MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17175, 4 February 1930, Page 4

MODERN ARCHITECTURE

THE CHRYSLER BUILDING 68 STOREYS The placing of concrete and steel foundations, for the 68-storey Chrysler building at Forty-second street and Lexington .avenue, in New York City, has been followed by the steady advance of the steel structure, bringing into being a colossal black lace network which will dominate the mid-town skyline until later in 1930. By that date the granite, marble and brick which comprises the face of t lie building will have covered it entirely. ' The face of the building will be made of blocks of Shastone granite. Georgia marble will be used as high as the fifth floor, and from that point to the sixteenth floor and its .cornice there, will be a basket weave pattern of Georgia marble and white faced brick. From that point to the top of the building the construction will be In i k of a special design, ill greys and blacks, the black being used to accentuate the vertical lines of the structure.

An interesting departure in skyscraper construction will be the copings and finials of cast aluminium. Spandrels between windows from the nineteenth to the twenty-second floor will also be in this material. Under the New York zoning laws, the, setback of the building was fixed at one to four. Sixteen stories measuring 182 ft. are without setback. The first setback is 18ft. on the next 17 stories. The main volume of the building is 56 stories, including the tower, while the dome is 12 stories. A utilisation of the automobile itself as a motif in the design of the Chrysler building in a frieze at the 30th story marks a departure in modern architecture. In conventionalised design the whole profile of a limousine, showing body lines, fenders and wheels, will 'be depicted in sharply contrasting white. gray and black brick. The hub caps on the wheels will be of aluminium, Min in diameter. The frieze will terminate in a finial at the four coiners, where 10ft long Chrysler wings will stand out against tlie skies of Manhattan.

The dome of the building starts in octagonal form, finally receding to the summit in proper dome formation. It will be easily distinguished on the sky line, being the only object of its particular size and shape. The spire at the top of the dome is in the form of a great, star with 30 points. Flood lights. cleverly arranged behind the- ray-like decorations which spread out from the dome at regular intervals, will play brilliant lights on the shining aluminium. The spring of 1930 will see the Chrysler building completed a new ■ business Moirja in the heart of the business world.* '