Chrysler Building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Completed in 1930, the Chrysler Building is a distinctive symbol of New York City, standing 1,046 feet (319 m) high on the east side of Manhattan at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Originally built for the Chrysler Corporation, the building is presently co-owned by TMW Real Estate (75%) and Tishman Speyer Properties (25%). The Chrysler building was designed by William van Alen for a contractor, William H. Reynolds, the same man who dreamed up Dreamland, a by-gone amusement park of Coney Island's heyday. The design was subsequently sold to Walter P. At the time the building was erected, the builders of New York were in the throes of a stiff competition to build the world's tallest skyscraper. The Chrysler building was constructed at an average rate of 4 floors per week, and no workers were killed during construction. Just prior to completion, the building stood even with H. Craig Severance's 40 Wall Street. Mr. The Chrysler Building was largely panned by critics at the time for its supposedly "frivolous" decoration, straying from strict functionalist modernism. For example it has vast silver-colored gargoyles near its summit shaped in the form of eagles. The general public, however, quickly regarded it with admiration and affection.
Chrysler Financial Services
DaimlerChrysler Services North America LLC. All rights reserved. Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep are registered trademarks of DaimlerChrysler Corporation. Chrysler Financial is a member of the DaimlerChrysler Services Group.
Daniel's Manhattan Architecture - Chrysler Building
At the time of its construction, the Chrysler Building was involved in a race to be the tallest building in the world. The Bank of Manhattan Building, under construction at the same time, topped out at 927 feet, two feet above the Chrysler's announced height. It appeared that the Bank of Manhattan had won, but van Alen had a plan: the Chrysler Building's spire, a series of sunbursts punctuated by triangular windows, had been secretly assembled in the building's fire shaft.
Amazon.com: Chrysler: Books: Dennis Adler
In the past few years, Chrysler has consistently made headlines with a series of dramatic new show cars, exciting production vehicles like the Prowler and Viper, and its mega-merger with German juggernaut Daimler-Benz. It is generally accepted that Chrysler is the most forward-thinking of the Big Three American automakers, yet the company also has a wonderfully compelling past. Just in time for Chrysler's 75th anniversary, this beautifully illustrated history takes readers on a journey from the company's genesis in the 1920s to the present. Marvelous archival black-and-white photography is accompanied by new color photographs of showroom-quality classics, period color photos, and print advertisements. If you're looking to give a history buff or general car enthusiast an interesting and detailed, but concise, book on the history of the Chrysler Corporation, this one is a good choice. Dennis Adler does an excellent job in describing the impact that Chrysler, and its divisions, have had on the world from the company's founding in 1926 to its merger with Mercedes Benz that led to the creation of Daimler Chrysler. He acieves this by describing each era important to the company's history through eloquent written word and superb photographs. Anyone who is a fan of Chrysler or simply likes cars in general would really appreciate this book. If, however, one were looking for a book with more specific detail into the company's history, it would be hard to do so in anything less than a full-length novel.
Chrysler Building, New York City
At the beginning of the 20th century, the race for the tallest building in the world started and the Chrysler Building was the first building to top the then highest building, the Eiffel Tower in Paris. For Walter P. Chrysler, from the car manufacturer, building the highest building in the world was a status symbol. The Chrysler building was in a race with the Bank of Manhattan for obtaining the title of highest building in the world. It looked like the Bank of Manhattan would win the race, with an expected height of 283 meters against the around 230 meters for the Chrysler building. Just one week after the Bank of Manhattan had reached its top, the spire of the Chrysler building was put in place, making it 319 meters high, thus beating the Bank of Manhattan as the highest building in the world.
The Midtown Book - The Chrysler Building
Reynolds leased the site of the Chrysler Building from Cooper Union and hired architect William Van Alen, who had gained favor for a building he had recently completed for the Childs restaurant chain on Fifth Avenue. Van Alen had formerly been a partner of architect H. Walter P. Chrysler, the automobile magnate, decided that his company could benefit from developing the world's tallest building and he took over Reynold's plan and Van Alen's designs. According to Robert A. M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin and Thomas Mellins in their excellent book, "New York 1930, Architecture and Urbanism Between The Two World Wars," (Rizzoli International, 1987), Chrysler did not did not instruct Van Alen to radically change the building's form, but to increase its height to 925 feet and add some decorative touches to herald his cars. When word got out that the Bank of Manhattan tower was being redesigned with the addition of a flagpole atop its lantern-bedecked pyramidal roof that would be two feet tower than his project, Chrysler gave the go ahead to Van Allen to not only prevail against his former partner's project, but to surpass even the 1024-foot-high Eiffel Tower, the world's tallest structure at the time. The Chrysler Building had a great interior public space, its small observatory whose walls, not far beneath the base of the spire, slanted inwards daringly. Sadly, the observatory has long been closed to the public. Also sadly, the building's famous private luncheon club, known as the Cloud Club, has been shut for many years.
Chrysler Owners Club
All images used on the Chrysler Owners Car Club web site are copyrighted by Chrysler Owners Car Club or respective image owners and are for personal viewing only. The images belong to the respective owners of the individual images and they maintain ownership and all copyrights.
Bob Hope Chrysler Classic - Golf's Best Celebrity Pro-Am Event
After a day of interviewing many eager applicants at the Annenberg Center at Eisenhower, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic Board has chosen the 2006 Classic Girls. Phoenix Cook (Hope), Julie Espinoza (Chrysler) and SaraDee Harrigfeld (Classic) will represent this premier event as the traditional goodwill ambassadors. They will be seen on the courses throughout the tournament and at many of the Classic's special events and promotions. These three intelligent, articulate and poised women all have goals of becoming more active in their community.
The Chrysler Products' Problem Web Page
This page is not associated in any way with the DaimlerChrysler Corporation, nor is it recognized by either the company or any of it's divisions. This page is purely a resource for owners, and information can not be guaranteed for veracity, though most everything on this page comes from true stories and experiences of Chrysler owners themselves.