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Chrysler Building- Blessing to the New York Skyline

Anushka Poddar

CEPT University
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Chrysler Building- Blessing to the New York Skyline

Abstract

This article portrays about the Chrysler Building, one of the country’s most beautiful
expressions of Art Deco design. Completed in 1930, by architect William Van Alen, it stands
as an incredible statement. Intent of the builder, Walter Chrysler to build a powerful and
striking design and success of the architect, William Van Alen in the project gave New York
City and its skyline a masterpiece. The article mainly highlights the features of the exteriors
and interiors of the building symbolizing Art Deco style, such as floral motifs and
ornamentation, also murals, paintings and sculptures in the building inspired from natural and
organic forms and designs.

Keywords

New York, Art Deco, Art Nouveau influence, Architecture, organic forms, steel, Art Deco
motifs
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Introduction

The Chrysler Building, by architect

William Van Alen, is lauded as the finest
building which epitomizes Art Deco
Movement. The term Art Deco originated
from the Exposition internationale des arts
decoratifs et industriels modernes
(International Exhibition of Modern
Decorative and Industrial Arts) which was
held in Paris in 1925 and drew on design
ideas from the same. (Blumberg N. 2014)
Many skyscrapers, built in Art Deco style
during that period gave New York and its
skyline a characteristic and romantic
image which was also popularly
recognized in theatres and films. Figure 1: Gray facade of the building against the
blue sky.

Art Deco was a relaxed form of hard line Image source:

https://www.archdaily.com/98222/ad-classics-
architecture, contributing an entirely new chrysler-building-william-van-alen

language for applied decoration, based on

abstracted organic forms and geometric
Art Nouveau was a major influence on Art
patterns. Characteristic motifs included
Deco which was an art and design
geometric patterns, stylized foliage,
movement that grew out of the Arts and
rainbows and sunrays. Also nude female
Crafts movement of the late 19th century.
figures and animals were seen. Man made
Art Nouveau was characterized by curved
materials such as Ferro-concrete, vita glass
lines, inspired by natural and organic
and plastics were used along with natural
forms such as the curves of plants and
materials like jade, rock, crystal and onyx.
flowers, as well as geometric patterns. The
(Blumberg N. 2014)
designers and architects working in Art
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Deco Style usually added floral motifs and
organic forms in their designs; one of them
was William Van Alen.
The Chrysler Building, a dramatic
statement in the Art Deco style,
exemplifies the romantic essence of the
New York City skyscraper. Built in 1928-
30 for Walter P. Chrysler of the Chrysler
Corporation, the tallest building in the
world when completed in 1930, it stood on
the New York skyline as a personal
symbol of Walter Chrysler and the
strength of his corporation. Its strong
granite foundation, missile-like brick
tower, steel ornamentation, lustrous seven-
story steel soaring spire, and ornamental
murals come together to make it an
incredible statement.
In the building, Van Alen used a variety of
design forms, materials and techniques
which characterized Art Deco style. The
free standing tower is visible from all the
four sides. Van Alen believed in using
steel structures for constructing, same as
many Art Deco architects. The idea for his
design decision was to make a building
which would interest public throughout its
height from the street to its terraced crown,
contrasting the designs of the earlier
skyscrapers which had ornamental
columns and capitals.
Construction of the building began on
October 15, 1928. As the construction
proceeded, foundations were laid to a
depth of 69 feet and the steel framework
was also done. A flagpole was added to the
building so as to increase the height more.
Van Alen designed a 185 foot spire which
would make the Chrysler Building the
tallest. The spire was fabricated off site,
and then later delivered to the site in four
different sections and brought together
secretly at the 65th floor.
The first four stories of the building are
faced with polished black Shastone granite
and white Georgian marble above. The
major features of this portion of the Figure
building are the two entrances, on
Lexington Avenue and 42nd street. Each
entrance rises to a height of three stories in
proscenium fashion and is enframed by
Shastone granite. Set of revolving doors
add dramatic effect to the entrance, which
are placed behind the intricately patterned
metal and glass screens, mainly these
patterns are geometrical inspired from
organic forms in nature, hence
symbolizing art deco style.
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Figure 2: Interior of the Chrysler Building’s ornate

lobby, featuring African marble and Art Deco
motifs.

Image source: jamesmaherphotography.com/new-

york-historical-articles/chrysler-building/

Figure 3: Mural depicting the Chrysler building

The Chrysler Building lobby is probably itself.

the most ornate lobby in New York City of Image source: jamesmaherphotography.com/new-
york-historical-articles/chrysler-building/
the red Moroccan marble and the doors of
elevator are inlaid with Japanese ash and
American walnut. When walking in, the
first thing that hits is the amazing mural
covering the entire ceiling, painted by the
artist Edward Trumbull. It is filled with
Art Deco triangles, sharp angles, slightly
curved lines, chrome detailing and a Figure 4: Mural depicting the workers involved in
multitude of patterns. These all come the construction of the building.

together as an example of Art Deco motifs. Image source:

https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/new-
(Maher J. 2016) york-historical-articles/chrysler-building/

The lobby also has a mural of the Chrysler Then there’s another mural showing the

building itself showing its façade and scenes primarily of the workers involved

natural forms in the background. in the construction of the building which

also somehow shows materials used in the
building for art deco style. There’s also
one mural paying tribute to the airplanes
and the age of flight.
Figure 5: Another mural as a tribute to the age of flight.

Image source:
https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/new-york-
historical-articles/chrysler-building/
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The elevators in the lobby are inlaid with

floral motifs including the leaves and
tendrils where some are shown through
geometric shapes mainly triangles while
some are shown through organic shapes
only. The random and repeated patterns on
the walls play off the style of the lobby
really well.
At first floor, there are large windows
framed in metal for shops, while second,
third and fourth floor has windows for the
offices. In the second floor windows,
ornamental sprandels can be seen. The
entries and windows have metal frames
made of “Nirosta” steel, which is a rust-
resistant, chromium nickel steel. This use
of material comes under the principles of
Art Deco.
Above the fourth floor, the east and the
west sides have light courts which extend
to the front of the tower. While on north
and south sides, the structure rises
progressively. On the sixteenth floor, the
walls are formed of white bricks, where
contrasting white marble strips give it a
look of basketweave pattern which gives it
a look of organic form. This design idea of
contrasting colors and textures
characterizes Art Deco style. A way to
indicate modernity and progress was to
build windows without revealing, frames
were set flush with the walls. All the
Figure 6: Elevators in the lobby inlaid with floral Art
Deco motifs and geometrical patterns.
Image source:
https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/new-york-
historical-articles/chrysler-building/
windows were built and set in a grid
pattern adding to the symmetry.
Coming to the twenty-fourth floor, the
columns are of white brick with vertical
window strips placed in an alternate
pattern, resembling to the design of the
walls. Also, aluminum spandrels added up
to this contrasting feature. On the same
floor, conventionalized pineapples of
height nearly nine feet made of “Nirosta”
steel were placed. These were fabricated
on site only and added up to the Art Deco
Style depicting a natural form.
On the next three floors, a contrasting
design was seen as compared to the
setback in the lower floors. There were
horizontal bandings and zigzag motifs to
depict organic forms, again with
contrasting colored bricks- gray and black.
Then, from the next floors starts the tower
shaft from the lower loads. On the thirty-
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first floor the corners of the building are car are

extended outwards and crowned by giant the
ornamental Chrysler radiator caps. (NYC
Landmarks Preservation Commission,
1928) The concept behind the extension
was to get rid of the optical effect created
that would make the appearance of the
tower wide at the top rather than the base
and also to create an impression that the
tower appeared to be floating and visually
Figure 7: One of the radiator cap themed
light amidst the air. ornaments.

Image source: https://upload.wikimedia.org

sculptures modeled after radiator caps and

ornaments of car wheels that decorate the
lower setbacks. (Sveiven M. 2010)

The white and dark gray brickwork of the

facade emphasizes the horizontality of the
row of windows. Windows are built such

Figure 8: Automobile friezes in the brickwork. that they form three vertical strips in the

Image source:
center of each face of the tower. Each one
https://www.flickr.com/photos/37244380@N00/15488 of them is enframed with brick and marble
551817/in/photostream/ piers extend continuously upward across

Also, a frieze in gray and white brick of the windows. The contrasting feature of

stylized racing automobiles with polished vertical stripes in gray and white brick is

steel hub caps is present on this floor. All repeated in the spandrels between the

these ornamental features are the striking windows. While, opposing this, horizontal

symbols of the Chrysler Corporation and banding with black brick is seen on the

point the results created by architects and corners of the tower.

designers working in Art Deco style.

Noticeable connections between the
exterior of the building and the Chrysler
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Another striking feature of the building is

the steel gargoyles on the 61st floor, paying
homage to the automotive age. They were
shaped like Eagle’s heads patterned after
the car hood ornaments.

Above this, dome of the building is

composed of seven radiating terraced Figure 9: Steel gargoyles in the form of eagle's
arches with isosceles triangular windows head.

and the structure has zigzag pattern on the Image source:

right side.

Figure 11: View from one of the triangular

windows.

Image source:
https://www.archdaily.com/98222/ad-classics-
Figure 10: Building's distinctive art deco crown and chrysler-building-william-van-alen/
spire.

Image source:
https://www.archdaily.com/98222/ad-classics-
chrysler-building-william-van-alen
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Conclusion features incorporated in the building in Art

Deco style inspired from natural and
The most striking and the original parts of organic forms and designs mark Chrysler
the building- the highly polished dome Building as a notable building on the
with stepping spires made of stainless steel Manhattan skyline and reflect on how the
brought the building fame to be the project of Walter Chrysler to create the
world’s tallest building then. The sunburst- most desirable office building was turned
patterned stainless steel cladding is a into a great success by Van Alen by
striking feature of the building giving it a making the building readable and
look of sun which depicts the major form recognizable from a great distance, and
in nature symbolizing art deco style. Also, turning it into an icon for the world.
the triangular vaulted windows, depicting
geometrical shape, adds up to the deco
style and also resembles to the shape of
leaves being the natural form. Geometrical
features of the building have perpendicular
lines and line segments everywhere. There
are two sets of lighting in the top of the
spire. The first are the V-shaped lighting
inserted in the steel of the building itself.
Then, are the groups of floodlights that are
on mast arms directed back at the building,
which lights up the building in different
colors during special occasions. All these
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Bibliography

Blumberg N. (2014) Art Deco. In Encyclopaedia Britannica

Retreived from https://www.britannica.com/art/Art-Deco

Dwivedi S. & Mehrotra R. (Eminence Designs Pvt. Ltd 2008) Bombay Deco

NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report (1978), Designation List 118
LP-0992

Stranges, J. (2014). Mr. Chrysler's Building: Merging Design and Technology in the Machine
Age. Icon, 20(2), 1-19.

Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/43488017

Sveiven M. (2010, December 22). AD Classics: Chrysler Building / William Van Alen

Weber E. (World Publications Group, Inc. 2005). American Art Deco

Windover M, (2012). Art Deco: Polemics and Synthesis | Winterthur Portfolio: Vol 25, No 1

Retreived from https://books.google.co.in