Chrysler Building

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Chrysler Building
Chrysler Building
Basic data
Place: New York City , United StatesUnited StatesUnited States 
Construction time : 1928-1930
Status : Built
Architectural style : Art deco
Architect : William Van Alen
Use / legal
Usage : offices
Owner : Signa Holding (50%),
RFR Group (50%)
Client : Chrysler Corporation
Technical specifications
Height : 319 m
Height to the top: 319 m
Height to the roof: 282 m
Top floor: 274 m
Rank (height) : 17th place (USA)
10th place (New York)
Floors : 77
Elevators : 34
Usable area : 111,201 m²
Building material : Structure: steel ;
Facade: glass , granite , limestone
Building-costs: 15 million US dollars

The Chrysler Building is a skyscraper in New York City and is one of the landmarks of the metropolis. It is located at 405 Lexington Avenue at the corner of 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan on Cooper Union property .

The Chrysler Building is 319 meters high and, together with the New York Times Tower, which was built in 2007, is the 10th tallest building in New York City . It ranks 17th among the tallest buildings in the United States .

The client was Walter Percy Chrysler , who originally had it built for the Chrysler Corporation between 1928 and 1930. The architect William Van Alen was responsible for planning the skyscraper in the Art Deco style . The building is one of the most beautiful skyscrapers of that era.

history

Historic shot: view of the building from the Empire State Building in 1932
The Chrysler Building , with New York's Grand Central Terminal in front of it , which is not far from the building

Conditions of origin

View from below
Spire in the evening
Eagle head figure on the 61st floor
Chrysler Building lobby
The Chrysler Building in the city context, as seen from the Empire State Building . Further to the right the Trump World Tower

Paradoxically, many skyscrapers emerged in the time of the Great Depression . On the one hand, this is due to the high phase before the crisis: after the First World War, the gross national product in the USA had risen by 50% within eight years, and this economic jump led to numerous new construction and planning of commercial buildings. On the other hand, the building owners benefited from the radically lower wages after the stock market crash in 1929 during the subsequent execution during the crisis. They could hire far more workers than planned for the same amount of money. The power of the trade unions was broken, wages were low, workers were available en masse. A building of this size could not have been erected in this short construction period under normal conditions. An average of four floors were built per week, a record for the conditions at the time. (Similar effects could also be observed later: The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai , was completed in 2010, during the financial crisis . However, it was planned before the economic downturn.)

Building history

Although the building was designed and built specifically for automaker Chrysler, the company neither paid for it, nor did it ever own it. Walter P. Chrysler had decided to pay for it privately so that he could pass it on to his children.

The foundation stone for the building was laid on September 19, 1928. It was inaugurated on May 27, 1930. At 319 meters, it was the tallest building in the world when it opened and also the first to break the 1,000- foot (305 meters) mark. It measures 282 meters to the roof; However, since the metal point is part of the basic structure of the building, it is included in the official height.

During the construction, there had been a race against the tower of the Bank of Manhattan (now 40 Wall Street or The Trump Building ), which the Chrysler Building won. In 1930, the architect William Van Alen had kept the 56-meter-high spire a secret until the last moment so that its competitor, the Bank of Manhattan, whose building had just reached 283 meters, could no longer react. The individual components of this metal tip were initially stored and pre-assembled in the building's heating shaft. Then the huge steel plates were secretly brought to the 65th floor, screwed together there and then placed in one piece with a slewing crane on the building, which thus reached a height of 319 meters and clearly outperformed the competition. This endeavor took less than an hour and a half. This steel structure, called "vortex" (Latin for vortex, rotation), serves only as a decoration, weighs 30 tons and is an example of Art Déco .

However, the Chrysler Building was only briefly the tallest building in the world. In 1931 the Empire State Building was completed in Midtown Manhattan with a height of 381 meters and was thus significantly higher than all other buildings. Until 1969, however , the Chrysler Building remained the second tallest skyscraper in the world and was among the "Top Ten" tallest buildings in the world until the late 1990s.

Later development

On the 67th floor there was a restaurant-bar, known especially during Prohibition , the so-called Cloud Club , in the former 'apartment' of the company's founder Walter P. Chrysler .

Only the lobby of the Chrysler Building is open to the public (including its own subway access , but only on weekdays). In order to get to the elevators, which are still kept in the Art Deco style, you need a special ID or an appointment with one of the companies located there.

After the death of Walter P. Chrysler in 1940, the building came to the WP Chrysler Building Corporation, which together with the heir family sold it in 1953 for 18 million US dollars to the real estate agent William Zeckendorf . In 1960, real estate investors Sol Goldman and Alex DiLorenzo acquired the building with funding from the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual). In turn, 1975 took over the shares for 35 million US dollars. In December 1976, the skyscraper was declared a National Historic Landmark .

By 1979, the building had been completely renovated for around $ 23 million. In September 1979 it was taken over by Jack Kent Cooke . After Cooke's death in 1997, real estate company Tishman Speyer Properties together with The Travelers Companies, Inc. (part of Citigroup from 1998 ) took over the building for an estimated sum of 210 to 250 million US dollars (187 to 223 million euros). In 2001 the German investment company TMW Immobilien AG from Munich took over around 75 percent of the building through its US subsidiary for around 390 million US dollars. The largest shareholders in TMW included the Ergo Trust of the Ergo Group , Provinzial Versicherung and three German private banks.

Between autumn 2001 and July 2008, the building was owned by GVP Gesellschaft für Vertriebs- und Produktmanagement AG (today Ideenkapital Financial Service AG ) from Düsseldorf, which belongs to the Ergo Group and set up a closed real estate fund (ProVictor) for this purpose. It sold 90 percent of the building on July 9, 2008 to the Abu Dhabi Investment Council (Mubadala) for US $ 800 million (€ 713 million).

According to Reuters information, the Chrysler Building in need of renovation was sold in March 2019 for only 150 million US dollars to a company that is owned half by Austrian Signa Holding and the American-German company RFR Group of German real estate investors Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs .

Users of the building

The Chrysler Corporation moved into the building in 1930 as its anchor tenant and used the premises as the department headquarters until the 1950s. Other tenants from the very beginning were Time and Texaco . Because Time needed more office space, it moved to Rockefeller Center in 1937 . Texaco moved to Purchase , New York, in 1967 because the company wanted to relocate its workplaces to the suburbs.

The building's contemporary users include: Regus , Creative Artists Agency, Blank Rome, Clyde & Co, InterMedia Partners, Troutman Sanders Reprieve, and YES Network.

Architectural style

The building was built in the Art Deco style. The building features stainless steel decorative elements reminiscent of gargoyles, winged helmet- like figures based on the Chrysler hood ornament from 1926, and eagle heads - the heraldic animal of the United States. In addition, decorative elements in the form of Chrysler bonnets and tile friezes in the form of Chrysler hubcaps were used on the facade on the 31st floor. The dome of the building is also made of stainless steel . The top is a pyramid-like tapering tower crown made of tiles and nickel plates, from which a 27-ton nickel steel needle protrudes.

The lighting, which is so unmistakable for the New York skyline, comes from inconspicuous fluorescent lamps that are attached to the window frames. The windows are designed as sliding windows; they are probably still originals and can be opened on all floors.

height

List of tallest buildings in New York

When it was completed in 1930, the Chrysler Building was the tallest building on earth at 319 meters, surpassing the 283-meter-high Bank of Manhattan Company Building (now 40 Wall Street ). It was also the first building to lap the Eiffel Tower , which is not classified as a building, but only as a structure due to the scarcely available usable space. But just one year after its completion, in May 1931, it was overtaken by the Empire State Building by 62 meters (381 meters high). From then on it was the second tallest building in the world until the completion of the 344 meter high John Hancock Center in Chicago in 1969.

Within New York, it was surpassed again in 1972 and 1973 by the towers of the World Trade Center (417 meters and 415 meters). After its destruction in 2001 , it temporarily became the second tallest building in New York City until the 366-meter-high Bank of America Tower was completed in 2009 (the New York Times Tower reached the same height as the Chrysler Building in 2007 ). Since 2014, 432 Park Avenue has also been higher. Together with the New York Times Tower, it is now the tenth tallest building in New York. Taking into account its antenna completed in 2003, the Conde Nast Building is also taller than the Chrysler Building.

Similar buildings

In the course of time, a number of skyscrapers have emerged in the USA and worldwide, the planning and design of which were based on the Chrysler Building . This is especially true of the top of the building. Buildings such as One Liberty Place in Philadelphia or the Al Kazim Towers in Dubai are particularly well-known in this regard , but both are lower than the Chrysler Building . The New York-New York Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas also quotes the Chrysler Building , among other things .

Protection expulsion

The building was listed as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 and was designated a New York City Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978 .

Data

  • Floors: 77
  • Height: 318.92 m
  • Height of roof: 282 m
  • Highest floor: 274 m
  • Highest observation deck: 238.66 m
  • Window: 3,750
  • Steel: 21,000 t
  • Bricks: 4,000,000
  • Water pipes: 50 km
  • Electric cable: 1000 km

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Chrysler Building  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Report: Karstadt owner Benko buys New York Chrysler Building , Tiroler Tageszeitung, March 9, 2019
  2. ^ A b c Claudia Roth Pierpont: The Silver Spire: How two men's dreams changed the skyline of New York. (English) . In: The New Yorker , November 18, 2002. Retrieved August 2, 2012. 
  3. ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New York. National Park Service , accessed August 19, 2019.
  4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from January 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ DIVISION OFFICES OPENED IN NEW CHRYSLER BLDG. (English) . In: The New York Times , 1930. Retrieved July 27, 2018. 
  6. ↑ Curcio, 2001. p. 440
  7. ↑ BUSINESS MOVING MARKED BY SPEED (English) . In: The New York Times , May 2, 1938. Retrieved July 28, 2018. 
  8. ↑ James L. Baughman: Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media ( English ). JHU Press, 1987, ISBN 9780801867163 .
  9. ↑ Janet Adams: Rockefeller Center Designation Report ( English ) City of New York . 1985. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  10. ^ Robert T. Elson: Duncan Norton-Taylor (Ed.): Time Inc: The Intimate History of a Publishing Enterprise, 1923-1941 ( English ), 1st edition, Atheneum, 1968, ISBN 9780689100772 , p. 334.
  11. ^ Edward Hudson: Texaco Is on the Way ( English ) August 14, 1977. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  12. ↑ Theresa Agovino: Cachet silent counts at Chrysler Building ( English ) In: Crain's New York Business . February 17, 2009. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  13. ↑ Inside CAA's New Chrysler Building Offices in New York (Exclusive Photos) (English) . In: The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved July 28, 2018. 
  14. ↑ Wura Adeoye: Blank Rome Takes Another Full Floor at Chrysler Bldg. ( English ) CoStar Group. December 5, 2006. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  15. ↑ Locations ( English ) Clyde & Co. Accessed July 27, 2018.
  16. ↑ Contact InterMedia Partners ( Memento from July 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  17. ↑ Alex Frangos: Abu Dhabi Fund Acquires Most of Chrysler Building (English) . In: The Wall Street Journal , July 10, 2008. Retrieved July 27, 2018. 
  18. ↑ Contact ( English ) Reprieve.org. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  19. ↑ About ( English ) YES Network. March 19, 2002. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
  20. ↑ 1920's Chrysler Radiator Cap Used On The Chrysler Building. imperialclub.com, December 13, 2006, accessed on May 28, 2020 .
  21. ↑ Icons of Art Deco. In: Norbert Wolf : Art Deco. Prestel Verlag, Munich 2013; P. 20. ISBN 978-3-7913-4763-9 .
  22. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120505191205/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1638&ResourceType=Building
  23. ↑ http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/0992.pdf
before Tallest skyscraper in the world after that
Bank of Manhattan Company Building 319 m
1930-1931		 Empire State Building
before Tallest building in the world after that
Eiffel Tower (319 m)
1930-1931		 Empire State Building


Coordinates: 40 ° 45 ′ 6 ″  N , 73 ° 58 ′ 33 ″  W.