NYC Real Estate Tour: The Chrysler Building. What You Didn’t Know?

Have you ever heard of the Chrysler Building?? When you see a picture of the building, you will recognize it immediately. It is an iconic building in NYC. Here are some facts that you probably didn´t know.

The Chrysler Building is one of the most visited U.S attractions. And one that we definitely recommend to all visitors to New York City.

It measures an outstanding 1,046 ft. The hustle and bustle of New York City has been watched over from one of the 3,862 windows since 1934. It has 77 floors and over 32 elevators that work day and night. It’s the 5th largest skyscraper in NY.

Architect William Van Alen received an offer from automobile industry mogul Walter P. Chrysler to design a building that would become his majestic headquarters for the Chrysler company. Van Alen demanded 6% of the construction budget as a reward (which was about 14 million dollars). However, Chrysler disagreed because it was suspected that Van Alen, along with the construction contractors, were involved in illegal transactions. Van Alen eventually sued Chrysler and won. 

Van Alen had a surprise in store for the newspapers and the general public. During the work on the skyscraper, he secretly had a huge tower built in the middle of the skyscraper!

The Chrysler Building competed openly for the championship of the world’s tallest building with The Trump Building (then The Bank of Manhattan Trust Building). On October 23, 1929, within 90 minutes, the entire architectural world was shocked by Van Alen who instructed for 4 separate parts of the tower to be lifted and assembled together. The tower itself weighs 300 tons and measures 124,6 ft.

The Chrysler Building also became the first building in 1930 to surpass the Eiffel Tower in Paris as the tallest construction ever made. Unfortunately, it enjoyed the status of the tallest building in the world for only 11 months. The Empire State Building topped it in 1931, by a full 407 ft!

In June 1930, the world’s tallest men’s club, The Cloud Club, opened on floors 66 to 68 of the Chrysler Building, at the request of oil company Texaco. It had up to 300 high-ranked male entrepreneurs in various industries. In 1970, after 40 years of operation, the club was closed due to the recession in the early 70s. At that time, only 17% of the building was occupied. Today, the premises of the former club is rented by various companies.

It’s one of the most famous buildings in NYC. So, when you are in New York, don’t miss this amazing attraction!

By the way, SharedEasy Club has housing near the Chrysler Building so if you want to co-live near this attraction and in the heart of Manhattan, you definitely should!

Renting an apartment in New York near renowned attractions is easy and this is surely your best choice.