The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon, Day by Day

The Chrysler Building is surely the jewel in the crown of New York City's skyline. Completed in 1930, the 77-story Art Deco skyscraper--the tallest in the world at the time it was finished--quickly became the symbol of big city glamour, excitement, and style. Its cloud-piercing spire and gleaming, steel-clad ornament depicting gargoyles, hubcaps, and the winged helmets of Mercury came to represent the thrill of the Machine Age at its most exuberant.

But, until now, this magnificent building has also been one of the least documented and studied, a simple result of the fact that there were no known archives relating to its design or construction. This material was lost in the decades following its completion, or so everyone believed, until author David Stravitz discovered a box of negatives on the floor of a defunct stock photo company, just days before they were to be shipped off for silver reclamation. The never-before-seen photographs, reproduced as sumptuous duotones in this oversize book, illustrate the day-by-day construction of this American icon.

The photographs were taken by professional photo companies hired to document the construction of the building. In so doing, they also captured the day-to-day life taking place on the streets and in the environs of the Chrysler Building in exquisite detail.

This book beautifully illustrates the history of one of the most important buildings in New York as it emerged from street level to spire. more

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Recent Reviews

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jun-25-2009; Cloud Club is a big part Missing; The book is a tribute to buildings that were works of art. The only thing missing is the crown jewel of the Chrysler building, The Cloud Club. A private mens club that hosted the elite of business society DK Ludwig at the time the...; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: May-02-2005; THE New York Skyscraper; This is a wonderful book with amazing vintage black and white period photos. The book mostly focuses on the building of the skyscraper in the 30's and my only qualm with the book is the lack of current photos of the building, but that...; read full review | report as inappropriate

5/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Apr-20-2005; A Loving Restoration; This book is very expensive, but very worth it. As described, the author discovered, almost by accident, a real treasure trove of exquisitely high quality photographs taken to document the building's completion to architectural...; read full review | report as inappropriate

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Mar-12-2005; Fascinating--but who is the author?; The photos are undeniably great. All that is missing is the Cloud Club. But I'm still trying to figure out who David Stravitz is. Certainly not the author. Not one of the photographs is his. By his own admission he stumbled across...; read full review | report as inappropriate

Selected Reviews

4/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Jun-25-2009; Cloud Club is a big part Missing; The book is a tribute to buildings that were works of art. The only thing missing is the crown jewel of the Chrysler building, The Cloud Club. A private mens club that hosted the elite of business society DK Ludwig at the time the...; read full review | report as inappropriate

2/5: From: Amazon; Posted: Dec-26-2002; Nice PHOTOGRAPHS; This is a beautiful book of photographs. However, I was quite diappointed in the fact that there is very little text in this book. The history of the building of the Chrysler Building is fascinating, yet explanations and descriptions...; read full review | report as inappropriate