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 exemplified in the building’s embellishments—building ornaments modeled after Chrysler’s Streamline Moderne-influenced automobile hubcaps, fenders, hood ornaments, radiator caps, and racing cars.
The interior of the Chrysler Building is a wonder to behold. The lobby entrance, formed in a triangular manner, tapers three stories upward. One can enter the building’s lobby through three magnificent skyscraping steel and window-laden entrances--either through Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street, or 43rd Street.
A sienna-colored floor, walls of Red Moroccan marble, and accents of onyx, blue marble, and steel encapsulate (in Art Deco style) the lobby. Prominent is Edward Trumbull’s ceiling mural titled, Transport and Human Endeavor, which depicts Walter Chrysler’s automobile assembly line, the Chrysler Building itself, and Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.
Contemporary architects see the Chrysler Building as one of the finest in the world. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a New York City Landmark in 1978.
The Chrysler Building stands as a unique sight amid the New York skyline, paying homage to the automobile, progress, innovation, modernity, and a man, Walter Chrysler.
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 exemplified in the building’s embellishments—building ornaments modeled after Chrysler’s Streamline Moderne-influenced automobile hubcaps, fenders, hood ornaments, radiator caps, and racing cars.
The interior of the Chrysler Building is a wonder to behold. The lobby entrance, formed in a triangular manner, tapers three stories upward. One can enter the building’s lobby through three magnificent skyscraping steel and window-laden entrances--either through Lexington Avenue, 42nd Street, or 43rd Street.
A sienna-colored floor, walls of Red Moroccan marble, and accents of onyx, blue marble, and steel encapsulate (in Art Deco style) the lobby. Prominent is Edward Trumbull’s ceiling mural titled, Transport and Human Endeavor, which depicts Walter Chrysler’s automobile assembly line, the Chrysler Building itself, and Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis.
Contemporary architects see the Chrysler Building as one of the finest in the world. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and a New York City Landmark in 1978.
The Chrysler Building stands as a unique sight amid the New York skyline, paying homage to the automobile, progress, innovation, modernity, and a man, Walter Chrysler.
