Episode 2.7: Chrysler Building

Aaaand here we are, back again with our season finale– yes, the season is abbreviated, but we’re closing out with one of the most iconic buildings in New York. The Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan was paid for and owned by Walter P. Chrysler, automobile tycoon, and designed by the avant-garde architect of the age, William Van Alen. Hey, it’s not exactly a house but it does have hubcaps as ornamentation! A sky-high Art Deco lunch club! Sneaky spires! Career-ending lawsuits! All that drama and more!

William Van Alen

By Source, Fair use, Link

(My absolute favorite picture of an architect ever.)

Walter P. Chrysler

By Harris & Ewing, photographer – https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009010163/, Public Domain, Link

The Chrysler Building

By w:User:Overand
derivative work: Overand (talk) – Chrysler_Building_by_David_Shankbone.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

And some exterior details:

By Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK – Chrysler Building 1e, CC BY 2.0, Link

By Jason Eppink from New York City, USA – Chrysler Building, CC BY 2.0, Link

By Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK – Chrysler Building 1a, CC BY 2.0, Link

Main entrance

By Norbert Nagel, Mörfelden-Walldorf, Germany – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Thank you for following along and listening to season 2 of ICLH! We love making these episodes, and hope that we’ll be back soon to talk more architecture, and ask that evergreen question, “Could you live here?” (see what I did there?)

As always, email us with questions, comments, and suggestions for other homes to look into!

Resources:

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/new-york-chrysler-building-sells-less-than-purchased-decade-ago
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-property-chryslerbuilding/austrias-signa-rfr-holding-buy-new-yorks-chrysler-building-idUSKCN1QW210

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chrysler-Building