New York's Art Deco Skyline: Stone, Steel and Sunbursts

Designed by William Van Alen and built between 1928 and 1930, the Chrysler Building is often cited as the epitome of the Art Deco skyscraper.²

It became the tallest building in the world in November 1929, when it was topped off with a 180-foot spire, reaching 1,046 feet (318.8 meters). Its sunburst-patterned stainless steel crown is still one of the most striking sights of the Manhattan skyline.²

The decoration is largely geometric. At the request of Walter P. Chrysler, who commissioned the building, stainless steel car motifs, such as radiator caps in the form of Mercury, were built into the frieze at the base of the tower.²

The style took its name, decades later, from the great decorative arts fair held in Paris in 1925: we told that story in Art Deco: the 1925 Paris fair.

In New York it went vertical. Streamlined, geometric and proud of modern materials, it suited the skyscraper perfectly: the Chrysler Building's sleek design is typical of 1920s modernism.²

Former New York governor Al Smith announced the project on 29 August 1929. The architects, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, designed a tower of more than 100 stories.¹

Then the stock market crashed in October. Construction began anyway, on 17 March 1930, and became an important source of jobs. It took only 410 days. With its spire, originally meant as a mooring mast for airships, the building reached 1,250 feet (381 meters).¹