Wednesday, January 06, 2016

Design iterations of the Chrysler building

A scanned page from a 1929 edition of Progressive Architecture shows William Van Alen's iterative development of the iconic Chrysler Building's crown and spire, which was famously constructed in secret in order to outreach a downtown rival. The spire went up to claim the "world's tallest building" title in November 1929, at the dawn of the Great Depression.

I found this, at random, from the New York Public Library's amazing digital collections, which include hundreds of thousands of scanned items. This particular item comes from The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1929-08) [direct link].

Update: thanks to Neil Kelley in the comments, here's a GIF version: