CHRYSLER BUILDING BREAKS GLOBAL RECORDS USING STAINLESS STEEL

The Chrysler Building, located in New York City and designed by William Van Alen, made history as the tallest building in the world in 1929 (1). The building is measured at 1,046 feet with the top 180 a masterpiece of stainless steel (1, 2). It officially opened in 1930 as on office building - over time, becoming a crown jewel of the Art Deco movement (1).

During the building’s construction, Van Alen was in a nail-biting competition with H. Craig Severance to create New York’s tallest building (3). Through hard work and determination, the iconic stainless-steel top was put together in “less than two hours” (3). This was Van Alen’s ‘cherry on top’ in the competition against Severance’s building, 40 Wall Street (3, 4).

The Chrysler building stands the test of time… still tall, shining and turning heads. This metal was built to last. See how far your metal can go when you recycle it at a BN location near you.


SOURCES

1. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Chrysler Building.” n.d. Britannica. Accessed March 27, 2025. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chrysler-Building.

2. Cobb, Harold M. The History of Stainless Steel. 1st ed. Material PARK: ASM International, 2010.

3. Snyder, Michael. 2023. “The Precarious History of New York’s Iconic Chrysler Building.” Smithsonian Magazine, October 24, 2023. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/precarious-history-new-york-chrysler-building-180983062/.

4. Phelan, Catherine. 2020. “The Secret Feud That Made the Chrysler Building the World’s Tallest.” Explore the Archive. May 26, 2020. https://explorethearchive.com/chrysler-building-history.