- Chanin Building
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Coordinates: 40°45′04″N 73°58′35″W / 40.7512°N 73.9764°W
Chanin Building 
General information Architectural style Art Deco Town or city 122 East 42nd Street, New York, New York Country United States Completed 1929 Design and construction Client Irwin S. Chanin Owner Stahl Organization Architect Sloan & Robertson The Chanin Building is a brick and terra-cotta skyscraper located at 122 East 42nd Street, at the corner of Lexington Avenue, in Manhattan. Built by Irwin S. Chanin in 1929, it is 56 stories high, reaching 197.8 metres (649 ft) excluding the spire and 207.3 metres (680 ft) including it. It was designed by Sloan & Robertson in the Art Deco style,[1] with the assistance of Chanin's own architect Jacques Delamarre, and it incorporates architectural sculpture by Rene Paul Chambellan.
The base of the building boasts black Belgian marble around the store fronts with a bronze frieze directly above depicting scenes of evolution.[2] A second terra-cotta frieze runs the whole length of the lower facade, presenting a dramatic collection of angular zigzags and curvy leaves. The tower rises 22 stories and then thins into a series of setbacks, reaching a total of 56 floors. The top of the building is a series of buttresses that are illuminated from the inside at night, lighting up the recesses in the crown.
In the lobbies, eight bronze reliefs designed by Rene Paul Chambellan perch above ornate bronze radiator grilles. The bronze ornamentation continues in the waves on the floor, mailboxes, and elevator doors extending the general Art Deco style from the outside in. When originally completed, the 50th floor had a silver-and-black high-brow movie theater. This floor and the 51st are now offices joined by a stairwell instead. Initially a dominant landmark in the midtown skyline, the building had an open air observatory on the 54th floor.[3] Having been surpassed in height by a number of buildings, most notably the Chrysler Building located across the street, the observatory has been long closed. The self-supporting tower atop the building is the original transmission site for WQXR-FM from 1941 to the 1960s (when they moved to the Empire State Building). WQXR maintains a current backup antenna next to the original tower on a smaller pole. Current tenants include the headquarters for Apple Bank for Savings.
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Designed by Rene Paul Chambellan, these gates led to the private offices of Irwin S. Chanin
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Close-up image of the Chanin Building's crenellated top
See also
References
- Notes
External links
Categories:- 1929 architecture
- Skyscrapers between 150 and 199 meters
- Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan
- Skyscrapers in New York City
- Buildings and structures in Manhattan
- Art Deco buildings in New York City
- New York City building and structure stubs
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