Good morning and welcome to to Your Saturday TFZ! The place for refuge from today’s turmoil! Feel free to post pics, poetry, thoughts and get to know one another. Leave the overt political discussions for other diaries and enjoy yourself here with your morning coffee.
Beauty can be found in many places and can take many forms. One such is architecture, of which the Chrysler Building, is an art deco treasure.
Art Deco took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts exhibition (Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes) held in Paris in 1925, though the diverse styles that characterized it had already appeared in Paris and Brussels before World War I.
This was possibly the last great architectural building style, reaching its zenith in the late 1920’s through the late 1930’s. In time Art Deco designs spread to appliances, radios, automobiles, trains, ships and many everyday items.
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When the Chrysler Building opened, there were mixed reviews of the building's design, some calling it inane and unoriginal, others hailing it as modernist and iconic. Reviewers in the late 20th and early 21st centuries regarded the building as a paragon of the Art Deco architectural style. In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the American Institute of Architects' list of America’s Favorite Architecture. The facade and interior became New York City Designated Landmarks in 1978, and the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
The Chrysler Building was designed by William Van Alen in the Art Deco style and is named after one of its original tenants, automotive executive Walter Chrysler. The building is constructed of a steel frame infilled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. The structure contains 3,862 exterior windows. Approximately fifty metal ornaments protrude at the building's corners on five floors reminiscent of gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals. The 31st-floor contains gargoyles, as well as replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps and the 61st-floor is adorned with eagles.
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But enough history. Here are a few images which show the beauty of this iconic building: