Stranges, John B. (Author)
The Chrysler Building occupies an exalted place in the hierarchy of American architecture as one of the country's most beautiful expressions of Art Deco design. Completed in 1930, as an era of prosperity slid into economic depression, its powerful granite foundation, missile-like brick tower, stainless steel ornamentation glorifying the automobile, gleaming seven-story stainless steel spire, and intense, motivational murals converge in praise of the possibilities of mind and machine in the new industrial era. Unfortunately, the intent of the builder, Walter Chrysler, and the success of the architect, William Van Alen, have too often been obscured in the literature about the building by the drama of the race for height supremacy between Chrysler and his corporate rivals and the post-World War II romanticised version of the building as an expression of the fantasy life of New York City. This article portrays the Chrysler Building as a technological triumph encased in a facade of mesmerising beauty. Much of the building's power and originality emanated from Chrysler himself Chrysler's self-promotion and his (and Van Alen's) fascination with ornament diminish beneath the importance of the building as a monument to the time when the automobile was no longer defined as a single technological innovation but as an essential part of a change of the first magnitude in transportation.
...More
Book
Schlichting, Kurt C.;
(2013)
Grand Central Terminal: Railroads, Engineering, and Architecture in New York City
(/isis/citation/CBB001213171/)
Article
Vito Francesco Polcaro;
Andrea Polcaro;
(2018)
The Unintentional Winter Solstice Hierophany in the "Santi Angeli Custodi" Church in Rome and its Implications
(/isis/citation/CBB411701266/)
Book
Michael Tutton;
(2021)
Construction as Depicted in Western Art: From Antiquity to the Photograph
(/isis/citation/CBB423825577/)
Book
Jonnes, Jill;
(2007)
Conquering Gotham: A Gilded Age Epic: The Construction of Penn Station and Its Tunnels
(/isis/citation/CBB000950949/)
Book
Slaton, Amy;
(2001)
Reinforced Concrete and the Modernization of American Building, 1900--1930
(/isis/citation/CBB000650211/)
Article
Gokhan Tunc;
Tanfer Emin Tunc;
(2022)
Engineering the public-use reinforced concrete buildings of Ankara during the Early Republic of Turkey, 1923–1938
(/isis/citation/CBB806004295/)
Book
William J. Glover;
(2008)
Making Lahore Modern: Constructing and Imagining a Colonial City
(/isis/citation/CBB108246394/)
Essay Review
Johnson, Ann;
(2005)
Revisiting Technology as Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB001566362/)
Book
Elisabeth Blanchet;
(2014)
Prefab Homes
(/isis/citation/CBB923997896/)
Book
Timothy R. White;
(2015)
Blue-Collar Broadway: The Craft and Industry of American Theater
(/isis/citation/CBB584510447/)
Article
Tamaro, George J.;
(2002)
World Trade Center “Bathtub”: From Genesis to Armageddon
(/isis/citation/CBB255406836/)
Chapter
Sarah Lepinski;
(2016)
Roman Interior Design
(/isis/citation/CBB080687889/)
Book
Kevin D. Murphy;
Lisa Reilly;
(2017)
Skyscraper Gothic: Medieval Style and Modernist Buildings
(/isis/citation/CBB328574603/)
Book
Fenske, Gail;
(2008)
The Skyscraper and the City: The Woolworth Building and the Making of Modern New York
(/isis/citation/CBB000954269/)
Article
Themis G. Dallas;
(2018)
On the Orientation of Early Christian Churches in Præfectura Illyricum
(/isis/citation/CBB967427242/)
Article
Phillip J. Wolfram;
Wayne F. Lorenz;
(2016)
Longstanding Design: Roman Engineering of Aqueduct Arcades
(/isis/citation/CBB104482426/)
Article
Erling Haagensen;
Niels C. Lind;
(2015)
Medieval Round Churches and the Shape of the Earth
(/isis/citation/CBB320428943/)
Article
Hutterer, Maile;
(2014)
When Old Meets New: Classicizing Columns in Northern French Flying Buttress Systems
(/isis/citation/CBB001422554/)
Book
John Holmes;
(2021)
Temple of Science: The Pre-Raphaelites and Oxford University Museum of Natural History
(/isis/citation/CBB177160072/)
Book
Huerta, Santiago;
(2004)
Arcos, bóvedas y cúpulas: geometría y equilibrio en el cálculo tradicional de estructuras de fábrica
(/isis/citation/CBB000770192/)
Be the first to comment!