Music: 1930 Body and Soul | Coleman Hawkins 1939
Video: 1928-1930 Chrysler Building | 2020 Dronalist at night
1930s playlist: t.ly/TxIW
Dronalist's Chrysler Building at night: • Chrysler building 4k d...
"The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper in the Turtle Bay neighborhood on the East Side of Manhattan, New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue near Midtown Manhattan. At 1,046 feet (319 m), it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework, and was the world's tallest building for 11 months after its completion in 1930.
Originally a project of real estate developer and former New York State Senator William H. Reynolds, the building was constructed by Walter Chrysler, the head of the Chrysler Corporation. The construction of the Chrysler Building, an early skyscraper, was characterized by a competition with 40 Wall Street and the Empire State Building to become the world's tallest building.
When the Chrysler Building opened, there were mixed reviews of the building's design, ranging from views of it as inane and unoriginal to the idea that it was modernist and iconic. Perceptions of the building have slowly evolved into its now being seen as a paragon of the Art Deco architectural style; and in 2007, it was ranked ninth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects. The building was designated a New York City landmark in 1978, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1976.
Design
The Chrysler Building is considered a leading example of Art Deco architecture. It is constructed of a steel frame in-filled with masonry, with areas of decorative metal cladding. The structure contains 3,862 exterior windows. Approximately fifty metal ornaments protrude at the building's corners on five floors reminiscent of gargoyles on Gothic cathedrals. The 31st-floor contains gargoyles and replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps, the 61st-floor eagles,[65] a nod to America's national bird.
The Chrysler Building uses bright 'Nirosta' stainless steel extensively in its design, an austenitic alloy developed in Germany by Krupp (a German acronym for nichtrostender Stahl, meaning 'non-rusting steel'). It was the first use of this '18-8 stainless steel' in an American project, composed of 18% chromium and 8% nickel. Nirosta was used in the exterior ornaments, the window frames, the crown, and the needle. The steel was an integral part of Van Alen's design, as E.E. Thum explains: 'The use of permanently bright metal was of greatest aid in the carrying of rising lines and the diminishing circular forms in the roof treatment, so as to accentuate the gradual upward swing until it literally dissolves into the sky....' Stainless steel producers used the Chrysler Building to evaluate the durability of the product in architecture.
Crown and spire
The Chrysler Building is renowned for, and recognized by, its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower. Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform groin vault of seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks, mounted one behind another. The entire crown is clad with Nirosta steel, ribbed and riveted in a radiating sunburst pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, reminiscent of the spokes of a wheel. The windows are repeated, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks. Due to the curved shape of the dome, the Nirosta sheets had to be measured on site, so most of the work was carried out in workshops on the building's 67th and 75th floors. According to Robinson, the terraced crown 'continue[s] the wedding-cake layering of the building itself. This concept is carried forward from the 61st floor, whose eagle gargoyles echo the treatment of the 31st, to the spire, which extends the concept of "higher and narrower" forward to infinite height and infinitesimal width. This unique treatment emphasizes the building's height, giving it an other worldly atmosphere reminiscent of the fantastic architecture of Coney Island or the Far East.'" (Wikipedia)
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"'Body and Soul' is a popular song and jazz standard written in 1930 with music by Johnny Green and lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton. One of the most famous and influential takes was recorded by Coleman Hawkins and His Orchestra on October 11, 1939, at their only recording session for Bluebird, a subsidiary of RCA Victor. The recording is unusual in that the song's melody is only hinted at in the recording; Hawkins' two-choruses of improvisation over the tune's chord progression constitute almost the entire take. Because of this, as well as the imaginative use of harmony and break from traditional swing cliches, the recording is recognised as part of the 'early tremors of bebop'." (Wikipedia)
6 мар 2021
