Learning by doing. Arts&English for young students

BY DIEGO CELORIO

CHRYSLER BUILDING

AUTHOR: William Van Alen.

William Van Alen was born in the neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in 1883. He studied at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and initially worked in the Clarence True studio. He subsequently worked for different New York companies until in 1908 he won the prestigious Lloyd Warren Fellowship prize awarded by the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in New York, going to Paris to study with Victor Laloux,which decisively influenced his designs upon his return to the United States in 1911, where he partnered with H. Craig Severance, building some of the most significant buildings in New York City. Already alone, Van Allen designed the Chrysler Building, a considered skyscraper the architectural icon of Art Deco.

PERIOD: It opened in 1930.

STYLE: The archiltectural style is Art Deco.

WHERE IS ?:  405 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York

FUNCTION: In the Chrysler building there are only OFFICES.

MATERIALS: It is constructed of a steel frame in-filled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. The structure contains 3,862 exterior windows.

SHAPE OF: The middle part is like a prism and the top of the building is like a cone formed by stepped domes  and it has a spire.

The Chrysler building is straight, well-balanced, it’s amazing and original.

With perceived lightness, it’s very huge and elegant.

The Chrysler is often described as New York’s Christmas tree and it can be seen twinkling in the darkness for miles around. Ironically, the metal spire was pushed through the roof and bolted down in just 90 minutes after architect William Van Alen discovered his rivals at 40 Walls Street were likely to top his tall building.