Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing 1,046 ft 4.5 in (319 meters) high, it was briefly the world's tallest building before it was overtaken by the Empire State Building in 1931. It remains the world's tallest brick building. After the destruction of the World Trade Center, it is again the second tallest building in New York City. This classic example of Art Deco architecture is considered by many, at least among contemporary architects (see below), to be the finest building in New York City.

The Chrysler Building was designed by architect William Van Alen to house the Chrysler Corporation. 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. Despite a frantic pace (the building was erected at an average rate of four floors per week), no workers died during the construction of this skyscraper.

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 (this distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower). In response, Van Alen obtained permission for a 125 foot (58.4 meters) long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. On October 23, 1929, the spire was hoisted onto the top of the building in about 90 minutes. Like the building's cap, it 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 play-on-words for "nie rost", meaning "never rust").

At the time of completion, 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 meters). Van Alen's satisfaction in these accomplishments was likely muted by Walter Chrysler's later refusal to pay the balance of his architectural fee. In less than a year after it opened to the public on May 27, 1930, the Chrysler Building was surpassed in height by the Empire State Building.

The Chrysler Building was bought in 1957 by real estate moguls Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo, and later sold to the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. The lobby was refurbished and the facade was renovated in 1978 - 1979. The building was purchased by Jack Kent Cooke, a Washington, D.C. investor in 1979. The spire underwent a restoration that was completed in 1995. The building was sold by Cooke's estate to Tishman Speyer Properties and the Travelers Insurance Group in 1998. In 2001, a 75% stake in the ownership of the building was sold to TMW, a German investment group.