The Chrysler Building

"Steve in Manhattan" (blogenfreude01) 01/26/2019 at 15:37 • Filed to: NYC, Chrysler

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I got here in July 2001, and I got a job in !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in late 2002. On the 51st floor. The windows opened, and I did a lot of night photography. Now I work down the street off 3rd Avenue, and I usually take the staircase off 42nd Street and get to walk through the basement of the building on the way to the subway. There are a few businesses down there.

As with everything else in the building, it is of the highest quality. If you ever visit, you can go into the lobby. It’s a Depression Era masterpiece.

atfsgeoff > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 15:47

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Fun fact, the Parasite Eve video game on PS1 featured the Chrysler Building as a huge, elaborate and randomly-generated final dungeon available only in EX (extreme difficulty) mode, which you had to beat the game at least once before you could even access.

77 floors of ridiculously tough monsters. And you had to clear each floor before ascending to the next.

shop-teacher > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 15:54

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I will definitely check it out whenever I finally make it to New York.

wafflesnfalafel > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 16:01

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beautiful

Steve in Manhattan > atfsgeoff 01/26/2019 at 16:11

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Wonder what was on 51 ...?

facw > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 16:21

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It’s a great building. There was an article in the Times recently about how it’s not really suitable for modern offices: The Chrysler Building Is for Sale. Does Anyone Want It?

I’d imagine it probably does need a major renovation like the one the Empire State Building went through at the start of the decade.

In other mid town skyscraper renovation news, I’m very impressed with how much better the new plan for the AT&T building is than the previous one (though I don’t really know how anyone thought the first plan was a good idea):

For AT&T, Balancing Change and Preservation Under the Same Broken Pediment

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 17:26

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I’ve always wondered what it’s like working on an upper floor of a tall building, you’re the closest I’ve ever come to meeting someone who did. Find anything  interesting the public never gets to see?

Steve in Manhattan > MiniGTI - now with XJ6 01/26/2019 at 17:43

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As someone else here said, it’s a bit hard to build out - the non-centrally located elevators and immense stairs make building out a bit difficult, it’s a great place to have an office, as everyone loves to come there. And Walter P. Chrysler used to live on the top floors, and it’s said he could look out on much of the as he sat on his toilet taking a dump.

LastFirstMI is my name > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 20:50

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Prettiest building in the US.

superdave847 > Steve in Manhattan 01/26/2019 at 22:04

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Cool post

Steve in Manhattan > LastFirstMI is my name 01/26/2019 at 23:26

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If you count houses, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, and the textile block houses in California edge this design, and there are some Neutra houses that I love, but yeah: and the Mies van der Rohe Seagram’s Building on Park Avenue is nice, the Sherry Netherland is pretty, and The Dakota is great ( Yoko Ono still lives there), but the Chrysler endures. This building, The Ansonia, is a block from us - we almost bought an apartment there, but the renovations were more than we could afford. Still, it’s a Belle Epoque masterpiece.