A monument to the glitzy Jazz Age of the 1920s, the Chrysler Building in New York City is America's most prominent example of Art Deco architecture and the epitome of the urban corporate headquarters. This unabashedly theatrical building, which was briefly the world's tallest after its completion in 1930, makes an entirely different statement than its nearby competitor, the Empire State Building. The Chrysler Building's appeal was summarized by architectural critic Paul Goldberger, who wrote, "There, in one building, is all of New York's height and fantasy in a single gesture."

The Chrysler Building was originally designed for real estate speculator William H. Reynolds by architect William Van Alen. In 1928, Walter Percy Chrysler, head of the Chrysler Motor Corporation, purchased the site on the corner of Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street in midtown Manhattan, as well as Van Alen's plans. But those plans were changed as the...