SkyscraperPage Forum - NEW YORK | Chrysler Building | 1,046' Pinnacle / 925' Roof | 77 FLOORS

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NEW YORK | Chrysler Building | 1,046' Pinnacle / 925' Roof | 77 FLOORS | 1930

Hello,
I'm student and i need informations about Chrysler Building in NY. Expecially I'm interested to the Spire. What's its structure? What is under it? If you have informations, picture or just a good link you could help me.
I have looked for it on the web but about the spire i have found few informations!
Thank you

lol, this is terrible

If I knew I would help you, just wikipedia it and go from there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstush04 (Post 3258724)

lol, this is terrible

What's terrible is being a provincial twit and thinking that everyone in the world speaks English as their first language. :hug:

HighZed, the following information comes from wikipedia.com's entry about the Chrysler Building.

"The Chrysler Building is also well renowned and recognised 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 set-backs, mounted up one behind each other. The stainless steel cladding was ribbed and riveted in a radiating pattern and had many triangular vaulted windows, transitioning into smaller segments of the seven narrow set-backs 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 play-on-words for "nie rost", meaning "never rust").

So the basic answer is - the spire and crown of the Chrysler Building is composed of a special steel alloy called Nirosta. Hopefully this helps you :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by MayDay (Post 3258944)

What's terrible is being a provincial twit and thinking that everyone in the world speaks English as their first language.

well, obviously english isn't first, but what about google? Its the same way anyone on here would get their information.

highzed, it just seems like you went through more work than you needed. next time you want to find information, figure out what you want, and start typing keywords into google. try typing "chrysler building spire structure", and you'll get more information than you could ever need

many thanks...

English is not a problem, of course I have checked on google with key words in english (how have I found this site? ), I have looking for books about chrysler in international library, and Italian library too. All what i found is incompleted. Always the same informations.

I need something about spire, about the structure, forces, systems of building, and some picture of the suite inside. I found just one in white\black not very large. Is it possible nobody catched a photo of that since 1940???
I was in new york two times and chrysler was open only in the lobby for the tourist.
I remember a similar serching about Empire and I found a lot of informations, original documents too.
So here I am, hopeing some student had material...

What is your first language? Wikipedia is full of information, even the Nirosta of German Krupp patent developed with stainless steel not corosion in most ornaments like eagles and the automobile radiator form based roof spire atop it, in several languages. But I continue to be sure the best condensed information you will find here http://skyscraperpage.com/cities/?buildingID=83. Take a ride at Emporis, Structurae links botom page, you will see some references' books which could help you. Google link has plenty images, but unfortunatly most outside, not all details inside. Some descriptions how onyx, egypt, marble inside decorations implementation are, to immagine how beautiful this skyscraper is, has there. Examples of Car hood ornaments you best find here http://northstargallery.com/cars/cargalflyingladies.htm Eagles are used, as they fly high & North-American bird symbol, in consonance with high building reaching sky, WTB. They could be told to be based in Dodge ornaments mainly, De Soto, Plymonth or even Chrysler cars of thirties, all sub-divisions of Chrysler automobile company. Too many cars used to have flying human-woman figures, birds, horses and pointers, all symbolism of high speed, movement, power and flying or cruising high. Cars of thirties are still today, the most wonderful ones. This was the best decade for automobiles in terms of design, decoration, elegance of lines & volumes and details, never took over again until now. It is why most cars of several concours d'elegance in California for example or Peedle Beach is 90% with examples of 30' or 40' ones.
The stainless steel eagles in several back steps at bldg corners are hood ornaments of automobiles based in the 30' years when cars had a lot of nickel-chrome ornaments and details on hood, side panels and so on. The Spire is the Shinning Vertical Radiator ornament of such automobiles. At Wikipedia you have the Chemical Nirosta composition. This is one of the bldg most used such steel ornament in world. Bldg was the WTB for only 1 year in 1930, after taking Tour Eiffel tallest record certificate and following replaced by ESB, Empires States bldg in same NYC for 40 years. The dispute between Chrysler bldg and ESB was great, who would keep the title of WTB. Both bldgs are similar in architectonical Art-Deco appearance of 30' years.
Good luck for your presentation then. :tup:

Edit: You should know, I am mainly a vehicle, automobile & ships designer interested in all stuff of object design, painting, drawings, sketchs and even architecture illustration of all kind, industrial designer. So I see structures from the design, elegance of volumes and lines, layout and details point of view side, not much technical things, still beeing also an engineer of study. I can help only in the design appearance point of view, your finite element civil technical studies, probably you are doing a civil structure analysis in some engineering thema is very difficult to be known, even the fact with today paranoic against terrorismus worldwide, not all architectural and stress calculations offices would give you so easy info for your computer model, even only for student reasons, to not fall in wrong hands. I studied also fininte elements in mechanical engineering, but applied concepts to an automobile ergonomic door, using Fortran 77 and Catia v3. Today I know nothing about it to help u.

Many thanks for links and your words. That informations are great and that period is wonderfull, but informations you found for me I have known by books, and site on internet. Now I'm looking for precises note about spire, like his internal structures, type of linking for different pieces, system of building, and thing like that. I have to made a mathematical model about the structure with forces, diagonal, axial... Simulations at finte elements. And at the end I'm looking for a precise knowing of the spaces inside the spire (floors, rooms, stairs...). All this information it seems rare about chrysler in the books and in the internet. Do you know pictures of the suite inside spire for example? Just this will be usefull for me. My first language is italian, but english is not a problem,like Italians young people I understand it good in reading... yeah not so good in writing and I'm sorry for this :cheers:

Hi HighZed,

While the cladding may be a stainless steel, the answers you are looking for are perhaps more elusive. The spire structure is, based on the construction photos shown in David Stravit's book "the Chrysler Bldg", seen to be a simple regular truss not dissimilar from a radio transmission tower.

The tower is composed of four legs tapering towards the top with regular chevron bracing as far up the spire as can be seen in the photo. All steel sections are almost certainly A36 material and it is seen to be riveted construction (therefore I would assume pin connections). It can not be seen clearly, but all framing elements appear to be angle sections with flat plate gussets.

There is another photo titled "looking up into the spire from the 77th floor" in which horizontal X-bracing between the four individual legs is seen but it is difficult to see at what interval they are placed. Also, all the sections seen are covered with a globular (fire-retarding) material, making it impossible to ascertain their dimension or true section type.

The remainder of the building is again a riveted steel frame (WF beams and columns) w/ masonry block wall to assist in lateral stability. The bulk of the exterior cladding is of course clay brick.

Hello, many thanks to you too for your description.This was usefull for me. Step by step i'm founding some information. I have to notice (I don't know if it is only a my feeling) about chrisler is hard to seek informations. Anyway I found a web page very interesting and i'm tryng to contact author. I report it for anyone will needs something like me : http://www.ckdeco.com/chryslerbuilding/index.html
It remains as problem the picture very rare of interiors of spire. Some like a cutaway. or a plan.

I found this on the "old buildings under construction thread". It's the top of the Chrysler Building without skin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdiederi (Post 2525473)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...ry_slide12.jpg

Thank you, it is very interestng pictures. :tup:

If you've seen the movie Q (from 1982 I think), you'll know that a giant winged creature from hell, known as Quetzacoatl, breifly inhabited the space under the spire, feasting on citizens of New York.
:cool:

I think what he's trying to ask, is if the space under the spire is one big open space, like an atrium, or if its six or seven floors...(?)

I'm curious myself.

Thank you TEXCOLO, just like you said. After a research I have found some informations about engineering questions, but nothing about interior! observatory, suite of Mr. Chrysler... is incredible, an important piece of American history, an icon of new york, nobody catched a photo of interior of the spire?! (really just one of the aobservatory very old in wich it can see just a saturn shaped lamp). I will be a provincial but americans are very strange...:cheers:
Anyway there is something now very strange... Is this true???
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/ga...l?pagewanted=1

this building is amayzing
i have the puzz 3D of this:D

NEW YORK | Chrysler Building | 1,046' Pinnacle / 925' Roof | 77 FLOORS | 1930

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 at 319 metres (1,047 ft), it was briefly the world's tallest building before it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. However, the Chrysler Building remains the world's tallest brick building. 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 building, pushing the Chrysler Building into third position. In addition, the New York Times Building, which opened in 2007, is exactly tied with the Chrysler Building in height.

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 (see below). In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

http://www.howardmodels.com/Architec...ysler/pic1.jpg

http://www.howardmodels.com/Architec...ysler/pic2.jpg

http://www.visitingdc.com/images/chr...ng-address.jpg

http://wirednewyork.com/landmarks/ch...sler_hyatt.jpg

http://www.destination360.com/north-...r-building.jpg

http://www.gallerym.com/images/work/..._ny_1931_L.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uilding-HP.jpg

http://www.adobe.com/special/america...ges/photo1.jpg

http://www.ronsaari.com/stockImages/...ngInterior.jpg

I thought I would go back and do this one right.

definately one of my favorite buildings!

My favorite building. Always was and always will be.

Amazing building.

However, I would not want the job of the guy leaning on the gargoyle. Haha, do you know what he's doing up there?

I would so love to sit on that gargoyle:)
And Chrysler's such a beautiful lady- she and Empire State are like the Adam and Eve of Skyscrapers.

Yea it's too bad there can't be more like that.

IMO, the best, most beautiful building ever built.

A beautiful building.

Who says that we never found an American architecture?

This is the peak of the art-deco style in my opinion.

Yea it would be hard to top this one if such a building exists.

Far and away the most beautiful building of all time, in my opinion.

My favorite building in NYC, perhaps my favorite building in the world. The only other stuff that comes close that I've personally seen, although very different, are ancient Mediterranean buildings. They symbolize the the pinnacle of engineering, art and wealth/power of their respective ages. Every time I'm in N.Y. I stare at her from afar b/c i think her beauty is best appreaciated from a distance. Last week my wife and I were in the city and even she ackowledged how cool a building it is (and my wife barely tollerates my love of buildings at all). Liberty 1, in my hometown of Philly, is a tribute to this monument and for years I hated it b/c it cannot possibly live up to what it is trying to immitate. I've gotten over it and now appreciate Lib.1 for what it is, a nice skyscraper.

Anyone know how they keep everything so shiny? Thise of you who wanted to sit on the gargoyle should apply for a shining job.

The Chrysler is a timeless and spectacular skyscraper that very few buildings will ever come close to matching. Its architecture is impressive even to this day. Too bad it was sold to a Dubai based firm, but this will forever be a New York and American icon.

Quote:

MASTERPIECE

New York as Skyscraper
The city's spirit is captured by the Chrysler Building
By BRET STEPHENS
August 2, 2008; Page W14

Last month, Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund forked over a reported $800 million for a 90% stake in New York's Chrysler Building. As with the Japanese acquisition of the equally iconic Rockefeller Center in the late 1980s, the Chrysler purchase may not wind up being a success, financially speaking. But if it was an architectural masterpiece -- or just a chunk of New York's heart -- that the oil sheiks were after, they got it.

That New Yorkers have long been in love with the Chrysler Building is not in doubt. "You can't leave New York!" the fictional Carrie Bradshaw of "Sex and the City" implores her beau when he announces his plan to move to Napa Valley. "You're the Chrysler Building! The Chrysler would be all wrong in a vineyard." Her metaphor is well chosen: Among New York's skyscrapers, the Chrysler is New York in the way that the Twin Towers never were while they stood, notwithstanding their solemn bearing and size. Even the venerable Empire State, storied and iconic, has more mass than grace. And it's a tourist trap.

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/im...0801211616.jpg
Corbis
The Chrysler Building as it stood in 1930.

Not so the Chrysler, where the casual visitor cannot get beyond the lobby (though that alone is worth a trip). Instead, the building tends to be admired from afar, above all for its instantly recognizable top: the eagle-headed gargoyles, which seem ready to take wing from their perches on the 61st floor; the huge triangular windows arranged along the curves of seven concentric setbacks pushing centerward and pointing skyward; the ribbed, stainless-steel crown that sparkles by day and is lit from within at night; and, as befits any skyscraper worthy of the name, the needle-like spire.

Today, we tend to think of this design as "extravagant," "exuberant," "swaggering" or "brash" -- words that could just as well describe the city in which the building stands. Early appraisals were less generous: An "upended swordfish" is how one critic saw it. A "stunt design," said another.

Indeed, it was a stunt. Architect William Van Alen's original plan called for a fairly ordinary 56-story tower topped by a glass dome. Owner Walter P. Chrysler had the more ambitious idea of putting up the tallest building in the world. Plans changed first to a 67-story, 808-foot design; then to a 77-story, 925-foot one. The building reached its ultimate height of 1,046 feet in October 1929 only with the addition of the spire, constructed in secret and hoisted into place almost immediately after its nearest skyscraper rival, Wall Street's Bank of Manhattan, had topped out at 927 feet.

The Bank of Manhattan was designed by architect H. Craig Severance, a former partner of Van Alen who later became a personal rival. That ego, ambition and vanity (Van Alen's as well as Chrysler's) had so much to do with the Chrysler's ultimate design is not incidental to its attraction: These qualities, too, are pure New York.

Yet it is not simply on account of height that the Chrysler Building earns its status as a masterpiece. Nor is it, quite, for the legends the building evokes: of photographer Margaret Bourke-White, who so loved the building that she applied for a janitorial position there in the hopes of being allowed to live in it (she was turned down); or of the members of the old Cloud Club -- boxer Gene Tunney, financier E.F. Hutton, aviation mogul Juan Trippe and publisher Condé Nast among them -- stashing their Prohibition-era booze in hieroglygh-encoded cabinets; or of the mysterious goings on in the building's top floors, rumored to be a U.S. government listening post. (The Chrysler has a direct line of sight to the nearby United Nations.)

Rather, what distinguishes the Chrysler is its ability to inspire, as few modern buildings do, a sense of fantasy. For one thing, it achieves a skyscraper's fundamental task: It soars. From its first recess, just above the Lexington Avenue entrance, it follows an uninterrupted vertical path directly to the 68th floor, and only then begins to taper toward the spire.

Then there is the way the building remains perennially modern, perhaps because it is forever the past's imagining of the future. The entrances -- framed in black granite, zig-zagging patterns of metal and opaque yellow glass -- seem drawn from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" or a Batman comic.

Inside the lobby, one finds "a dark, bizarre cavern of crystalline angles and indirect lighting behind onyx stone, more the kind of place to encounter a Valkyrie than make a business appointment," as architecture critic Eric Nash has written. A superb mural by Edward Turnbull, about two-thirds the size of the Sistine Chapel's, decorates the ceiling. It is called "Energy, Result, Workmanship and Transportation," and its centerpiece is an image of the Chrysler Building itself. It is an optimistic scene, very different from Marxist-inspired murals that Mexico's Diego Rivera would paint in New York for his Rockefeller and New School patrons just a few years later.

Nor is the mural the only way in which the Chrysler is like no other building. Consider the elevators, 32 in all, each paneled in exotic woods, each masterfully decorated with Art Deco motifs and -- what's extraordinary -- no two of them alike.

And finally -- again -- there is that fabled Chrysler top. Today's tall buildings (few of which really deserve to be called skyscrapers) are often nothing more than stacks of all but identical floors, none really different from the other except, perhaps, for the view. Not so in the Chrysler Building, where the highest nine stories become progressively smaller as they rise toward the vanishing point. Seen from within, it conveys the sensation of an aerie, or a crow's nest, or a mountaintop -- not merely a higher place, but another world.

Is there some other skyscraper that succeeds this way -- that sets the hearts of nearly all those who see it aflutter? One can only hope its new owners feel the same way about this joyful building, surely the most brilliant jewel in their crown.

Mr. Stephens writes "Global View," the Journal's foreign-affairs column.

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121762156747405585.html

King Kong should climb the Chrysler.

It's one of those buildings that makes you want to simultaneously weep and sing. The greatest skyscraper of all time, now and forever.

I agree with all of the above. It often appears on the cover of books about Art Deco. It is the architectural epitome of Art Deco.

First 2 pictures - nice digital rendering by the way.

I just returned from my first ever visit from NYC. The entire city is amazing in so many ways, but one very memorable thing I took away is that the Chrysler building is beyond any doubt my favorite building in the world. Everything about its style is executed perfectly.

This building will forever be iconic. To this day, it still holds its own as one of the best skyscrapers ever built.

The fish-scale crown is so beautiful, it was actually the inspiration for Helmut Jahn's One Liberty Place.

http://tinypic.com/19r3ir.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Double L (Post 3580653)

A beautiful building.

Who says that we never found an American architecture?

Art Deco is French.

But in any case, this is the building that inspired me to pursue architecture; I was maybe 6 when I checked out this photo book of New York in the 80s from the library and the Chrysler just captivated my imagination. I live in Brooklyn now, and whenever I step out the front door of my building I can see the top of the Chrysler at the end of the street. I'll never get tired of it.

That may be, but there is more art decon in america than in france

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrightguy0 (Post 3781376)

That may be, but there is more art decon in america than in france

Which means absolutely nothing. There are more skyscrapers in Hong Kong than there are in Chicago, but guess which one was the home of it?

American architecture? Frank Lloyd Wright.

I don't think it's possible for anyone not to like this building. It's so amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kamatzu (Post 3571790)

Amazing building.

However, I would not want the job of the guy leaning on the gargoyle. Haha, do you know what he's doing up there?

He's changing a light bulb. How bad does that suck???

Quote:

Originally Posted by CGII (Post 3781625)

Which means absolutely nothing. There are more skyscrapers in Hong Kong than there are in Chicago, but guess which one was the home of it?

ummm no there isent.....:sly: :sly:
hong kong has about 500 high rises and chicago has 1,000

I have yet to see a recent building(Past 100 years) with a better rooftop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by America 117 (Post 3872534)

ummm no there isent.....:sly: :sly:
hong kong has about 500 high rises and chicago has 1,000

500 High Rises in Hong Kong?? :koko:

The Chrysler Building has it all: beauty, grace, form, stature, etc. It was built during a time when small details mattered on the exterior and interiors, something that I find largely missing in many of the newer buildings. If you ever get the chance, visit the lobby to see the giant industrial mural on the ceiling.