Chrysler Building: Homage to the Automobile
The Chrysler Building is a seventy-seven-floor, 1046-foot building located at 405 Lexington Ave, New York, in the Turtle Bay neighborhood at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue near Midtown Manhattan. Guided by Architect William Van Alen and constructed by Walter Chrysler (from whom the building gets its name), the international architectural Art Deco style of the 1930s called Streamline Moderne provided the basis for the Chrysler Building’s design. The Streamline Moderne style is known for its aerodynamic nature, giving the architecture a sense of motion and speed. Smooth rounded corners, curving and cylindrical shapes, long horizontal lines, and backlit, window-laden walls and roofs abound in this style--all for effect. Popular with the ocean liners and automobiles of the thirties, it is understandable that the founder of the Chrysler Corporation (a manufacturer of cars) would desire such a forward-looking, sleek design. This forward-looking, elegant, modern style is
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