New York, NY - Urban Archive

South of Union Square

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Battle to the Top: A Tale of Three Spires

Just shy of the stock market crash and at the tail-end of a real estate boom of the late 1920s, a race to the top broke out between three buildings, who vied for the title of the World's Tallest Building. A clear rivalry developed between Craig Severance, architect of 40 Wall Street, and his ex-business partner, William Van Alen, who designed the Chrysler Building. Just uptown, the Empire State Building threatened to cast a shadow over its two competitors, topped off with an unlikely crown.

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Urban Archive

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40 Wall Street

40 Wall Street

40 Wall Street is a 71-story neo-Gothic skyscraper built in 1929 by architect Craig Severance for the Manhattan Company.

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40 Wall Street

40 Wall Street

In the year the tower was built, it would be the tallest building in the world, surpassing the Woolworth building which was a soaring 792 feet tall, spire and all.

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Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building

Severance's ex-business partner, William Van Alen, was also working on a building that vyed for the title of the world's tallest building: the Chrysler Building.

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Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building, developed by Walter P. Chrysler, had been a personal project of Chrysler - not a company headquarters.

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40 Wall Street

40 Wall Street

At 40 Wall Street, architect Craig Severance and associated architect Yasuo Matsui designed a simply ornamented, setback skyscraper with raised brick patterning and cast stone-ornament, and with an elaborate crown and spire in French Gothic style. It was to be a clear winner of the year's race to the top...until the date of its completion.

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Chrysler Building

Chrysler Building

40 Wall Street was topped out in the fall of 1929. However, all along, Severance's rival, Van Alen, had devised a secret plan to ensure his tower would win the great race. On the same day, a thin needle was hoisted from inside the tower to bring its height to a soaring 1,046 feet. The Chrysler claimed the title of World's Tallest Building on October 23, 1929. The building wouldn't be officially completed until May of the following year.

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Empire State Building

Empire State Building

Only eight blocks north of the Chrysler, the Empire State Building began construction in 1930. It was designed by architects Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon Associates. Its completion was scheduled for May of 1931.

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Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The architects' initial design was a mere four feet taller than the predicted height of the Chrysler, though they predicted that Van Alen might do something as preposterous as hiding the tower's spire until its rival topped off.

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Empire State Building

Empire State Building

Luckily, the investors who developed the Empire State had hatched a plan to reach great heights. The group claimed that a 200-foot mooring mast atop the 1,050-foot tall skyscraper would be a landing dock for dirigibles and Zeppelins from Germany, rather than landing across the river New Jersey. Passengers would then descend the rocket-ship like mast and the 102-stories, reaching the streets of New York in seven short minutes.

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Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The mooring mast was eventually deemed unusable as a docking mast, however, it would become the broadcast point for many radio and television stations. And so, the Empire State Building took the title of the World's Tallest Building in May of 1931, just months after the Chrysler had stolen it from 40 Wall Street.

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