Chrysler Building Art Deco crown
— — a stainless crown that catches every weather.
Not only on a wall.
“The Art Deco crown of the Chrysler Building rises above Lexington Avenue at 42nd Street: seven setback arches of stainless steel, sunburst triangle windows cut into each, and a tapered spire above. William Van Alen finished the building in 1930, and for eleven months it was the tallest in the world before the Empire State Building overtook it. The crown changes by the hour. Cold morning light reads it as silver. Late sun turns the arches honey. Storms turn the whole crown to lead, then it lifts again. — from the studio
Chrysler Building Art Deco crown, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
The Chrysler Building stands at 405 Lexington Avenue, at the corner of 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan. It was designed by William Van Alen for Walter P. Chrysler and completed in 1930, rising to 1,046 feet across 77 floors. For eleven months it was the tallest building in the world, until the Empire State Building topped out in May 1931. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and is widely regarded as the finest surviving example of New York Art Deco architecture. The building remains an office tower with no observation deck, so most visitors see it from the street or from neighbouring rooftops.
The crown is sheathed in Nirosta — a German trade name for chromium-nickel stainless steel — across seven terraced arches stacked into a tapered dome. Each arch carries triangular sunburst windows in a radial pattern, four to a face, with the corners trimmed in ornamental steel. Below the crown, gargoyles modelled on 1929 Chrysler radiator caps project from the 61st-floor setback. The spire above was assembled in secret inside the building's fire shaft and raised through the top in October 1929, adding 125 feet in 90 minutes and securing the height record from the rival Bank of Manhattan project at 40 Wall Street.
The Chrysler Building is a private office tower and is not open to the public above the lobby. The lobby itself, faced in red African marble with an inlaid ceiling mural by Edward Trumbull, is open during business hours and is worth the walk in. The closest subway is Grand Central — 42nd Street, served by the 4, 5, 6, 7, and S lines, one block west. The best views of the crown from the street are from along 42nd Street and from the public observation decks at the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, and the new Summit One Vanderbilt across from Grand Central.