Walter Chrysler

Walter Chrysler started as a machinist and railroad mechanic in Ellis, Kansas, worked his way up through the locomotive shops, and moved into automobiles, where he founded the Chrysler Corporation in the 1920s. He paid out of his own pocket for the skyscraper that carries his name, at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue.

It became a race. His architect, William Van Alen, was competing with his former partner's tower at 40 Wall Street for the title of the world's tallest building. Van Alen had a spire assembled in secret inside the top of the Chrysler Building, and in October 1929 it was raised through the crown in about ninety minutes, winning the race. The Empire State Building took the title away in 1931. On our Midtown walk you meet the race at the Empire State Building; from its open air deck, the steel crown to look for is the Chrysler's.