The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.  At 1,046 ft (319 m), it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework, and it was the world's tallest building for 11 months after its completion in 1930.  As of 2019, the Chrysler is the 12th-tallest building in the city, tied with The New York Times Building.  Originally a project of real estate developer and former New York State Senator William H. Reynolds, the building was constructed by Walter Chrysler, the head of the Chrysler Corporation.  The construction of the Chrysler Building, an early skyscraper, was characterized by a competition with 40 Wall Street and the Empire State Building to become the world's tallest building.  The Chrysler Building was designed and funded by Walter Chrysler personally as a real estate investment for his children, but it was not intended as the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters.   An annex was completed in 1952, and the building was sold by the Chrysler family the next year, with numerous subsequent owners.  In 2007, it was ranked ninth on the America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.  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 is renowned for, and recognized by its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower.  Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault of seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks.  The entire crown is clad with Nirosta steel, ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, reminiscent of the spokes of a wheel.  The windows are repeated, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks.  Due to the curved shape of the dome, the Nirosta sheets had to be measured on site, so most of the work was carried out in workshops on the building's 67th and 75th floors.  According to Robinson, the terraced crown "continue[s] the wedding-cake layering of the building itself.  The crown and spire are illuminated by a combination of fluorescent lights framing the crown's distinctive triangular windows and colored floodlights that face toward the building, allowing it to be lit in a variety of schemes for special occasions.  The V-shaped fluorescent "tube lighting"--hundreds of 480V 40W bulbs framing 120 window openings--was added in 1981, although it had been part of the original design.  In the mid-1920s, New York's metropolitan area surpassed London's as the world's most populous metropolitan area and its population exceeded ten million by the early 1930s.  The era was characterized by profound social and technological changes.  Consumer goods such as radio, cinema, and the automobile became widespread.  In 1927, Walter Chrysler's automotive company, the Chrysler Corporation, became the third-largest car manufacturer in the United States, behind Ford and General Motors.  The following year, Chrysler was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year".  The 1916 Zoning Resolution restricted the height that street-side exterior walls of New York City buildings could rise before needing to be setback from the street.  This led to the construction of Art Deco structures in New York City with significant setbacks, large volumes, and striking silhouettes that were often elaborately decorated.  Art Deco buildings were constructed for only a short period of time; but because that period was during the city's late-1920s real estate boom, the numerous skyscrapers built in the Art Deco style predominated in the city skyline, giving it the romantic quality seen in films and plays.  The Chrysler Building project was shaped by these circumstances.  Originally, the Chrysler Building was to be the Reynolds Building, a project of real estate developer and former New York state senator William H. Reynolds.  Prior to his involvement in planning the building, Reynolds was best known for developing Coney Island's Dreamland amusement park.  When the amusement park was destroyed by a fire in 1911, Reynolds turned his attention to Manhattan real estate, where he set out to build the tallest building in the world.  In 1921, Reynolds rented a large plot of land at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street with the intention of building a tall building on the site.  Reynolds did not develop the property for several years, prompting the Cooper Union to try to increase the assessed value of the property in 1924.  The move, which would force Reynolds to pay more rent, was unusual because property owners usually sought to decrease their property assessments and pay fewer taxes.  Reynolds hired the architect William Van Alen to design a forty-story building there in 1927.   Van Alen's original design featured many Modernist stylistic elements, with glazed, curved windows at the corners.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Building

From Hugh Jackman:  One of the most famous novels ever written and a triumph of narrative art, Les Misérables speaks deeply to us both despite its daunting length.  Victor Hugo’s complete works inhabit forty-one inches of my bookshelves. In those poems, plays, novels, essays, speeches, letters, and graphic art, he aimed to create beauty but, more importantly, to prompt people to act through love and conscience to build a better world.  In his epic Les Misérables, Hugo asks big questions about social justice and the daily decisions that define character.  But he doesn’t just leave us with questions.  He helps us think them through alongside his iconic characters.  Quite simply, Victor Hugo lived an extraordinary life, a life of broad experience, compassion, and conscience.  “Live and learn” might have been Hugo’s motto, as he evolved from a royalist into a liberal, moved forward after shattering family losses, and grew in spiritual understanding.  His work encourages us to recognize the significance of our experiences and build on them, as he did.  Despite many obstacles and setbacks—and despite his oh-so-human personal shortcomings—Hugo never considered giving up his tenacious fights for democratic ideals and social justice, for women’s rights and children’s education, for a united Europe and world peace.  He spoke out because he cared.  Practically the last words he wrote were “To love is to act” (”Aimer, c’est agir”).  https://www.marvabarnett.com/introduction-to-love-is-to-act-the-beginning/   

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2772  January 19, 2024