NEW CHRYSLER BUILDING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 710, 9 July 1929, Page 6

NEW CHRYSLER BUILDING

MODERN AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE The placing of concrete and steel foundations for the 68-storey Chrysler Building in New York City has been followed by the steady advance of the steel structure, bringing into being' a colossal black network which will dominate the skyline until 1930. By that date the granite, marble and brick which comprise the face of the 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 16th 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 brick of a special design, in 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 19th to the 22nd 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 storeys measuring 182 ft are without setback. The first setback is 18ft on the next 17 storeys. The main volume of the building is 56 storeys, including the tower, while the dome is 12 storeys. NOVEL FRIEZE A utilisation of the automobile itself as a motif in the design of the Chrysler Building in a frieze at the

30th storey 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, grey and black brick. The hub caps on the wheels will be of aluminium, 14in in diameter. The frieze will terminate in a finial at the four corners, where 10ft long Chrysler wings will stand out against the skies of Manhattan.