Beyer Peacock formed a consortium in 1958 with Bristol Siddeley Engines and J. Stone of Deptford, named Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Limited. Their design for a Type 3 locomotive featured a 16-cylinder Maybach MD870 engine capable of 1,920 hp, coupled with the Mekydro K184U transmission. Construction was to based at Beyer Peacock's Gorton works in Manchester.
In June 1959, the BTC 'Hymek' class number D7017 at Riverside yard, Exeterordered an initial batch of 45 'Hymeks' at a cost of £80,000 each, but in July 1960, ten months before the first 'Hymek' entered traffic, the BTC ordered a further 50 locomotives, such was the confidence in the design. A final batch of 6 locomotives was ordered in December 1961.
The Maybach MD870 engine was basically a stretched version of the MD655 engine to be used in the 'Western' class, but with four intercoolers and two turbochargers. Power was reduced to 1,740 hp at 1500 rev/min to bring it in line with the Type 3 specification. Manufacture of the engine was to be at Bristol Siddeley's engine plant at Ansty, near Coventry although the first 20 units contained a number of parts from Germany. Similarly, of the 116 sets of Mekydro transmissions, 91 were made by J. Stone with the remaining 25 built in Friedrichshafen.
The stretched-skin type of body construction so successfully used by the 'Warship' and 'Western' classes was not required for the 'Hymeks'. With conventional construction and, of course, a single engine and transmission, an adhesion weight of 75 tons was perfectly satisfactory. In addition, the absence of special construction methods removed the need for training of Beyer Peacocks workforce as well as entering into a licencing agreement with the Germans. The main load-bearing members of the 'Hymek' underframes were longitudinal rolled steel joists to which lighter angle sections were added to form the body framing. The body panels themselves were made from lightweight sheets as they were non-loadbearing as shown by the use of fibreglass mouldings for the cab roof.
The bogie used on the 'Hymeks' was the tried and trusted Commonwealth design, to which, wheels of 45 inches diameter were fitted. This was an odd size for the Western Region as previous diesel-hydraulic locomotives used wheels of 39½ or 43 inches diameter .
The first 'Hymek', number D7000, was handed over to the Western Region on Maybach MD870 enginethe 16th May 1961 in a ceremony at Paddington station, almost two months ahead of schedule, however, the last 'Hymek' number D7100 was held up until February 1964, after problems at Gorton caused a delay in delivery for almost twelve months.
There were two main differences between the first and last members of the class in that D7000 to D7044 were fitted with the Stone-Vapor train heating boiler and brakes were of the Knorr straight air type together with Laycock-Knorr compressors. Numbers D7045 to D7100 used the Spanner Mk. IIIa train heating boiler and brakes and compressors were supplied by Westinghouse. The location of the air horns on the first three members, which was under the buffer beam, was moved to the cab roof on the remainder of the class and those first members had their horns repositioned to the cab roof also.
Livery on all members of the class when delivered was Brunswick Green with a light green band band running the full length of the locomotive at waist height. In addition, the window surrounds were painted white. The running numbers were an unusual feature of the class in that the cabside numbers where made from cast aluminium. The 'Hymeks' did not receive the "TOPS" style of numbering which would have been 'Class 35'.
In Use.
The first problems to befall the class arrived at the end of 1961. The engine coolant temperatures were found to be too excessive in addition to the more serious problem of transmissions failing on starting. The Western Region was obviously concerned with this latter fault, and to isolate the cause, the class were split into two groups. The odd numbered locomotives up to number D7075 had the engine derated to 1,350 hp whereas the even numbered members up to number D7078 had the first gear locked out of use. After much investigation it was found that there was a weakness in the transmission control gear Two Maybach MD870 engines removed for servicenot changing gear at the preset engine speeds, which in turn caused them to overheat. A strengthened control gear was found to be sufficient and all of the 'Hymeks' reverted back to normal condition by the end of 1963.
The Maybach MD870 engine generally have good performance and reliability with occasional engines loosing coolant into the cylinders. By the 1970s, the engines regularly completed 8,000 to 10,000 hours service between overhauls. The Mekydro transmission, however, was prone to several faults including converter failure, damage to the clutches, stripped gear teeth and metal in the filters. The rate of failed transmissions got so bad that spare units were constantly in short supply and to keep some members of the class in service, transmissions had to be borrowed from other 'Hymeks'. However, following a period when the 'Hymeks' were given relatively easy workloads and schedules, the class turned in probably the best performance of all the diesel-hydraulics.
The first 'Hymeks' to be withdrawn were numbers D7006 and D7081 in September 1971. A additional 78 members were withdrawn by the end of 1972 leaving just 21 examples, 14 at Old Oak Common and 7 at Bristol Bath Road to face a bleak future. However, by the end of 1973, ten survivors were still in service due to the 'Hymeks' replacement locomotive, the Brush Type 2 (Class 31), initially suffering twice the failure rate of the 'Hymeks'.
British Railways organised a 'Hymek Swansong' tour on the 22nd of September 1973, hauled by D7001 and D7028. While the pair were waiting at Didcot, number D7026 ran through with an Oxford express as if to show that the class were far from finished. And so it turned out that way, as just four 'Hymeks' were withdrawn during 1974 leaving D7011/17/18/22/28 and 29 in service towards 1975. However the 'Hymek' survival could not last forever and in January 1975 D7028 was withdrawn, followed by D7029 in February and the last four in March.
Many people regretted the passing of the 'Hymeks' as they were probably the most reliable and successful of all the diesel-hydraulics. Their downfall was the lack of standardisation of parts with other locomotive classes together with the shortage of spare parts which led to the cannibalisation of the withdrawn examples to keep the few remaining locomotives in traffic, a situation not helped by the closure of Beyer Peacock in July 1966.
Preservation.
Four 'Hymek' locomotives escaped the cutter's torch and they are numbers D7017, D7018 D7029 and D7076.
Specifications.
Wheel arrangement Bo-Bo Wheel diameter 3ft 9in
Weight 74 tonnes Height 12ft 10½ in
Length 51ft 8½in Width 8ft 8½in
Minimum curve negotiable 4 chains Maximum speed 90mph
Wheelbase 36ft Heating type D7000-44: Steam - Stone OK4616, D7045-100: Steam - Spanner Mk III
Brake force 33 tonnes Tractive effort 46,600 lb
Total engine horsepower 1,740 hp Power at rail n/a
Fuel tank capacity 800 gallons Boiler water capacity 800 gallons
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at 319 metres (1,047 ft),[4][5] it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the 365.8-metre (1,200 ft) Bank of America Tower, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, The New York Times Building which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height.[6]
The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture and considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.[7] It was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid 1950's, but although the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, the corporation didn't pay for the construction of it and never owned it, as Walter P. Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it.[8]
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Design beginnings
1.2 Construction
1.3 Completion
1.4 Property
2 Architecture
2.1 Crown ornamentation
2.2 Crown usage
2.3 Lighting
2.4 Recognition and appeal
3 Cultural depictions
4 Quotations
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 References
8 Notes
9 External links
[edit] History
The Chrysler Building in 1932
View from Empire State Building, 2005
Chrysler Building and eastern Midtown ManhattanThe Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of Walter P. Chrysler.[8] When the ground breaking occurred on September 19, 1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper.[9][10] Despite a frantic pace (the building was built at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.[11]
[edit] Design beginnings
Van Alen's original design for the skyscraper called for a decorative jewel-like glass crown. It also featured a base in which the showroom windows were tripled in height and topped by twelve stories with glass-wrapped corners, creating an impression that the tower appeared physically and visually light as if floating on mid-air.[8] The height of the skyscraper was also originally designed to be 246 metres (807 ft).[11] However, the design proved to be too advanced and costly for building contractor William H. Reynolds, who disapproved of Van Alen's original plan.[12] The design and lease were then sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who worked with Van Alen and redesigned the skyscraper for additional stories; it was eventually revised to be 282 metres (925 ft) tall.[11] As Walter Chrysler was the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation and intended to make the building into Chrysler's headquarters,[11] various architectural details and especially the building's gargoyles were modeled after Chrysler automobile products like the hood ornaments of the Plymouth; they exemplify the machine age in the 1920s (see below).[13][14]
[edit] Construction
Construction commenced on September 19, 1928.[11] In total, almost 400,000 rivets were used[11] and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were manually laid, to create the non-loadbearing walls of the skyscraper.[15] Contractors, builders and engineers were joined by other building-services experts to coordinate construction.
Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a rival project at 40 Wall Street, designed by H. Craig Severance. Severance increased the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building[16] (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower[17]). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 56.3-metre (185 ft) long spire[18] and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. The spire was delivered to the site in 4 different sections.[19] On October 23, 1929, the bottom section of the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building's dome and lowered into the 66th floor of the building. The other remaining sections of the spire were hoisted and riveted to the first one in sequential order in just 90 minutes.[20]
[edit] Completion
Upon completion, May 20, 1930,[11] 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. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet (305 m). Van Alen's satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee.[8] Less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27, 1931, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building, but the Chrysler Building is still the world's tallest steel-supported brick building.[21][22] (The world's tallest brick building without steel is St. Martin's Church in Landshut begun in 1389.)[citation needed]
Height comparison of buildings in New York City[edit] Property
The east building wall of the base out of which the tower rises runs at a slant to the Manhattan street grid, following a property line that predated the Commissioners' Plan of 1811.[23] The land on which the Chrysler Building stands was donated to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art,[24] a private college that offers every admitted student a full tuition scholarship, in 1902. The land was originally leased to William H. Reynolds, but when he was unable to raise money for the project, the building and the rights to the land were acquired by Walter P. Chrysler in 1928.[24][25] Contrary to popular belief, the Chrysler Corporation was never involved in the construction or ownership of the Chrysler Building, although it was built and designed for the corporation and served as its headquarters until the mid 1950s. It was a project of Walter P. Chrysler for his children.[8]
The ownership of the building has changed several times. The Chrysler family sold the building in 1947, and in 1957 it was purchased by real-estate moguls Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo, and owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The lobby was refurbished and the facade renovated in 1978–1979.[26] The building was owned by Jack Kent Cooke, a Washington, D.C. investor, in 1979. The spire underwent a restoration that was completed in 1995. In 1998, Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group bought the Chrysler Building, at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, and the adjoining Kent Building in 1997 for about $220 million from a consortium of banks and the estate of Jack Kent Cooke. Tishman Speyer Properties had negotiated a 150 year lease on the land from Cooper Union, which had held the lease before 1997, and continues to hold the land lease.[27]
In 2001, a 75% stake in the building was sold, for US$ 300 million, to TMW, the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund.[28] On June 11, 2008 it was reported that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was in negotiations to buy TMW's 75% economic interest, and a 15% interest from Tishman Speyer Properties in the building, and a share of the Trylons retail structure next door for US$ 800 million.[29] On July 9, 2008 it was announced that the transaction had been completed, and that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was now the 90% owner of the building.[27][30]
[edit] Architecture
Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation at the crownThe Chrysler Building is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture. The distinctive ornamentation of the building based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments;[31] on the 31st floor, the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps.[32] The building is constructed of masonry, with a steel frame, and metal cladding. In total, the building currently contains 3,862 windows on its facade and 4 banks of 8 elevators designed by the Otis Elevator Corporation.[11] The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.[3][33]
[edit] Crown ornamentation
The Chrysler Building is also well renowned and recognized for its terraced crown. Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault constructed into seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks, mounted up one behind each other.[34] The stainless-steel cladding is ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, transitioning into smaller segments of the seven narrow setbacks of the facade of the terraced crown. The entire crown is clad with silvery "Enduro KA-2" metal, an austenitic stainless steel developed in Germany by Krupp and marketed under the trade name "Nirosta" (a German acronym for nichtrostender Stahl, meaning "non-rusting steel").[8][35]
[edit] Crown usage
When the building first opened, it contained a public viewing gallery on the 71st floor, which was closed to the public in 1945. This floor is now the highest-occupied floor, most recently occupied by an office space management firm.[36] The private Cloud Club occupied a three-floor high space from the 66th–68th floors, but closed in the late 1970s. Above the 71st floor, the stories of the building are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire. Very narrow with low, sloped ceilings, these top stories are useful only for holding radio-broadcasting and other mechanical and electrical equipment.[11] Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) originally transmitted from the top of the Chrysler in the 1940s and early 1950s, before moving to the Empire State Building.[11] For many years, WPAT-FM and WTFM (now WKTU) also used the Chrysler Building as a transmission site, but they also moved to the Empire by the 1970s. There are currently no commercial broadcast stations located at the Chrysler Building.
[edit] Lighting
There are two sets of lighting in the top spires and decoration. The first are the V-shaped lighting inserts in the steel of the building itself. Added later were groups of floodlights which are on mast arms directed back at the building. This allows the top of the building to be lit in many colors for special occasions. This lighting was installed by electrician Charles Londner and crew during construction.[11]
[edit] Recognition and appeal
In more recent years, the Chrysler Building has continued to be a favorite among New Yorkers. In the summer of 2005, New York's own Skyscraper Museum asked one hundred architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 New York towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place as 90% of them placed the building in their top-10 favorite buildings.[37]
The Chrysler Building's distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia.[38][39]
[edit] Cultural depictions
The Chrysler Building has been featured in several television programs, movies, and other media. Below are examples.
In an early episode of Saturday Night Live the Coneheads launch the building as a rocketship to return to their home planet. In the 1982 Larry Cohen film Q a winged serpent terrorizing New York is nesting inside the building's crown; the film's poster depicts the monster perched atop the building holding an attractive blonde victim in its claws. (The poster's monster is enormously out of scale to its size in the movie.) The Chrysler Building was also a short scene in the movie Predator 2 where the predator is holding a trophy raising it up on the building. The artwork was done by Michael Whelan.[40] In Deep Impact (1998) a wall of water surrounds the skyscraper and people can be seen on the 61st-floor observation deck fleeing to the other side of the building.[41] The tower was also prominently featured and being destroyed in the 1998 film, Godzilla,[41] and in Armageddon, which featured the tower being struck by a meteor, causing its spire to come crashing to the ground.[41] In another film, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, while Johnny Storm chases the Silver Surfer through Manhattan, the Silver Surfer flies straight through the Chrysler Building.[42][43] Towards the end of Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, the Chrysler Building is seen totally underwater as the mechas guide their spacecraft through the submerged ruins of Manhattan.[41]> In the film Spider-Man, Spider-Man perches on top of one of the building's gargoyles, mourning his Uncle Ben's murder.[41] Matthew Barney's art film Cremaster 3 (2002) narrates a fantastical version of the building's construction.
In the music scene, Meat Loaf's 1993 album Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell's cover art depicts a demonic bat clinging to the top floors of the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building has also appeared in numerous video games such as Parasite Eve and Grand Theft Auto IV, being replicated as the "Zirconium Building".[44][45]
[edit] Quotations
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chrysler Building
"Art Deco in France found its American equivalent in the design of the New York skyscrapers of the 1920s. The Chrysler Building ... was one of the most accomplished essays in the style."
–John Julius Norwich, in The World Atlas of Architecture
"The design, originally drawn up for building contractor William H. Reynolds, was finally sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who wanted a provocative building which would not merely scrape the sky but positively pierce it. Its 77 floors briefly making it the highest building in the world—at least until the Empire State Building was completed—it became the star of the New York skyline, thanks above all to its crowning peak. In a deliberate strategy of myth generation, Van Alen planned a dramatic moment of revelation: the entire seven-storey pinnacle, complete with special-steel facing, was first assembled inside the building, and then hoisted into position through the roof opening and anchored on top in just one and a half hours. All of a sudden it was there—a sensational fait accompli."
–Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, in Architecture in the Twentieth Century
"One of the first uses of stainless steel over a large exposed building surface. The decorative treatment of the masonry walls below changes with every set-back and includes story-high basket-weave designs, radiator-cap gargoyles, and a band of abstract automobiles. The lobby is a modernistic composition of African marble and chrome steel."
–Elliot Willensky and Norval White, in AIA Guide to New York
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)
We have a derelict building in Lee on the Solent which is in danger of collapsing across the public footpath. The Council sought Emergency Powers to make it safe so loadbearing scaffolding was erected to prop it up until it can be demolished. A forest of scaffolding is propping it up to keep the public safe.
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at 319 metres (1,047 ft),[4][5] it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the 365.8-metre (1,200 ft) Bank of America Tower, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, The New York Times Building which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height.[6]
The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture and considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.[7] It was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid 1950's, but although the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, the corporation didn't pay for the construction of it and never owned it, as Walter P. Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it.[8]
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Design beginnings
1.2 Construction
1.3 Completion
1.4 Property
2 Architecture
2.1 Crown ornamentation
2.2 Crown usage
2.3 Lighting
2.4 Recognition and appeal
3 Cultural depictions
4 Quotations
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 References
8 Notes
9 External links
[edit] History
The Chrysler Building in 1932
View from Empire State Building, 2005
Chrysler Building and eastern Midtown ManhattanThe Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of Walter P. Chrysler.[8] When the ground breaking occurred on September 19, 1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper.[9][10] Despite a frantic pace (the building was built at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.[11]
[edit] Design beginnings
Van Alen's original design for the skyscraper called for a decorative jewel-like glass crown. It also featured a base in which the showroom windows were tripled in height and topped by twelve stories with glass-wrapped corners, creating an impression that the tower appeared physically and visually light as if floating on mid-air.[8] The height of the skyscraper was also originally designed to be 246 metres (807 ft).[11] However, the design proved to be too advanced and costly for building contractor William H. Reynolds, who disapproved of Van Alen's original plan.[12] The design and lease were then sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who worked with Van Alen and redesigned the skyscraper for additional stories; it was eventually revised to be 282 metres (925 ft) tall.[11] As Walter Chrysler was the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation and intended to make the building into Chrysler's headquarters,[11] various architectural details and especially the building's gargoyles were modeled after Chrysler automobile products like the hood ornaments of the Plymouth; they exemplify the machine age in the 1920s (see below).[13][14]
[edit] Construction
Construction commenced on September 19, 1928.[11] In total, almost 400,000 rivets were used[11] and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were manually laid, to create the non-loadbearing walls of the skyscraper.[15] Contractors, builders and engineers were joined by other building-services experts to coordinate construction.
Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a rival project at 40 Wall Street, designed by H. Craig Severance. Severance increased the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building[16] (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower[17]). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 56.3-metre (185 ft) long spire[18] and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. The spire was delivered to the site in 4 different sections.[19] On October 23, 1929, the bottom section of the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building's dome and lowered into the 66th floor of the building. The other remaining sections of the spire were hoisted and riveted to the first one in sequential order in just 90 minutes.[20]
[edit] Completion
Upon completion, May 20, 1930,[11] 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. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet (305 m). Van Alen's satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee.[8] Less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27, 1931, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building, but the Chrysler Building is still the world's tallest steel-supported brick building.[21][22] (The world's tallest brick building without steel is St. Martin's Church in Landshut begun in 1389.)[citation needed]
Height comparison of buildings in New York City[edit] Property
The east building wall of the base out of which the tower rises runs at a slant to the Manhattan street grid, following a property line that predated the Commissioners' Plan of 1811.[23] The land on which the Chrysler Building stands was donated to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art,[24] a private college that offers every admitted student a full tuition scholarship, in 1902. The land was originally leased to William H. Reynolds, but when he was unable to raise money for the project, the building and the rights to the land were acquired by Walter P. Chrysler in 1928.[24][25] Contrary to popular belief, the Chrysler Corporation was never involved in the construction or ownership of the Chrysler Building, although it was built and designed for the corporation and served as its headquarters until the mid 1950s. It was a project of Walter P. Chrysler for his children.[8]
The ownership of the building has changed several times. The Chrysler family sold the building in 1947, and in 1957 it was purchased by real-estate moguls Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo, and owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The lobby was refurbished and the facade renovated in 1978–1979.[26] The building was owned by Jack Kent Cooke, a Washington, D.C. investor, in 1979. The spire underwent a restoration that was completed in 1995. In 1998, Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group bought the Chrysler Building, at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, and the adjoining Kent Building in 1997 for about $220 million from a consortium of banks and the estate of Jack Kent Cooke. Tishman Speyer Properties had negotiated a 150 year lease on the land from Cooper Union, which had held the lease before 1997, and continues to hold the land lease.[27]
In 2001, a 75% stake in the building was sold, for US$ 300 million, to TMW, the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund.[28] On June 11, 2008 it was reported that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was in negotiations to buy TMW's 75% economic interest, and a 15% interest from Tishman Speyer Properties in the building, and a share of the Trylons retail structure next door for US$ 800 million.[29] On July 9, 2008 it was announced that the transaction had been completed, and that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was now the 90% owner of the building.[27][30]
[edit] Architecture
Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation at the crownThe Chrysler Building is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture. The distinctive ornamentation of the building based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments;[31] on the 31st floor, the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps.[32] The building is constructed of masonry, with a steel frame, and metal cladding. In total, the building currently contains 3,862 windows on its facade and 4 banks of 8 elevators designed by the Otis Elevator Corporation.[11] The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.[3][33]
[edit] Crown ornamentation
The Chrysler Building is also well renowned and recognized for its terraced crown. Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault constructed into seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks, mounted up one behind each other.[34] The stainless-steel cladding is ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, transitioning into smaller segments of the seven narrow setbacks of the facade of the terraced crown. The entire crown is clad with silvery "Enduro KA-2" metal, an austenitic stainless steel developed in Germany by Krupp and marketed under the trade name "Nirosta" (a German acronym for nichtrostender Stahl, meaning "non-rusting steel").[8][35]
[edit] Crown usage
When the building first opened, it contained a public viewing gallery on the 71st floor, which was closed to the public in 1945. This floor is now the highest-occupied floor, most recently occupied by an office space management firm.[36] The private Cloud Club occupied a three-floor high space from the 66th–68th floors, but closed in the late 1970s. Above the 71st floor, the stories of the building are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire. Very narrow with low, sloped ceilings, these top stories are useful only for holding radio-broadcasting and other mechanical and electrical equipment.[11] Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) originally transmitted from the top of the Chrysler in the 1940s and early 1950s, before moving to the Empire State Building.[11] For many years, WPAT-FM and WTFM (now WKTU) also used the Chrysler Building as a transmission site, but they also moved to the Empire by the 1970s. There are currently no commercial broadcast stations located at the Chrysler Building.
[edit] Lighting
There are two sets of lighting in the top spires and decoration. The first are the V-shaped lighting inserts in the steel of the building itself. Added later were groups of floodlights which are on mast arms directed back at the building. This allows the top of the building to be lit in many colors for special occasions. This lighting was installed by electrician Charles Londner and crew during construction.[11]
[edit] Recognition and appeal
In more recent years, the Chrysler Building has continued to be a favorite among New Yorkers. In the summer of 2005, New York's own Skyscraper Museum asked one hundred architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 New York towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place as 90% of them placed the building in their top-10 favorite buildings.[37]
The Chrysler Building's distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia.[38][39]
[edit] Cultural depictions
The Chrysler Building has been featured in several television programs, movies, and other media. Below are examples.
In an early episode of Saturday Night Live the Coneheads launch the building as a rocketship to return to their home planet. In the 1982 Larry Cohen film Q a winged serpent terrorizing New York is nesting inside the building's crown; the film's poster depicts the monster perched atop the building holding an attractive blonde victim in its claws. (The poster's monster is enormously out of scale to its size in the movie.) The Chrysler Building was also a short scene in the movie Predator 2 where the predator is holding a trophy raising it up on the building. The artwork was done by Michael Whelan.[40] In Deep Impact (1998) a wall of water surrounds the skyscraper and people can be seen on the 61st-floor observation deck fleeing to the other side of the building.[41] The tower was also prominently featured and being destroyed in the 1998 film, Godzilla,[41] and in Armageddon, which featured the tower being struck by a meteor, causing its spire to come crashing to the ground.[41] In another film, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, while Johnny Storm chases the Silver Surfer through Manhattan, the Silver Surfer flies straight through the Chrysler Building.[42][43] Towards the end of Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, the Chrysler Building is seen totally underwater as the mechas guide their spacecraft through the submerged ruins of Manhattan.[41]> In the film Spider-Man, Spider-Man perches on top of one of the building's gargoyles, mourning his Uncle Ben's murder.[41] Matthew Barney's art film Cremaster 3 (2002) narrates a fantastical version of the building's construction.
In the music scene, Meat Loaf's 1993 album Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell's cover art depicts a demonic bat clinging to the top floors of the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building has also appeared in numerous video games such as Parasite Eve and Grand Theft Auto IV, being replicated as the "Zirconium Building".[44][45]
[edit] Quotations
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chrysler Building
"Art Deco in France found its American equivalent in the design of the New York skyscrapers of the 1920s. The Chrysler Building ... was one of the most accomplished essays in the style."
–John Julius Norwich, in The World Atlas of Architecture
"The design, originally drawn up for building contractor William H. Reynolds, was finally sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who wanted a provocative building which would not merely scrape the sky but positively pierce it. Its 77 floors briefly making it the highest building in the world—at least until the Empire State Building was completed—it became the star of the New York skyline, thanks above all to its crowning peak. In a deliberate strategy of myth generation, Van Alen planned a dramatic moment of revelation: the entire seven-storey pinnacle, complete with special-steel facing, was first assembled inside the building, and then hoisted into position through the roof opening and anchored on top in just one and a half hours. All of a sudden it was there—a sensational fait accompli."
–Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, in Architecture in the Twentieth Century
"One of the first uses of stainless steel over a large exposed building surface. The decorative treatment of the masonry walls below changes with every set-back and includes story-high basket-weave designs, radiator-cap gargoyles, and a band of abstract automobiles. The lobby is a modernistic composition of African marble and chrome steel."
–Elliot Willensky and Norval White, in AIA Guide to New York
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Credit to Beck for Shaded Rails
Made in PMG .6
Tweaked the design a bit and assembled both sides, and I'm happy to report it fits perfectly! I'll install it into the fuselage a bit later on.
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)
Center wingbox (left) mated to the wingbox (right).
This is the (new) center wingbox that I'll be attaching to the fuselage so I can mount the wings later on. There will be notches in the inboard end of the wing (I built a dummy/test section, pictured here), which will latch onto the teeth that stick out of the wingbox. Might look flimsy in these pictures, but the fit feels quite solid—almost like these pieces were made from blocks of wood! I have no doubt it'll be able to support the weight of the plane (and then some).
We arrived in Amboise to heavy rain our first stop on our way to Bordeaux, from Paris. Day 12 of our Cosmos tour, October 11, 2012 France..
The term half-timbered has two meanings in building construction: 1) half-timbering is "A lattice of panels filled with a non-loadbearing material infill of brick noggin or wattle and daub (or similar methods), the frame is often exposed on the outside of the building." (2 The less common meaning of the term half-timbered is found in the fourth edition of John Henry Parker's Classic Dictionary of Architecture (1873) which distinguishes full-timbered houses from half-timbered, with half timber houses having a ground floor in stone or logs such as the Kluge House which was a log cabin with a timber framed second floor.
The panels between the timbers are filled-in with non-structural material that is known as infill. The earliest known type of infill was called opus craticum by the Romans which was a wattle and daub type construction. Opus craticum is now confusingly applied to a Roman stone/mortar infill also. Similar methods to wattle and daub were also used and known by various names as clam staff and daub, cat-and-clay, or torchis (French) to only name three. Brick infill sometimes called nogging became the standard infill after the manufacturing of bricks made them more available and less expensive. Half-timbered walls may be covered by siding materials including plaster, weatherboarding, tiles, or slate shingles.
The term half-timbering is not as old as the German name fachwerk or the French name colombage, but it is the standard English name for this style. One of the first people to publish the term half-timbered was Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851), who employed it in her book, The Lady of the Manor, published in several volumes from 1823 to 1829. She uses the term picturesquely: "...passing through a gate in a quickset hedge, we arrived at the porch of an old half-timbered cottage, where an aged man and woman received us." By 1842, half-timbered had found its way into The Encyclopedia of Architecture by Joseph Gwilt (1784–1863). This juxtaposition of exposed timbered beams and infilled spaces created the distinctive "half-timbered", or occasionally termed, "Tudor", style, or "black-and-white".
The most ancient known half-timbered building is called the House of Opus craticum. It was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD in Herculaneum, Italy. Opus craticum was mentioned by Vitruvius in his books on architecture as a timber frame with wattlework infill however the same term is used to describe timber frames with an infill of stone rubble laid in mortar the Romans called Opus incertum.
To finish the walls the spaces between the timbers, called panels or in German Fächer, were often infilled with a variety of earth based coatings suspended on sticks or wattles as in wattel and daub or bousillage, fired brick, un-fired brick such as adobe or mudbrick, stones sometimes called pierrotage, planks as in the German standerbohlenbau, timbers as in standerblockbau, or rarely cob without any wooden support. The wall surface on the interior were often “ceiled” with wainscoting and plasteed for warmth and appearance.
Wattle and daub was the most common infill in ancient times. The sticks were not always technically wattlework (woven) but also individual sticks installed vertically, horizontally or at an angle into holes or grooves in the framing. The coating of daub has many recipes but generally was a mixture of clay and chalk with a binder such as grass or straw and water or urine. When the manufacturing of bricks increased, brick infill replaced the less durable infills and became more common. Stone laid in mortar as an infill was used in areas where stone rubble and mortar were available.
The infill may be covered by other materials, including plaster, weatherboarding or tiles. or left exposed. When left exposed both the framing and infill were sometimes done in a decorative manner. Germany is famous for its decorative half-timbering and the figures sometimes have names and meanings. The decorative manner of half-timbering is promoted in Germany by the German fachwerk road, several planned routes people can drive to see notable examples of fachwerk buildings.
Taken From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_framing
old houses from the city centre...
on this very spot I stumble in to becoming an extra to and Arabian/ Swedish movie, I got payed a beer!
Peace and Noise!
/ MushroomBrain
7. Oldtimertreffen am 07.07.2012 in Greußen - Ausfahrt zahlreicher Teilnehmer nach Bad Tennstedt, hier ein Adler Primus 1,7A von 1934.
Der Adler Primus, ein PKW mit Hinterradantrieb der Adlerwerke in Frankfurt am Main, kam 1932 auf den Markt. Er war das Schwestermodell des frontgetriebenen Trumpf, für den dieselben wassergekühlten Vierzylinder-Reihenmotoren mit 1,5 bzw. 1,7 Litern Hubraum verwendet wurden. Für die klassische Konstruktion zeichnete Otto Göckeritz verantwortlich.
The Adler Primus is a small family car introduced by the Frankfurt based auto-maker, Adler in March 1932. In a move reminiscent of British Leyland in the 1970s, Adler launched two similarly sized cars in the same year, one of which followed the then new trend set by DKW for front-wheel drive, and one respecting the conventional rear-wheel drive configuration still used by the market leader, Opel.
The Primus was the first of the smaller Adlers to be introduced, early in 1932, and was the rear wheel drive offering. The conservative design was the responsibility of Otto Göckeritz, the man who had designed the company's first small car back in 1906. The 1932 Primus was effectively a scaled down version of the manufacturer’s Standard 6 of 1927, applying the same high bodied design with a simple “overslung” chassis on which the car's rigid axles fitted underneath the principal loadbearing lengths of the chassis.
I've always loved Chicago's massive, brooding Monadnock Building; a proto-skyscraper literally spanning the divide between the era of load-bearing walls and the freedom of steel frame construction. However, finding a good angle to photograph this building is not easy. Here I used my telephoto to aim for where the upper floors meet the roof-top cornice.
One view of the New York State Education Building in Albany, New York. Completed almost a century ago, it's the first government office building in America constructed specifically and solely for the purpose of education in all its forms. For decades it housed the New York State museum and the State library as well as the headquarters for the New York Department of Education. The marble used in the building`s facade is from the same Vermont quarry that supplied the marble for the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Education Building`s 36 Corinthian style columns, shown here, are reportedly the tallest Corinthian columns in the world. They also form the longest colonnade in America, and the longest continual colonnade of loadbearing Corinthian columns on Earth.
Tweaked the design a bit and assembled both sides, and I'm happy to report it fits perfectly! I'll install it into the fuselage a bit later on.
Information from: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building
The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at 319 metres (1,047 ft),[4][5] it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it was again the second-tallest building in New York City until December 2007, when the spire was raised on the 365.8-metre (1,200 ft) Bank of America Tower, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, The New York Times Building which opened in 2007, is exactly level with the Chrysler Building in height.[6]
The Chrysler Building is a classic example of Art Deco architecture and considered by many contemporary architects to be one of the finest buildings in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.[7] It was the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation from 1930 until the mid 1950's, but although the building was built and designed specifically for the car manufacturer, the corporation didn't pay for the construction of it and never owned it, as Walter P. Chrysler decided to pay for it himself, so that his children could inherit it.[8]
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Design beginnings
1.2 Construction
1.3 Completion
1.4 Property
2 Architecture
2.1 Crown ornamentation
2.2 Crown usage
2.3 Lighting
2.4 Recognition and appeal
3 Cultural depictions
4 Quotations
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 References
8 Notes
9 External links
[edit] History
The Chrysler Building in 1932
View from Empire State Building, 2005
Chrysler Building and eastern Midtown ManhattanThe Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen for a project of Walter P. Chrysler.[8] When the ground breaking occurred on September 19, 1928, there was an intense competition in New York City to build the world's tallest skyscraper.[9][10] Despite a frantic pace (the building was built at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.[11]
[edit] Design beginnings
Van Alen's original design for the skyscraper called for a decorative jewel-like glass crown. It also featured a base in which the showroom windows were tripled in height and topped by twelve stories with glass-wrapped corners, creating an impression that the tower appeared physically and visually light as if floating on mid-air.[8] The height of the skyscraper was also originally designed to be 246 metres (807 ft).[11] However, the design proved to be too advanced and costly for building contractor William H. Reynolds, who disapproved of Van Alen's original plan.[12] The design and lease were then sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who worked with Van Alen and redesigned the skyscraper for additional stories; it was eventually revised to be 282 metres (925 ft) tall.[11] As Walter Chrysler was the chairman of the Chrysler Corporation and intended to make the building into Chrysler's headquarters,[11] various architectural details and especially the building's gargoyles were modeled after Chrysler automobile products like the hood ornaments of the Plymouth; they exemplify the machine age in the 1920s (see below).[13][14]
[edit] Construction
Construction commenced on September 19, 1928.[11] In total, almost 400,000 rivets were used[11] and approximately 3,826,000 bricks were manually laid, to create the non-loadbearing walls of the skyscraper.[15] Contractors, builders and engineers were joined by other building-services experts to coordinate construction.
Prior to its completion, the building stood about even with a rival project at 40 Wall Street, designed by H. Craig Severance. Severance increased the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building[16] (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower[17]). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 56.3-metre (185 ft) long spire[18] and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. The spire was delivered to the site in 4 different sections.[19] On October 23, 1929, the bottom section of the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building's dome and lowered into the 66th floor of the building. The other remaining sections of the spire were hoisted and riveted to the first one in sequential order in just 90 minutes.[20]
[edit] Completion
Upon completion, May 20, 1930,[11] 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. It was the first man-made structure to stand taller than 1,000 feet (305 m). Van Alen's satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee.[8] Less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27, 1931, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building, but the Chrysler Building is still the world's tallest steel-supported brick building.[21][22] (The world's tallest brick building without steel is St. Martin's Church in Landshut begun in 1389.)[citation needed]
Height comparison of buildings in New York City[edit] Property
The east building wall of the base out of which the tower rises runs at a slant to the Manhattan street grid, following a property line that predated the Commissioners' Plan of 1811.[23] The land on which the Chrysler Building stands was donated to The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art,[24] a private college that offers every admitted student a full tuition scholarship, in 1902. The land was originally leased to William H. Reynolds, but when he was unable to raise money for the project, the building and the rights to the land were acquired by Walter P. Chrysler in 1928.[24][25] Contrary to popular belief, the Chrysler Corporation was never involved in the construction or ownership of the Chrysler Building, although it was built and designed for the corporation and served as its headquarters until the mid 1950s. It was a project of Walter P. Chrysler for his children.[8]
The ownership of the building has changed several times. The Chrysler family sold the building in 1947, and in 1957 it was purchased by real-estate moguls Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo, and owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The lobby was refurbished and the facade renovated in 1978–1979.[26] The building was owned by Jack Kent Cooke, a Washington, D.C. investor, in 1979. The spire underwent a restoration that was completed in 1995. In 1998, Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group bought the Chrysler Building, at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue, and the adjoining Kent Building in 1997 for about $220 million from a consortium of banks and the estate of Jack Kent Cooke. Tishman Speyer Properties had negotiated a 150 year lease on the land from Cooper Union, which had held the lease before 1997, and continues to hold the land lease.[27]
In 2001, a 75% stake in the building was sold, for US$ 300 million, to TMW, the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund.[28] On June 11, 2008 it was reported that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was in negotiations to buy TMW's 75% economic interest, and a 15% interest from Tishman Speyer Properties in the building, and a share of the Trylons retail structure next door for US$ 800 million.[29] On July 9, 2008 it was announced that the transaction had been completed, and that the Abu Dhabi Investment Council was now the 90% owner of the building.[27][30]
[edit] Architecture
Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation at the crownThe Chrysler Building is considered a masterpiece of Art Deco architecture. The distinctive ornamentation of the building based on features that were then being used on Chrysler automobiles. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles, replicas of the 1929 Chrysler hood ornaments;[31] on the 31st floor, the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps.[32] The building is constructed of masonry, with a steel frame, and metal cladding. In total, the building currently contains 3,862 windows on its facade and 4 banks of 8 elevators designed by the Otis Elevator Corporation.[11] The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976.[3][33]
[edit] Crown ornamentation
The Chrysler Building is also well renowned and recognized for its terraced crown. Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault constructed into seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks, mounted up one behind each other.[34] The stainless-steel cladding is ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, transitioning into smaller segments of the seven narrow setbacks of the facade of the terraced crown. The entire crown is clad with silvery "Enduro KA-2" metal, an austenitic stainless steel developed in Germany by Krupp and marketed under the trade name "Nirosta" (a German acronym for nichtrostender Stahl, meaning "non-rusting steel").[8][35]
[edit] Crown usage
When the building first opened, it contained a public viewing gallery on the 71st floor, which was closed to the public in 1945. This floor is now the highest-occupied floor, most recently occupied by an office space management firm.[36] The private Cloud Club occupied a three-floor high space from the 66th–68th floors, but closed in the late 1970s. Above the 71st floor, the stories of the building are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire. Very narrow with low, sloped ceilings, these top stories are useful only for holding radio-broadcasting and other mechanical and electrical equipment.[11] Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) originally transmitted from the top of the Chrysler in the 1940s and early 1950s, before moving to the Empire State Building.[11] For many years, WPAT-FM and WTFM (now WKTU) also used the Chrysler Building as a transmission site, but they also moved to the Empire by the 1970s. There are currently no commercial broadcast stations located at the Chrysler Building.
[edit] Lighting
There are two sets of lighting in the top spires and decoration. The first are the V-shaped lighting inserts in the steel of the building itself. Added later were groups of floodlights which are on mast arms directed back at the building. This allows the top of the building to be lit in many colors for special occasions. This lighting was installed by electrician Charles Londner and crew during construction.[11]
[edit] Recognition and appeal
In more recent years, the Chrysler Building has continued to be a favorite among New Yorkers. In the summer of 2005, New York's own Skyscraper Museum asked one hundred architects, builders, critics, engineers, historians, and scholars, among others, to choose their 10 favorites among 25 New York towers. The Chrysler Building came in first place as 90% of them placed the building in their top-10 favorite buildings.[37]
The Chrysler Building's distinctive profile has inspired similar skyscrapers worldwide, including One Liberty Place in Philadelphia.[38][39]
[edit] Cultural depictions
The Chrysler Building has been featured in several television programs, movies, and other media. Below are examples.
In an early episode of Saturday Night Live the Coneheads launch the building as a rocketship to return to their home planet. In the 1982 Larry Cohen film Q a winged serpent terrorizing New York is nesting inside the building's crown; the film's poster depicts the monster perched atop the building holding an attractive blonde victim in its claws. (The poster's monster is enormously out of scale to its size in the movie.) The Chrysler Building was also a short scene in the movie Predator 2 where the predator is holding a trophy raising it up on the building. The artwork was done by Michael Whelan.[40] In Deep Impact (1998) a wall of water surrounds the skyscraper and people can be seen on the 61st-floor observation deck fleeing to the other side of the building.[41] The tower was also prominently featured and being destroyed in the 1998 film, Godzilla,[41] and in Armageddon, which featured the tower being struck by a meteor, causing its spire to come crashing to the ground.[41] In another film, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, while Johnny Storm chases the Silver Surfer through Manhattan, the Silver Surfer flies straight through the Chrysler Building.[42][43] Towards the end of Steven Spielberg's A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, the Chrysler Building is seen totally underwater as the mechas guide their spacecraft through the submerged ruins of Manhattan.[41]> In the film Spider-Man, Spider-Man perches on top of one of the building's gargoyles, mourning his Uncle Ben's murder.[41] Matthew Barney's art film Cremaster 3 (2002) narrates a fantastical version of the building's construction.
In the music scene, Meat Loaf's 1993 album Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell's cover art depicts a demonic bat clinging to the top floors of the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building has also appeared in numerous video games such as Parasite Eve and Grand Theft Auto IV, being replicated as the "Zirconium Building".[44][45]
[edit] Quotations
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chrysler Building
"Art Deco in France found its American equivalent in the design of the New York skyscrapers of the 1920s. The Chrysler Building ... was one of the most accomplished essays in the style."
–John Julius Norwich, in The World Atlas of Architecture
"The design, originally drawn up for building contractor William H. Reynolds, was finally sold to Walter P. Chrysler, who wanted a provocative building which would not merely scrape the sky but positively pierce it. Its 77 floors briefly making it the highest building in the world—at least until the Empire State Building was completed—it became the star of the New York skyline, thanks above all to its crowning peak. In a deliberate strategy of myth generation, Van Alen planned a dramatic moment of revelation: the entire seven-storey pinnacle, complete with special-steel facing, was first assembled inside the building, and then hoisted into position through the roof opening and anchored on top in just one and a half hours. All of a sudden it was there—a sensational fait accompli."
–Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser, in Architecture in the Twentieth Century
"One of the first uses of stainless steel over a large exposed building surface. The decorative treatment of the masonry walls below changes with every set-back and includes story-high basket-weave designs, radiator-cap gargoyles, and a band of abstract automobiles. The lobby is a modernistic composition of African marble and chrome steel."
–Elliot Willensky and Norval White, in AIA Guide to New York
We arrived in Amboise to heavy rain our first stop on our way to Bordeaux, from Paris. Day 12 of our Cosmos tour, October 11, 2012 France..
The term half-timbered has two meanings in building construction: 1) half-timbering is "A lattice of panels filled with a non-loadbearing material infill of brick noggin or wattle and daub (or similar methods), the frame is often exposed on the outside of the building." (2 The less common meaning of the term half-timbered is found in the fourth edition of John Henry Parker's Classic Dictionary of Architecture (1873) which distinguishes full-timbered houses from half-timbered, with half timber houses having a ground floor in stone or logs such as the Kluge House which was a log cabin with a timber framed second floor.
The panels between the timbers are filled-in with non-structural material that is known as infill. The earliest known type of infill was called opus craticum by the Romans which was a wattle and daub type construction. Opus craticum is now confusingly applied to a Roman stone/mortar infill also. Similar methods to wattle and daub were also used and known by various names as clam staff and daub, cat-and-clay, or torchis (French) to only name three. Brick infill sometimes called nogging became the standard infill after the manufacturing of bricks made them more available and less expensive. Half-timbered walls may be covered by siding materials including plaster, weatherboarding, tiles, or slate shingles.
The term half-timbering is not as old as the German name fachwerk or the French name colombage, but it is the standard English name for this style. One of the first people to publish the term half-timbered was Mary Martha Sherwood (1775–1851), who employed it in her book, The Lady of the Manor, published in several volumes from 1823 to 1829. She uses the term picturesquely: "...passing through a gate in a quickset hedge, we arrived at the porch of an old half-timbered cottage, where an aged man and woman received us." By 1842, half-timbered had found its way into The Encyclopedia of Architecture by Joseph Gwilt (1784–1863). This juxtaposition of exposed timbered beams and infilled spaces created the distinctive "half-timbered", or occasionally termed, "Tudor", style, or "black-and-white".
The most ancient known half-timbered building is called the House of Opus craticum. It was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD in Herculaneum, Italy. Opus craticum was mentioned by Vitruvius in his books on architecture as a timber frame with wattlework infill however the same term is used to describe timber frames with an infill of stone rubble laid in mortar the Romans called Opus incertum.
To finish the walls the spaces between the timbers, called panels or in German Fächer, were often infilled with a variety of earth based coatings suspended on sticks or wattles as in wattel and daub or bousillage, fired brick, un-fired brick such as adobe or mudbrick, stones sometimes called pierrotage, planks as in the German standerbohlenbau, timbers as in standerblockbau, or rarely cob without any wooden support. The wall surface on the interior were often “ceiled” with wainscoting and plasteed for warmth and appearance.
Wattle and daub was the most common infill in ancient times. The sticks were not always technically wattlework (woven) but also individual sticks installed vertically, horizontally or at an angle into holes or grooves in the framing. The coating of daub has many recipes but generally was a mixture of clay and chalk with a binder such as grass or straw and water or urine. When the manufacturing of bricks increased, brick infill replaced the less durable infills and became more common. Stone laid in mortar as an infill was used in areas where stone rubble and mortar were available.
The infill may be covered by other materials, including plaster, weatherboarding or tiles. or left exposed. When left exposed both the framing and infill were sometimes done in a decorative manner. Germany is famous for its decorative half-timbering and the figures sometimes have names and meanings. The decorative manner of half-timbering is promoted in Germany by the German fachwerk road, several planned routes people can drive to see notable examples of fachwerk buildings.
Taken From: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_framing
*Gilles Street Primary School is a state heritage listed school built 1899: the foundation stone was laid 4 September 1899 by Lady Bonython and the building opened 14 May 1900. The school was named after Osmond Gilles, an early treasurer of the colony of South Australia.
When the inspectors visited in July there were 588 students enrolled, this in a school designed for 500. Overcrowding continued to be a problem, so a new infant building was opened in 1919 followed by an extra primary school building in 1926. In 1918 the Glover Playground in the South Parklands was opened and was used by the school for 'open air exercises'.
From 1920 until 1961, there were two separate schools - the Gilles Street Practising School and the Gilles Street Infant Practising School. Both had an important role in teacher training as practising schools for student-teachers. This period also marked the start of other organisations using the buildings, such as the Correspondence School, Girls' Special Classes, the Deaf Blind Unit, the Language Centre and the Curriculum Unit.
Today Gilles Street Primary School has two components - the mainstream Reception to Year 6 school and an Intensive English Language Centre.
*Plans for a new school in Gilles Street were first conceived when a site was bought in
November 1881, but the school was not begun until mid-1899. Charles Edward Owen Smyth
was the architect and E Fricker the contractor. Built for £3182 it was completed around Easter time in 1900.
It could accommodate 550 children in three large schoolrooms, two classrooms and an infants classroom with gallery.
It was a single storey of brick construction with Murray Bridge stone banding. In 1925 it underwent extensive remodelling with additional classrooms being built separately.
The windows of the original building were also modified. To the front they were all made longer, while two sets of double windows became triple windows on either side of the centre gable.
C E Owen Smyth was appointed superintendent of Public Buildings on 1 July, 1886, a position he held until 1920. Pragmatic and confident, he was responsible for the design of
several well-known public buildings that were constructed when treasury funds were meagre.
This building displays prominent gables and roof form and is similar to that of earlier model schools. The building is distinctive because of its use of loadbearing brick walls rather than the bluestone masonry more commonly found in the 1880s. The style of the building is aptly abstracted from aspects of the Gothic Revival (or at least an Arts and Crafts version of it) and continues the architectural idiom of earlier model schools. The building is notable for its high quality brickwork and bevel-edged sandstone dressings. The gables with well finished moulded brick detailing are reminiscent of 'Tudor' half timberwork.
Ref: Gilles Street Primary School Website and Heritage of the City of Adelaide
Center wingbox (left) mated to the wingbox (right).
This is the (new) center wingbox that I'll be attaching to the fuselage so I can mount the wings later on. There will be notches in the inboard end of the wing (I built a dummy/test section, pictured here), which will latch onto the teeth that stick out of the wingbox. Might look flimsy in these pictures, but the fit feels quite solid—almost like these pieces were made from blocks of wood! I have no doubt it'll be able to support the weight of the plane (and then some).
*Gilles Street Primary School is a state heritage listed school built 1899: the foundation stone was laid 4 September 1899 by Lady Bonython and the building opened 14 May 1900. The school was named after Osmond Gilles, an early treasurer of the colony of South Australia.
When the inspectors visited in July there were 588 students enrolled, this in a school designed for 500. Overcrowding continued to be a problem, so a new infant building was opened in 1919 followed by an extra primary school building in 1926. In 1918 the Glover Playground in the South Parklands was opened and was used by the school for 'open air exercises'.
From 1920 until 1961, there were two separate schools - the Gilles Street Practising School and the Gilles Street Infant Practising School. Both had an important role in teacher training as practising schools for student-teachers. This period also marked the start of other organisations using the buildings, such as the Correspondence School, Girls' Special Classes, the Deaf Blind Unit, the Language Centre and the Curriculum Unit.
Today Gilles Street Primary School has two components - the mainstream Reception to Year 6 school and an Intensive English Language Centre.
*Plans for a new school in Gilles Street were first conceived when a site was bought in
November 1881, but the school was not begun until mid-1899. Charles Edward Owen Smyth
was the architect and E Fricker the contractor. Built for £3182 it was completed around Easter time in 1900.
It could accommodate 550 children in three large schoolrooms, two classrooms and an infants classroom with gallery.
It was a single storey of brick construction with Murray Bridge stone banding. In 1925 it underwent extensive remodelling with additional classrooms being built separately.
The windows of the original building were also modified. To the front they were all made longer, while two sets of double windows became triple windows on either side of the centre gable.
C E Owen Smyth was appointed superintendent of Public Buildings on 1 July, 1886, a position he held until 1920. Pragmatic and confident, he was responsible for the design of
several well-known public buildings that were constructed when treasury funds were meagre.
This building displays prominent gables and roof form and is similar to that of earlier model schools. The building is distinctive because of its use of loadbearing brick walls rather than the bluestone masonry more commonly found in the 1880s. The style of the building is aptly abstracted from aspects of the Gothic Revival (or at least an Arts and Crafts version of it) and continues the architectural idiom of earlier model schools. The building is notable for its high quality brickwork and bevel-edged sandstone dressings. The gables with well finished moulded brick detailing are reminiscent of 'Tudor' half timberwork.
Ref: Gilles Street Primary School Website and Heritage of the City of Adelaide
Same design again but with a Woodland Digital camo pattern. Hope you guys like it
Free to use! Just give credit where its due. If You do use these also please tag me in the picture so I can see how these look on a minifig!
Comments and Criticism are greatly appreciated!
*Gilles Street Primary School is a state heritage listed school built 1899: the foundation stone was laid 4 September 1899 by Lady Bonython and the building opened 14 May 1900. The school was named after Osmond Gilles, an early treasurer of the colony of South Australia.
When the inspectors visited in July there were 588 students enrolled, this in a school designed for 500. Overcrowding continued to be a problem, so a new infant building was opened in 1919 followed by an extra primary school building in 1926. In 1918 the Glover Playground in the South Parklands was opened and was used by the school for 'open air exercises'.
From 1920 until 1961, there were two separate schools - the Gilles Street Practising School and the Gilles Street Infant Practising School. Both had an important role in teacher training as practising schools for student-teachers. This period also marked the start of other organisations using the buildings, such as the Correspondence School, Girls' Special Classes, the Deaf Blind Unit, the Language Centre and the Curriculum Unit.
Today Gilles Street Primary School has two components - the mainstream Reception to Year 6 school and an Intensive English Language Centre.
*Plans for a new school in Gilles Street were first conceived when a site was bought in
November 1881, but the school was not begun until mid-1899. Charles Edward Owen Smyth
was the architect and E Fricker the contractor. Built for £3182 it was completed around Easter time in 1900.
It could accommodate 550 children in three large schoolrooms, two classrooms and an infants classroom with gallery.
It was a single storey of brick construction with Murray Bridge stone banding. In 1925 it underwent extensive remodelling with additional classrooms being built separately.
The windows of the original building were also modified. To the front they were all made longer, while two sets of double windows became triple windows on either side of the centre gable.
C E Owen Smyth was appointed superintendent of Public Buildings on 1 July, 1886, a position he held until 1920. Pragmatic and confident, he was responsible for the design of
several well-known public buildings that were constructed when treasury funds were meagre.
This building displays prominent gables and roof form and is similar to that of earlier model schools. The building is distinctive because of its use of loadbearing brick walls rather than the bluestone masonry more commonly found in the 1880s. The style of the building is aptly abstracted from aspects of the Gothic Revival (or at least an Arts and Crafts version of it) and continues the architectural idiom of earlier model schools. The building is notable for its high quality brickwork and bevel-edged sandstone dressings. The gables with well finished moulded brick detailing are reminiscent of 'Tudor' half timberwork.
Ref: Gilles Street Primary School Website and Heritage of the City of Adelaide
Germany, Nordhein-Westfalen, Essen-Gelsenkirchen, Zeche Zollverein, Shaft 12, Shaft house and pit head tower. (uncut)
Shaft 12 of the Zollverein – an extensive former colliery and coking plant complex.
It was in operation from 1847- 1986 and was (in)famous for its impact on the environment and also for its efficiency and the high quality of its architectural and 'urban plan'. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site now and is (being) transformed into a cultural, creative economy and touristic industry park. The masterplan (2002) for this transformation was made by Rem Koolhaas/OMA.
The shaft building (1932, designed by the Bauhaus inspired architects Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer ) with its pit head (52 m) formed the logistical nerve-centre of the colliery. Coal from all the 11 interconnected Zollverein coalfields was hoisted up with a speed of 18 m/s through this shaft with its 14 levels and a depth of 1049 m, driven by 2 MW engines. The max capacity was 12 KT / day. The centralization and rationalization scheme that was behind the creation of shaft 12, made 500 workers redundant. In the last years of the Second World war 40% of the workforce of the colliery was forced labour.
The rigorous and cubic architecture is functionalistic. The building has a metal frame and the façade is not loadbearing. In a metal trellis frame, 12 cm wide bricks and metal-rimmed glass is used in a fixed pattern of 2 x 6 m. Drain pipes are hidden behind the façade and even the gently sloping roof is hidden from view retaining the clean and cubic form of the building.
Fritz Schupp and Martin Kremmer are considered to be the most influential modern colliery and steel industry architects and Shaft 12 is their “chef-d'oeuvre”. Some architectural historians question if the architects distanced themselves enough from the national-socialist rearmament and autarky programs during nazi rule (1933-1945).
(Main source of info: Zollverein Word Heritage Site – Stiftung Zollverein (ed.) – Klartext GmbH (2008), a "must buy" book if you plan to visit the Zollverein)
Best viewed: LARGE
A PMC type Load Bearing Vest. I plan to make another version with a Knife, maybe Shotgun Shells and a Radio (Any ideas? Feel free to share them!)
Free to use! Just give credit where its due. If You do use these also please tag me in the picture so I can see how these look on a minifig!
Comments and Criticism are greatly appreciated!
*Gilles Street Primary School is a state heritage listed school built 1899: the foundation stone was laid 4 September 1899 by Lady Bonython and the building opened 14 May 1900. The school was named after Osmond Gilles, an early treasurer of the colony of South Australia.
When the inspectors visited in July there were 588 students enrolled, this in a school designed for 500. Overcrowding continued to be a problem, so a new infant building was opened in 1919 followed by an extra primary school building in 1926. In 1918 the Glover Playground in the South Parklands was opened and was used by the school for 'open air exercises'.
From 1920 until 1961, there were two separate schools - the Gilles Street Practising School and the Gilles Street Infant Practising School. Both had an important role in teacher training as practising schools for student-teachers. This period also marked the start of other organisations using the buildings, such as the Correspondence School, Girls' Special Classes, the Deaf Blind Unit, the Language Centre and the Curriculum Unit.
Today Gilles Street Primary School has two components - the mainstream Reception to Year 6 school and an Intensive English Language Centre.
*Plans for a new school in Gilles Street were first conceived when a site was bought in November 1881, but the school was not begun until mid-1899. Charles Edward Owen Smyth
was the architect and E Fricker the contractor. Built for £3182 it was completed around Easter time in 1900.
It could accommodate 550 children in three large schoolrooms, two classrooms and an infants classroom with gallery.
It was a single storey of brick construction with Murray Bridge stone banding. In 1925 it underwent extensive remodelling with additional classrooms being built separately.
The windows of the original building were also modified. To the front they were all made longer, while two sets of double windows became triple windows on either side of the centre gable.
C E Owen Smyth was appointed superintendent of Public Buildings on 1 July, 1886, a position he held until 1920. Pragmatic and confident, he was responsible for the design of
several well-known public buildings that were constructed when treasury funds were meagre.
This building displays prominent gables and roof form and is similar to that of earlier model
schools. The building is distinctive because of its use of loadbearing brick walls rather than the bluestone masonry more commonly found in the 1880s. The style of the building is aptly abstracted from aspects of the Gothic Revival (or at least an Arts and Crafts version of it) and continues the architectural idiom of earlier model schools. The building is notable for its high quality brickwork and bevel-edged sandstone dressings. The gables with well finished moulded brick detailing are reminiscent of 'Tudor' half timberwork.
Ref: Gilles Street Primary School Website and Heritage of the City of Adelaide
Center wingbox (left) and the wingbox (right). Note the teeth and corresponding notches.
This is the (new) center wingbox that I'll be attaching to the fuselage so I can mount the wings later on. There will be notches in the inboard end of the wing (I built a dummy/test section, pictured here), which will latch onto the teeth that stick out of the wingbox. Might look flimsy in these pictures, but the fit feels quite solid—almost like these pieces were made from blocks of wood! I have no doubt it'll be able to support the weight of the plane (and then some).
Tweaked the design a bit and assembled both sides, and I'm happy to report it fits perfectly! I'll install it into the fuselage a bit later on. The keel beam sits between both sides.
Britannia Bridge (Welsh: Pont Britannia) is a bridge in Wales that crosses the Menai Strait between the Isle of Anglesey and city of Bangor. It was originally designed and built by the noted railway engineer Robert Stephenson as a tubular bridge of wrought iron rectangular box-section spans for carrying rail traffic. Its importance was to form a critical link of the Chester and Holyhead Railway's route, enabling trains to directly travel between London and the port of Holyhead, thus facilitating a sea link to Dublin, Ireland.
Decades before the building of the Britannia Bridge, the Menai Suspension Bridge had been completed, but this structure carried a road rather than track; there was no rail connection to Anglesey before its construction. After many years of deliberation and proposals, on 30 June 1845, a Parliamentary Bill covering the construction of the Britannia Bridge received royal assent. At the Admiralty's insistence, the bridge elements were required to be relatively high in order to permit the passage of a fully rigged man-of-war. In order to meet the diverse requirements, Stephenson, the project's chief engineer, performed in-depth studies on the concept of tubular bridges. For the detailed design of the structure's girders, Stephenson gained the assistance of distinguished engineer William Fairbairn. On 10 April 1846, the foundation stone for the Britannia Bridge was laid. The construction method used for the riveted wrought iron tubes was derived from contemporary shipbuilding practices; the same technique as used for the Britannia Bridge was also used on the smaller Conwy Railway Bridge. On 5 March 1850, Stephenson himself fitted the last rivet of the structure, marking the bridge's official completion.
On 3 March 1966, the Britannia Bridge received Grade II listed status.
A fire in May 1970 caused extensive damage to the Britannia Bridge. Subsequent investigation determined that the damage to the tubes was so extensive that they were not realistically repairable. The bridge was rebuilt in a quite different configuration, reusing the piers while employing new arches to support not one but two decks, as the new Britannia Bridge was to function as a combined road-and-rail bridge. The bridge was rebuilt in phases, initially reopening in 1972 as a single-tier steel truss arch bridge, carrying only rail traffic. Over the next eight years more of the structure was replaced, allowing for more trains to run and a second tier to be completed. The second tier was opened to accommodate road traffic in 1980. The bridge was subject to a £4 million four-month in-depth maintenance programme during 2011. Since the 1990s, there has been talk of increasing road capacity over the Menai Strait, either by extending the road deck of the existing bridge or via the construction of a third bridge.
The opening of the Menai Bridge in 1826, one mile (1.6 km) to the east of where Britannia Bridge was later built, provided the first fixed road link between Anglesey and the mainland. The increasing popularity of rail travel shortly necessitated a second bridge to provide a direct rail link between London and the port of Holyhead, the Chester and Holyhead Railway.
Other railway schemes were proposed, including one in 1838 to cross Thomas Telford's existing Menai Bridge. Railway pioneer George Stephenson was invited to comment on this proposal but stated his concern about re-using a single carriageway of the suspension bridge, as bridges of this type were unsuited to locomotive use. By 1840, a Treasury committee decided broadly in favour of Stephenson's proposals, however, final consent to the route, including Britannia Bridge, would not be granted until 30 June 1845, the date on which the corresponding Parliamentary Bill received royal assent. Around the same time, Stephenson's son, Robert Stephenson, was appointed as chief engineer for the project.
At the Admiralty's insistence, any bridge would have to permit passage of the strait by a fully rigged man-of-war. Stephenson therefore intended to cross the strait at a high level, over 100 ft (30 m), by a bridge with two main spans of 460-foot-long (140 m), rectangular iron tubes, each weighing 1,500 long tons (1,500 tonnes; 1,700 short tons),[6] supported by masonry piers, the centre one of which was to be built on the Britannia Rock. Two additional spans of 230 ft (70 m) length would complete the bridge, making a 1,511-foot-long (461 m) continuous girder. The trains were to run inside the tubes (inside the box girders). Up until then, the longest wrought iron span had been 31 feet 6 inches (9.60 m), barely one fifteenth of the bridge's spans of 460 ft (140 m). As originally envisaged by Stephenson, the tubular construction would give a structure sufficiently stiff to support the heavy loading associated with trains, but the tubes would not be fully self-supporting, some of their weight having to be taken by suspension chains.
For the detailed design of the girders, Stephenson secured the assistance of the distinguished engineer William Fairbairn, an old friend of his father and described by Stephenson as "well known for his thorough practical knowledge in such matters". Fairbairn began a series of practical experiments on various tube shapes and enlisted the help of Eaton Hodgkinson "distinguished as the first scientific authority on the strength of iron beams" It became apparent from Fairbairn's experiments that- without special precautions - the failure mode for the tube under load would be buckling of the top plate in compression, the theoretical analysis of which gave Hodgkinson some difficulty. When Stephenson reported to the directors of the railway in February 1846, he attached reports by both Hodgkinson and Fairbairn. From his analysis of the resistance to buckling of tubes with single top plates, Hodgkinson believed that it would require an impracticably thick (and therefore heavy) top plate to make the tubes stiff enough to support their own weight, and advised auxiliary suspension from link chains.
However, Fairbairn's experiments had moved on from those covered by Hodgkinson's theory to include designs in which the top plate was stiffened by 'corrugation' (the incorporation of cylindrical tubes). The results of these later experiments he found very encouraging; whilst it was still to be determined what the optimum form of the tubular girder should be "I would venture to state that a Tubular Bridge can be constructed of such powers and dimensions as will meet, with perfect security, the requirements of railway traffic across the Straits" although it might require more materials than originally envisaged and the utmost care would be needed in its construction. He believed it would be 'highly improper' to rely upon chains as the principal support of the bridge.
Under every circumstance, I am of opinion that the tubes should be made sufficiently strong to sustain not only their own weight, but in addition to that load 2000 tons equally distributed over the surface of the platform, a load ten times greater than they will ever be called upon to support. In fact, it should be a huge sheet-iron hollow girder, of sufficient strength and stiffness to sustain those weights; and, provided that the parts are well-proportioned and the plates properly riveted, you may strip off the chains and have it as a useful monument of the enterprise and energy of the age in which it was constructed.
Stephenson's report drew attention to the difference of opinion between his experts, but reassured the directors that the design of the masonry piers allowed for the tubes to be given suspension support, and no view need yet be taken as to the need for it, which would be resolved by further experiments. A 75-foot (23 m) span model was constructed and tested at Fairbairn's Millwall shipyard, and used as a basis for the final design. Stephenson, who had not previously attended any of Fairbairn's experiments, was present at one involving this 'model tube', and consequently was persuaded that auxiliary chains were unnecessary. No chains were fitted. As the only purpose of the piers (above the level of the present road deck) was to support the chains, these piers have never had any practical use. Although Stephenson had pressed for the tubes to be elliptical in section, Fairbairn's preferred rectangular section was adopted. Fairbairn was responsible both for the cellular construction of the top part of the tubes, and for developing the stiffening of the side panels. Each main span weighed roughly 1,830 tonnes.
On 10 April 1846, the foundation stone for the Britannia Bridge was laid, marking the official commencement of construction work at the site. The resident engineer for the structure's construction was civil engineer Edwin Clark, who had previously aided Stephenson in performing the complex structural stress calculations involved in its design process. The first major elements of the structure to be built were the side tubes, this work was performed in situ, using wooden platforms to support it. The construction method used for the iron tubes was derived from contemporary shipbuilding practices, being composed of riveted wrought iron plates 5⁄8 inch (16 mm) thick, complete with sheeted sides and cellular roofs and bases. The same technique as used for the Britannia Bridge was also used on the smaller Conwy Railway Bridge, which was built around the same time. On 10 August 1847, the first rivet was driven.
Working in parallel to the onsite construction process, the two central tube sections, which weighed 1,800 long tons (1,830 tonnes) apiece, were separately built on the nearby Caernarfon shoreline. Once they had been fully assembled, each of the central tubes was floated, one at a time, into the causeway and directly below the structure. The in-place sections were gradually raised into place using powerful hydraulic cylinders; they were only raised by a few inches at a time, after which supports would be built underneath the section to keep it in place. This aspect of the bridge's construction was novel at the time. Reportedly, the innovative process had been responsible for costing Stephenson several nights of sleep at one stage of the project. The work did not go smoothly; at one point, one of the tubes allegedly came close to being swept out to sea before being recaptured and finally pushed back into place. The tubes were manoeuvred into place between June 1849 and February 1850.
Once in place, the separate lengths of tube were joined to form parallel prestressed continuous structures, each one possessing a length of 1,511 feet (460.6 m) and weighing 5,270 long tons (5,350 tonnes). The pre-stressing process had increased the structure's loadbearing capacity and reduced deflection. The tubes had a width of 15 feet (4.5 m) and differed between 23 feet (7 m) and 30 feet (9.1 m) in overall depth, while also having a 10 foot (3 m) gap between them; they were supported on a series of 15-foot-long (4.6 m) cast iron beams that were embedded in the stonework of the towers. To better protect the iron from the weather, an arched timber roof was constructed to cover both tubes; it was roughly 39 feet (12 m) wide, continuous over their whole length, and covered with tarred hessian. A 12 foot (3.7 m) wide central walkway was present above the roof for the purpose of producing maintenance access.
On 5 March 1850, Stephenson himself fitted the last rivet of the structure, marking the bridge's official completion. Altogether, the bridge had taken over three years to complete. On 18 March 1850, a single tube was opened to rail traffic. By 21 October of that year, both tubes had been opened to traffic.
For its time, the Britannia Bridge was a structure of "magnitude and singular novelty", far surpassing in length both contemporary cast beam or plate girder iron bridges. The noted engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a professional rival and personal friend of Stephenson's, was claimed to have remarked to him: "If your bridge succeeds, then mine have all been magnificent failures". On 20 June 1849, Brunel and Stephenson had both looked on as the first of the bridge's tubes was floated out on its pontoons. The construction techniques employed on the Britannia Bridge had obviously influenced Brunel as he later made use of the same method of floating bridge sections during the construction of the Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar at Saltash.
There was originally a railway station located on the east side of the bridge at the entrance to the tunnel, run by the Chester and Holyhead Railway company, which served local rail traffic in both directions. However, this station was closed after only 8+1⁄2 years in operation owing to low passenger volumes. In the present day, little remains of this station, other than the remnants of the lower-level station building. A new station named Menai Bridge was opened shortly afterwards.
The bridge was decorated by four large lions sculpted in limestone by John Thomas, two at either end. Each was constructed from 11 pieces of limestone. They are 25 ft (7.6 m) long, 12 ft (3.7 m) tall, and weigh 30 tons.
These were immortalised in the following Welsh rhyme by the bard John Evans (1826–1888), who was born in nearby Menai Bridge:
Pedwar llew tew
Heb ddim blew
Dau 'ochr yma
A dau 'ochr drew
Four fat lions
Without any hair
Two on this side
And two over there
The lions cannot be seen from the A55, which crosses the modern bridge on the same site, although they can be seen from trains on the North Wales Coast Line below. The idea of raising them to road level has been suggested by local campaigners from time to time.
During the evening of 23 May 1970, the bridge was heavily damaged when boys playing inside the structure dropped a burning torch, setting alight the tar-coated wooden roof of the tubes. Despite the best efforts of the Caernarfonshire and Anglesey fire brigades, the bridge's height, construction, and the lack of an adequate water supply meant they were unable to control the fire, which spread all the way across from the mainland to the Anglesey side. After the fire had burned itself out, the bridge was still standing. However, the structural integrity of the iron tubes had been critically compromised by the intense heat; they had visibly split open at the three towers and had begun to sag. It was recognised that there was still danger of the structure collapsing. As a consequence, the bridge was rendered unusable without the enactment of major restorative work.
In light of events, the chief civil engineer of British Railways' London Midland region, W.F. Beatty, sought structural advice from consulting engineering company Husband & Co. Following an in-depth investigation of the site performed by the company, it was determined that the cast iron beams inside the towers had suffered substantial cracking and tilting, meaning that the tubes required immediate support at all three towers. The Royal Engineers were quickly brought in to save the bridge, rapidly deploying vertical Bailey bridge units to fill the original jacking slots in the masonry towers. By the end of July 1970, a total of eight Bailey bridge steel towers had been erected, each being capable of bearing a vertical load of around 200 tonnes.
Further analysis showed that the wrought iron tubes had been too badly damaged to be retained. In light of this discovery, it was decided to dismantle the tubes in favour of replacing them with a new deck at the same level as the original tracks. With the exception of the original stone substructure, the structure was completely rebuilt by Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company. The superstructure of the new bridge was to include two decks: a lower rail deck supported by steel arches and an upper deck constructed out of reinforced concrete, to carry a new road crossing over the strait. Concrete supports were built under the approach spans and steel archways constructed under the long spans on either side of the central Britannia Tower. The two long spans are supported by arches, which had not been an option for the original structure as a result of the clearance needed for tall-masted vessels; modern navigational requirements require much less headroom.
The bridge was rebuilt in stages. The first stage was to erect the new steel arches under the two original wrought-iron tubes. The arches were completed, and single-line working was restored to the railway on 30 January 1972 by reusing one of the tubes. The next stage was to dismantle and remove the other tube and replace it with a concrete deck for the other rail track. Then the single-line working was transferred to the new track (on the west side); this allowed the other tube to be removed and replaced with a concrete deck (which is used only for service access) by 1974. Finally the upper road deck was installed and by July 1980, over 10 years after the fire, the new road crossing was completed, and formally opened by the Prince of Wales, carrying a single-carriageway section of the A5 road (now the A55).
During 2011, national railway infrastructure owner Network Rail, the Welsh Assembly Government and the English Highways Agency undertook a £4 million joint programme to strengthen the 160-year-old structure and improve its reliability. The work involved the replacement of eroded steelwork, repairs to the drainage system, restoration of the parapets and stonework, and the painting of the steel approach portals of the bridge. The programme included a detailed inspection of the internal chambers of the three towers and the construction of a special walkway to enable easier and safer access to the structure for future inspections of the masonry piers; special protective efforts adopted for the work included the use of special pollution-minimising paint and the decontamination of all equipment before being brought onsite.
In November 2007, a public consultation exercise into the ‘A55 Britannia Bridge Improvement’ commenced. The perceived problems stated include:
It is the only non-dual-carriageway section along the A55
Congestion during morning and afternoon peak periods
Congestion from seasonal and ferry traffic from Holyhead
Queuing at the junctions at either end
Traffic is expected to significantly increase over the next ten years or so
In the document, four options are presented, each with their own pros and cons:
Do nothing. Congestion will increase as traffic levels increase.
Widen existing bridge. To do this, the towers would have to be removed to make room for the extra lanes. This is an issue as the bridge is a Grade 2 listed structure and is owned by Network Rail. The extra lanes would have to be of reduced width as the existing structure is not capable of supporting four full-width lanes.
New multi-span concrete box bridge alongside. Building a separate bridge would allow the existing bridge to be used as normal during construction. The bridge would require support pillar(s) in the Menai Strait, which is an environmental issue as the strait is a Special Area of Conservation. Visual impact would be low as the pillars and road surface would be aligned with the current bridge.
New single span cable-stayed bridge. This would eliminate the need for pillars in the Strait, but the bridge would have a large impact on the landscape due to the height of the cable support pillars. This is also the most costly option.
Respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of seeing some improvements, with 70 per cent favouring the solution of building another bridge.
Very few other tubular iron bridges were ever built since more economical bridge designs were soon developed. The most notable of the other tubular bridges were Stephenson's Conwy railway bridge between Llandudno Junction and Conwy, the first Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue (Québec) Grand Trunk Railway bridge, which was the prototype of the Victoria Bridge across the Saint Lawrence River at Montreal.
The Conwy railway bridge remains in use, and is the only remaining tubular bridge; however, intermediate piers have been added to strengthen it. The bridge can be seen at close quarters from Thomas Telford's adjacent 1826 Conwy Suspension Bridge.
The Victoria Bridge was the first bridge to cross the St. Lawrence River, and was the longest bridge in the world when it was completed in 1859. It was rebuilt as a truss bridge in 1898.
The Menai Strait (Welsh: Afon Menai, lit. 'River Menai') is a strait which separates the island of Anglesey from Gwynedd, on the mainland of Wales. It is situated between Caernarfon Bay in the south-west and Conwy Bay in the north-east, which are both inlets of the Irish Sea. The strait is about 25 km (16 mi) long and varies in width from 400 metres (1,300 ft) between Fort Belan and Abermenai Point to 7.5 kilometres (4.7 mi) between Puffin Island (Ynys Seiriol) and Penmaenmawr. It contains several islands, including Church Island (Ynys Tysilio), on which is located St Tysilio's Church.
The strait is bridged by the Menai Suspension Bridge (Pont Grog y Borth), which was completed in 1826 to a design by Thomas Telford and carries the A5 road, and the Britannia Bridge (Pont Britannia) a truss arch bridge which carries the North Wales Main Line and the A55 road; it is an adaptation of a tubular railway bridge completed in 1850 to a design by Robert Stephenson, which was severely damaged by a fire in 1970.
The differential tides at the two ends of the strait cause very strong currents which create dangerous conditions. One of the most hazardous areas is the Swellies (Pwll Ceris), between the two bridges, where rocks near the surface cause over-falls and local whirlpools. This was the site of the loss of the training ship HMS Conway in 1953. Entering the strait at the Caernarfon end is also hazardous because of the frequently shifting sand banks that make up Caernarfon bar.
The present day channel is a result of glacial erosion of the bedrock along a line of weakness associated with the Menai Strait Fault System. During a series of Pleistocene glaciations a succession of ice-sheets moved from northeast to southwest across Anglesey and neighbouring Gwynedd scouring the underlying rock; the grain of which also runs in the same direction. The result was a series of linear bedrock hollows across the region, the deepest of which was flooded by the sea as world ocean levels rose at the end of the last ice age (c. 10,000 BC).
The name Menai comes from Welsh main-aw or main-wy, meaning "narrow water."
According to Heimskringla, the 11th century Norse-Gael ruler Echmarcach mac Ragnaill plundered in Wales with his friend, the Viking Guttorm Gunnhildsson. However they started quarreling over the plunder and fought a battle at the Menai Strait. Guttorm won the battle by praying to Saint Olaf and Echmarcach was killed.
In the 12th century, a later Viking raid and battle in the Menai Strait are recounted in the Orkneyinga Saga as playing an important role in the life of Magnus Erlendsson, Earl of Orkney – the future Saint Magnus. He had a reputation for piety and gentleness. Refusing to fight in the raid on Anglesey, he stayed on board his ship, singing psalms. This incident is recounted at length in the 1973 novel Magnus by Orcadian author George Mackay Brown, and in the 1977 opera, The Martyrdom of St Magnus by Peter Maxwell Davies. The first of the opera's nine parts is called "The Battle of Menai Strait".
From the 1890s until 1963, the pleasure steamers of the Liverpool and North Wales Steamship Company would ply their main route from Liverpool and Llandudno along the Menai Strait, and around Anglesey. After the company's voluntary liquidation in 1962, P and A Campbell took over the services for a while. Now, every year for two weeks in the summer, the MV Balmoral undertakes a similar service. The most recent service appears to have been Feb-2021, since when the vessel has been taken to dry dock for essential repair work
The tidal effects observed along the banks of the strait can be confusing. A rising tide approaches from the south-west, causing the water in the strait to flow north-eastwards as the level rises. The tide also flows around Anglesey until, after a few hours, it starts to flow into the strait in a south-westerly direction from Beaumaris. By this time, the tidal flow from the Caernarfon end is weakening and the tide continues to rise in height but the direction of tidal flow is reversed. A similar sequence is seen in reverse on a falling tide. This means that slack water between the bridges tends to occur approximately one hour before high tide or low tide.
Theoretically it is possible to ford the strait in the Swellies at low water, spring tides when the depth may fall to less than 0.5 metres (1.6 ft). However, at these times a strong current of around 4.8 knots (8.9 km/h) is running, making the passage extremely difficult. Elsewhere in the strait the minimum depth is never less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) until the great sand flats at Lavan Sands are reached beyond Bangor.
The tides carry large quantities of fish, and the construction of fish weirs on both banks and on several of the islands, helped make the Strait an important source of fish for many centuries. Eight of the numerous Menai Strait fish weirs are now scheduled monuments.
Because the strait has such unusual tidal conditions, coupled with very low wave heights because of its sheltered position, it presents a unique and diverse benthic ecology.
The depth of the channel reaches 15 metres (49 ft) in places, and the current can exceed 7 knots (13 km/h). It is very rich in sponges.
The existence of this unique ecology was a major factor in the establishment of Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences at Menai Bridge, as well as its status as a special area of conservation with marine components. The waters are also a proposed Marine Nature Reserve.
The same unique ecology and geomorphology has let to a number of designations of SSSIs along the strait including Glannau Porthaethwy, the ivy–oak–ash woodland on the southern shore (Coedydd Afon Menai) and Lavan Sands (Welsh: Traeth Lafan). The banks of the Menai Straits are home to the critically endangered Menai Whitebeam. The plant is an extremely rare species of Sorbus only found in this part of North Wales. The population contains about 30 plants, and most of these are thought to be mature.
Much of the land on Anglesey at the eastern end of the strait is designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty.
Opened in 1826, the Menai Bridge is a 417 metre long, 30 metre tall suspension bridge, and the first bridge to cross the Menai Strait. The bridge, designed by Thomas Telford, carries the A5, a road which connects the capital London to Holyhead on Holy Island. The bridge itself is grade one listed and a candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Opened in 1850, the Britannia Bridge was built as a rail bridge connecting Anglesey to the mainland. The bridge, 461 metres long and 40 metres tall, carries the North Wales Coast Line connecting Holyhead to Crewe. Between 1970 and 1972, the bridge underwent a redesign in order to accommodate what would later become the A55, a dual carriageway connecting Chester to Holyhead. The bridge is grade two listed and is the more common crossing point out of the two bridges.
Since 2007, a Third Menai Crossing had been proposed by government to tackle congestion on the other two crossings. However, on 14 February 2023, the Welsh Government announced that the project would not go ahead, citing efforts to reduce car usage, its environmental impact and it being a "blot" on the landscape. Issues with financing the project was later stated by the government as another reason why the project could not proceed. Lee Waters, deputy minister for climate change, later stated the crossing could be considered again as part of a wider review into the infrastructure of North Wales, rather than individually.
The Isle of Anglesey is a county off the north-west coast of Wales. It is named after the island of Anglesey, which makes up 94% of its area, but also includes Holy Island (Ynys Gybi) and some islets and skerries. The county borders Gwynedd across the Menai Strait to the southeast, and is otherwise surrounded by the Irish Sea. Holyhead is the largest town, and the administrative centre is Llangefni. The county is part of the preserved county of Gwynedd.
The Isle of Anglesey is sparsely populated, with an area of 276 square miles (710 km2) and a population of 68,900. After Holyhead (12,103), the largest settlements are Llangefni (5,500) and Amlwch (3,967). The economy of the county is mostly based on agriculture, energy, and tourism, the latter especially on the coast. Holyhead is also a major ferry port for Dublin, Ireland. The county has the second-highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 57.2%, and is considered a heartland of the language.
The island of Anglesey, at 676 square kilometres (261 sq mi), is the largest in Wales and the Irish Sea, and the seventh largest in Britain. The northern and eastern coasts of the island are rugged, and the southern and western coasts are generally gentler; the interior is gently undulating. In the north of the island is Llyn Alaw, a reservoir with an area of 1.4 square miles (4 km2). Holy Island has a similar landscape, with a rugged north and west coast and beaches to the east and south. The county is surrounded by smaller islands; several, including South Stack and Puffin Island, are home to seabird colonies. Large parts of the county's coastline have been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
The county has many prehistoric monuments, such as Bryn Celli Ddu burial chamber. In the Middle Ages the area was part of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and native Principality of Wales, and the ruling House of Aberffraw maintained courts (Welsh: llysoedd) at Aberffraw and Rhosyr. After Edward I's conquest of Gwynedd he built the castle at Beaumaris, which forms part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. The Menai Strait to the mainland is spanned by the Menai Suspension Bridge, designed by Thomas Telford in 1826, and the Britannia Bridge, originally designed by Robert Stephenson in 1850.
The history of the settlement of the local people of Anglesey starts in the Mesolithic period. Anglesey and the UK were uninhabitable until after the previous ice age. It was not until 12,000 years ago that the island of Great Britain became hospitable. The oldest excavated sites on Anglesey include Trwyn Du (Welsh: Black nose) at Aberffraw. The Mesolithic site located at Aberffraw Bay (Porth Terfyn) was buried underneath a Bronze Age 'kerb cairn' which was constructed c. 2,000 BC. The bowl barrow (kerb cairn) covered a material deposited from the early Mesolithic period; the archeological find dates to 7,000 BC. After millennia of hunter-gather civilisation in the British Isles, the first villages were constructed from 4000 BC. Neolithic settlements were built in the form of long houses, on Anglesey is one of the first villages in Wales, it was built at Llanfaethlu. Also an example permanent settlement on Anglesey is of a Bronze Age built burial mound, Bryn Celli Ddu (English: Dark Grove Hill). The mound started as a henge enclosure around 3000 BC and was adapted several times over a millennium.
There are numerous megalithic monuments and menhirs in the county, testifying to the presence of humans in prehistory. Plas Newydd is near one of 28 cromlechs that remain on uplands overlooking the sea. The Welsh Triads claim that the island of Anglesey was once part of the mainland.
After the Neolithic age, the Bronze Age began (c. 2200 BC – 800 BC). Some sites were continually used for thousands of years from original henge enclosures, then during the Iron Age, and also some of these sites were later adapted by Celts into hillforts and finally were in use during the Roman period (c. 100 AD) as roundhouses. Castell Bryn Gwyn (English: White hill castle, also called Bryn Beddau, or the "hill of graves") near Llanidan, Anglesey is an example of a Neolithic site that became a hillfort that was used until the Roman period by the Ordovices, the local tribe who were defeated in battle by a Roman legion (c. 78 AD). Bronze Age monuments were also built throughout the British Isles. During this period, the Mynydd Bach cairn in South-west Anglesey was being used. It is a Beaker period prehistoric funerary monument.
During the Iron Age the Celts built dwellings huts, also known as roundhouses. These were established near the previous settlements. Some huts with walled enclosures were discovered on the banks of the river (Welsh: afon) Gwna near. An example of a well-preserved hut circle is over the Cymyran Strait on Holy Island. The Holyhead Mountain Hut Circles (Welsh: Tŷ Mawr / Cytiau'r Gwyddelod, Big house / "Irishmen's Huts") were inhabited by ancient Celts and were first occupied before the Iron Age, c. 1000 BC. The Anglesey Iron Age began after 500 BC. Archeological research discovered limpet shells which were found from 200 BC on a wall at Tŷ Mawr and Roman-era pottery from the 3rd to 4th centuries AD. Some of these huts were still being used for agricultural purposes as late as the 6th century. The first excavation of Ty Mawr was conducted by William Owen Stanley of Penrhos, Anglesey (son of Baron Stanley of Alderley).
Historically, Anglesey has long been associated with the druids. The Roman conquest of Anglesey began in 60 CE when the Roman general Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, determined to break the power of the druids, attacked the island using his amphibious Batavian contingent as a surprise vanguard assault and then destroyed the shrine and the nemeta (sacred groves). News of Boudica's revolt reached him just after his victory, causing him to withdraw his army before consolidating his conquest. The island was finally brought into the Roman Empire by Gnaeus Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, in AD 78. During the Roman occupation, the area was notable for the mining of copper. The foundations of Caer Gybi, a fort in Holyhead, are Roman, and the present road from Holyhead to Llanfairpwllgwyngyll was originally a Roman road. The island was grouped by Ptolemy with Ireland ("Hibernia") rather than with Britain ("Albion").
After the Roman departure from Britain in the early 5th century, pirates from Ireland (Picts) colonised Anglesey and the nearby Llŷn Peninsula. In response to this, Cunedda ap Edern, a Gododdin warlord from Scotland, came to the area and began to drive the Irish out. This was continued by his son Einion Yrth ap Cunedda and grandson Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion; the last Irish invaders were finally defeated in battle in 470.
During the 9th century, King Rhodri Mawr unified Wales and separated the country into at least 3 provinces between his sons. He gave Gwynedd to his son, Anarawd ap Rhodri, who founded the medieval Welsh dynasty, The House of Aberffraw on Anglesey, also his other son Cadell founded House of Dinefwr in Deheubarth, and another son, Merfyn ruled Powys (where the House of Mathrafal emerged). The island had a good defensive position, and so Aberffraw became the site of the royal court (Welsh: Llys) of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Apart from devastating Danish raids in 853 and 968 in Aberffraw, it remained the capital until the 13th, after Rhodri Mawr had moved his family seat from Caernarfon and built a royal palace at Aberffraw in 873. This is when improvements to the English navy made the location indefensible. Anglesey was also briefly the most southerly possession of the Norwegian Empire.[citation needed]
After the Irish, the island was invaded by Vikings — some raids were noted in famous sagas (see Menai Strait History) such as the Jómsvíkinga— and by Saxons, and Normans, before falling to Edward I of England in the 13th century. The connection with the Vikings can be seen in the name of the island. In ancient times it was called "Maenige" and received the name "Ongulsey" or Angelsoen, from where the current name originates.
Anglesey (with Holy Island) is one of the 13 historic counties of Wales. In medieval times, before the conquest of Wales in 1283, Môn often had periods of temporary independence, when frequently bequeathed to the heirs of kings as a sub-kingdom of Gwynedd, an example of this was Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn I, the Great c. 1200s) who was styled the Prince of Aberffraw. After the Norman invasion of Wales was one of the last times this occurred a few years after 1171, after the death of Owain Gwynedd, when the island was inherited by Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd, and between 1246 and about 1255 when it was granted to Owain Goch as his share of the kingdom. After the conquest of Wales by Edward I, Anglesey became a county under the terms of the Statute of Rhuddlan of 1284. Hitherto it had been divided into the cantrefi of Aberffraw, Rhosyr and Cemaes.
During 1294 as a rebellion of the former house of Aberffraw, Prince Madog ap Llywelyn had attacked King Edward I's castles in North Wales. As a direct response, Beaumaris Castle was constructed to control Edward's interests in Anglesey, however, by the 1320s the build was abandoned and never complete. The castle was besieged by Owain Glyndŵr in the early 15th century. It was ruinous by 1609, however, the 6th Viscount Bulkeley had purchased the castle from Crown the in 1807 and it has been open to the public under the guardianship of the Crown ever since 1925.
The Shire Hall in Llangefni was completed in 1899. During the First World War, the Presbyterian minister and celebrity preacher John Williams toured the island as part of an effort to recruit young men as volunteers. The island's location made it ideal for monitoring German U-Boats in the Irish Sea, with half a dozen airships based at Mona. German POWs were kept on the island. By the end of the war, some 1,000 of the island's men had died on active service.
In 1936 the NSPCC opened its first branch on Anglesey.
During the Second World War, Anglesey received Italian POWs. The island was designated a reception zone, and was home to evacuee children from Liverpool and Manchester.
In 1971, a 100,000 ton per annum aluminum smelter was opened by Rio Tinto Zinc Corporation and British Insulated Callender's Cables with Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation as a 30 per cent partner.
In 1974, Anglesey became a district of the new county of Gwynedd. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county and the five districts on 1 April 1996, and Anglesey became a separate unitary authority. In 2011, the Welsh Government appointed a panel of commissioners to administer the council, which meant the elected members were not in control. The commissioners remained until an election was held in May 2013, restoring an elected Council. Before the period of direct administration, there had been a majority of independent councillors. Though members did not generally divide along party lines, these were organised into five non-partisan groups on the council, containing a mix of party and independent candidates. The position has been similar since the election, although the Labour Party has formed a governing coalition with the independents.
Brand new council offices were built at Llangefni in the 1990s for the new Isle of Anglesey County Council.
Anglesey is a low-lying island with low hills spaced evenly over the north. The highest six are Holyhead Mountain, 220 metres (720 ft); Mynydd Bodafon, 178 metres (584 ft); Mynydd Llaneilian, 177 metres (581 ft); Mynydd y Garn, 170 metres (560 ft); Bwrdd Arthur, 164 metres (538 ft); and Mynydd Llwydiarth, 158 metres (518 ft). To the south and south-east, the island is divided from the Welsh mainland by the Menai Strait, which at its narrowest point is about 250 metres (270 yd) wide. In all other directions the island is surrounded by the Irish Sea. At 676 km2 (261 sq mi), it is the 52nd largest island of Europe and just five km2 (1.9 sq mi) smaller than the main island of Singapore.
There are a few natural lakes, mostly in the west, such as Llyn Llywenan, the largest on the island, Llyn Coron, and Cors Cerrig y Daran, but rivers are few and small. There are two large water supply reservoirs operated by Welsh Water. These are Llyn Alaw to the north of the island and Llyn Cefni in the centre of the island, which is fed by the headwaters of the Afon Cefni.
The climate is humid (though less so than neighbouring mountainous Gwynedd) and generally equable thanks to the Gulf Stream. The land is of variable quality and has probably lost some fertility. Anglesey has the northernmost olive grove in Europe and presumably in the world.
The coast of the Isle of Anglesey is more populous than the interior. The largest community is Holyhead, which is located on Holy Island and had a population of 12,103 at the 2021 United Kingdom census. It is followed by Amlwch (3,697), Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf (3,085), and Menai Bridge (3,046), all located on the coast of the island of Anglesey. The largest community in the interior of Anglesey is Llangefni (5,500), the county town; the next-largest is Llanfihangel Ysgeifiog (1,711).
Beaumaris (Welsh: Biwmares) in the east features Beaumaris Castle, built by Edward I during his Bastide campaign in North Wales. Beaumaris is a yachting centre, with boats moored in the bay or off Gallows Point. The village of Newborough (Welsh: Niwbwrch), in the south, created when townsfolk of Llanfaes were relocated for the building of Beaumaris Castle, includes the site of Llys Rhosyr, another court of medieval Welsh princes featuring one of the United Kingdom's oldest courtrooms. The centrally localted Llangefni is the island's administrative centre. The town of Menai Bridge (Welsh: Porthaethwy) in the south-east, expanded to accommodate workers and construction when the first bridge to the mainland was being built. Hitherto Porthaethwy had been one of the main ferry ports for the mainland. A short distance from the town lies Bryn Celli Ddu, a Stone Age burial mound.
Nearby is the village with the longest name in Europe, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, and Plas Newydd, ancestral home of the Marquesses of Anglesey. The town of Amlwch lies in the north-east of the island and was once largely industrialised, having grown in the 18th century to support a major copper-mining industry at Parys Mountain.
Other settlements include Cemaes, Pentraeth, Gaerwen, Dwyran, Bodedern, Malltraeth and Rhosneigr. The Anglesey Sea Zoo is a local attraction offering looks at local marine wildlife from common lobsters to congers. All fish and crustaceans on display are caught round the island and placed in habitat reconstructions. The zoo also breeds lobsters commercially for food and oysters for pearls, both from local stocks. Sea salt (Halen Môn, from local sea water) is produced in a facility nearby, having formerly been made at the Sea Zoo site.
Landmarks
Anglesey Motor Racing Circuit
Anglesey Sea Zoo near Dwyran
Bays and beaches – Benllech, Cemlyn, Red Wharf, and Rhosneigr
Beaumaris Castle and Gaol
Cribinau – tidal island with 13th-century church
Elin's Tower (Twr Elin) – RSPB reserve and the lighthouse at South Stack (Ynys Lawd) near Holyhead
King Arthur's seat – near Beaumaris
Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, one of the longest place names in the world
Malltraeth – centre for bird life and home of wildlife artist Charles Tunnicliffe
Moelfre – fishing village
Parys Mountain – copper mine dating to the early Bronze Age
Penmon – priory and dovecote
Skerries Lighthouse – at the end of a low piece of submerged land, north-east of Holyhead
Stone Science Museum – privately run fossil museum near Pentraeth
Swtan longhouse and museum – owned by the National Trust and managed by the local community
Working windmill – Llanddeusant
Ynys Llanddwyn (Llanddwyn Island) – tidal island
St Cybi's Church Historic church in Holyhead
Born in Anglesey
Tony Adams – actor (Anglesey, 1940)
Stu Allan – radio and club DJ
John C. Clarke – U.S. state politician (Anglesey, 1831)
Grace Coddington – creative director for US Vogue (Anglesey, 1941)
Charles Allen Duval – artist and writer (Beaumaris, 1810)
Dawn French – actress, writer, comedian (Holyhead, 1957)
Huw Garmon – actor (Anglesey, 1966)
Hugh Griffith – Oscar-winning actor (Marianglas, 1912)
Elen Gwdman – poet (fl. 1609)
Meinir Gwilym – singer and songwriter (Llangristiolus, 1983)
Owain Gwynedd – royal prince (Anglesey, c. 1100)
Hywel Gwynfryn – radio and TV personality (Llangefni, 1942)
Aled Jones – singer and television presenter (Llandegfan, 1970)
John Jones – amateur astronomer (Bryngwyn Bach, Dwyran 1818 – Bangor 1898); a.k.a. Ioan Bryngwyn Bach and Y Seryddwr
William Jones – mathematician (Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, 1675)
Julian Lewis Jones – actor, known for his portrayal of Karl Morris on the Sky 1 comedy Stella (Anglesey, 1968)
John Morris-Jones – grammarian and poet (Llandrygarn, 1864)
Edward Owen – 18th-century artist, notable for letters documenting life in London's art scene
Goronwy Owen – 18th-century poet (Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf, 1723)
Osian Roberts – association football player and manager (Bodffordd)
Tecwyn Roberts – NASA aerospace engineer and Director of Networks at Goddard Space Flight Center (Llanddaniel Fab, 1925)
Hugh Owen Thomas – pioneering orthopaedic surgeon (Anglesey, 1836)
Ifor Owen Thomas – operatic tenor, photographer and artist (Red Wharf Bay, 1892)
Sefnyn – medieval court poet
Owen Tudor – grandfather of Henry Tudor, married the widow of Henry V, which gave the Tudor family a claim on the English throne (Anglesey, c. 1400).
Kyffin Williams – landscape painter (Llangefni, 1918)
William Williams – recipient of the Victoria Cross (Amlwch, 1890)
Andy Whitfield – actor (Amlwch, 1971)
Gareth Williams – employee of Britain's GCHQ signals intelligence agency (Anglesey, 1978)
*Gilles Street Primary School is a state heritage listed school built 1899: the foundation stone was laid 4 September 1899 by Lady Bonython and the building opened 14 May 1900. The school was named after Osmond Gilles, an early treasurer of the colony of South Australia.
When the inspectors visited in July there were 588 students enrolled, this in a school designed for 500. Overcrowding continued to be a problem, so a new infant building was opened in 1919 followed by an extra primary school building in 1926. In 1918 the Glover Playground in the South Parklands was opened and was used by the school for 'open air exercises'.
From 1920 until 1961, there were two separate schools - the Gilles Street Practising School and the Gilles Street Infant Practising School. Both had an important role in teacher training as practising schools for student-teachers. This period also marked the start of other organisations using the buildings, such as the Correspondence School, Girls' Special Classes, the Deaf Blind Unit, the Language Centre and the Curriculum Unit.
Today Gilles Street Primary School has two components - the mainstream Reception to Year 6 school and an Intensive English Language Centre.
*Plans for a new school in Gilles Street were first conceived when a site was bought in
November 1881, but the school was not begun until mid-1899. Charles Edward Owen Smyth
was the architect and E Fricker the contractor. Built for £3182 it was completed around Easter time in 1900.
It could accommodate 550 children in three large schoolrooms, two classrooms and an infants classroom with gallery.
It was a single storey of brick construction with Murray Bridge stone banding. In 1925 it underwent extensive remodelling with additional classrooms being built separately.
The windows of the original building were also modified. To the front they were all made longer, while two sets of double windows became triple windows on either side of the centre gable.
C E Owen Smyth was appointed superintendent of Public Buildings on 1 July, 1886, a position he held until 1920. Pragmatic and confident, he was responsible for the design of
several well-known public buildings that were constructed when treasury funds were meagre.
This building displays prominent gables and roof form and is similar to that of earlier model schools. The building is distinctive because of its use of loadbearing brick walls rather than the bluestone masonry more commonly found in the 1880s. The style of the building is aptly abstracted from aspects of the Gothic Revival (or at least an Arts and Crafts version of it) and continues the architectural idiom of earlier model schools. The building is notable for its high quality brickwork and bevel-edged sandstone dressings. The gables with well finished moulded brick detailing are reminiscent of 'Tudor' half timberwork.
Ref: Gilles Street Primary School Website and Heritage of the City of Adelaide
Center wingbox (bottom) mated to the wingbox (top).
This is the (new) center wingbox that I'll be attaching to the fuselage so I can mount the wings later on. There will be notches in the inboard end of the wing (I built a dummy/test section, pictured here), which will latch onto the teeth that stick out of the wingbox. Might look flimsy in these pictures, but the fit feels quite solid—almost like these pieces were made from blocks of wood! I have no doubt it'll be able to support the weight of the plane (and then some).
A PMC type Load Bearing Vest. I plan to make another version with a Knife, maybe Shotgun Shells and a Radio (Any ideas? Feel free to share them!)
Free to use! Just give credit where its due. If You do use these also please tag me in the picture so I can see how these look on a minifig!
Comments and Critism are greatly appreciated!
This was my first design (But heavily revised) Just a TAC vest with mag pouches and cell phone. I was going for a European Terrorist type look on this (Something out of CoD MW2)
Free to use! Just give credit where its due. If You do use these also please tag me in the picture so I can see how these look on a minifig!
Comments and Criticism are greatly appreciated!
Same design again but with a Russian striped undershirt and new colors. Hope you guys like it
Free to use! Just give credit where its due. If You do use these also please tag me in the picture so I can see how these look on a minifig!
Comments and Criticism are greatly appreciated!
Center wingbox, almost complete.
This is the (new) center wingbox that I'll be attaching to the fuselage so I can mount the wings later on. There will be notches in the inboard end of the wing (I built a dummy/test section, pictured here), which will latch onto the teeth that stick out of the wingbox. Might look flimsy in these pictures, but the fit feels quite solid—almost like these pieces were made from blocks of wood! I have no doubt it'll be able to support the weight of the plane (and then some).