NYC's Chrysler Building turns 75

Of all the iconic skyscrapers in New York City's iconic skyline, none is more recognizable or beloved than the 230-meter high Art Deco style Chrysler Building, with its sunburst-like pinnacle and soaring chrome-nickel-and-steel spire. Ever since 1930, when the Chrysler Building opened its doors, almost every one of its nearly 185,000 square meters of office space has been devoted to the earthy business of making a profit for corporate shareholders. Still, according to Thomas Mellins, a curator at the Museum of the City of New York, and the co-author of "New York 1930," something about the Chrysler Building tends to make New Yorkers feel just wonderful in a way that has nothing to do with money. "It was designed by a classically trained architect, and yet it does embrace this sense of fun and sense of energy and fizz," he says. "It's swanky, it's swaggering. It's a reminder of the Jazz Age, and it's unabashed in all those things. It flaunts all of that. It makes people say 'wow!'"