The Trump Building on 40 Wall Street, The Empire State building, Chrysler building and the Top-of-the-Rock all offer impressive views of Manhattan, New York. Whether it’s the Empire State Building, Trump’s 40 Wall Street, or the Chrysler building there was always competition to be the tallest building in New York.
TRUMP BUILDING (40 Wall Street)
Forty Wall Street was built in 1930. It was once the New York’s tallest building standing 927 feet tall and 71 stories high. That is, this neo-Gothic skyscraper was New York’s tallest building for a few weeks, until the Empire State building was completed and attached its “secret weapon” (read below).
The Trump Building New York
It was built by the Manhattan Bank company then tell into disarray from lack of tenants and a plane crash. Donald Trump purchased the building in 1995 for a cool $1 million. He then procure a $35 million renovation loan. The building is now one of, if not the, most successful business buildings in New York. Known as the “Trump Building” it is 97% occupied.
Ironically, Trump may own the building but he does not own the property underneath it. In New York it is quite common for someone to hold the land rights, someone to hold the building rights and someone else to own the air rights. The land is owned by a German entity for which Trump has signed a 200 year lease agreement.
Understandably, in order to see the inside of Trump tower, you must be doing business there as it is not open to the general public. It is still an architectural marvel to look at from the outside.
However, if you ever do get inside, make sure to check out the 10 ton doors that previously stored the riches and jewels of some of the finest customers of the Manhattan Bank.
CHRYSLER BUILDING (405 Lexington Ave)
Standing at 1,046 ft high to the tallest spire the Art Deco design of the Chrysler Building represents the American Dream. It was built by Walter Chrysler who as a 17-year-old boy started sweeping floors for 4¢ an hour for the US Pacific Railroad. His father was a locomotive engineer, so it looked like Walter would be following in his father’s railroad footsteps as he started to climb up the ladder in the business railroad world.Chrysler BuildingIn Chicago on business he happened upon an auto show that would change his life. He became enamored with cars and bought one for $5,000 (borrowing $4000 from friends and family). Fascinated, he took it home and disassembled the car, then put it all back together again. He was surprised it still ran.
When the opportunity arose to work at Buick as a manager, he jumped at the position taking a pay cut from $12,000 to $6,000 a year. He put Buick on the map taking them from 40 to 500 cars off the production line in one day. In his 40’s he became the highest paid car executive in the US and retired in 1919. A year later he was back in the automotive industry, this time for himself. One thing led to another and he eventually built the Chrysler building with his own money for his family. The Chrysler company rented space from the family.
The Chrysler Building is 925 feet tall (77 floors) to the top. After a heated competition with Manhattan bank for highest building, they added a secret weapon (a stainless steel spire) to take it to 1,026 ft tall at the last minute. One can see in the details how it is truly an automotive building. The gargoyles and eagles were the hood ornaments on Plymouth cars. The grills from the 1929 Chryslers are found in the corners.
Step inside the lobby to view the ornate African marble walls. This is the most impressive lobby I have seen in New York. The murals painted on the ceiling show the workers when they were building this impressive building. Airplanes are shown in other parts with an aviation theme. The design reminded me of an old theater from days gone by and one that could never be rebuilt that grandiose again for a price that would still be profitable. This link provides wonderful photos of the inside: https://www.jamesmaherphotography.com/new-york-historical-articles/chrysler-building/
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING (20 W 34th St)
Upon learning the Chrysler building’s height, General Motors executive, John J. Raskob and former New York Governor, Al Smith, went back to the drawing board to increase their building’s height. Completed after only 14 months to 20 months (depending on who you talk to) in 1931, the Empire State building would stand 1,250 ft high (380m) or 1,454 ft (443m) with its antenna.The Empire State Building in NYC.
Over 90 movies were filmed in and around the Empire State building. It became internationally famous not for being the tallest building in New York but rather for having a large gorilla scale its walls in 1933 during the movie ‘King Kong’.
This building like the Manhattan Bank Building did not become profitable until after WWII. New Yorkers renamed it, “Empty State Building”. Its failure was a matter of timing. Shortly after it was built, America went through the depression era and real estate squandered.
It lost its status as the tallest building when the Twin Towers were built and regained it once again when the Twin Towers fell. Standing on the old homesite of the Twin Towers is now One World Trade Center (aka “The Freedom Tower), which currently reigns as the tallest building in New York at 1776 ft high.
Tourists flock to ride the glass elevators up to the 86th and 102nd floors where there is a 360 degree view of the city from its observation deck. Tickets start at $40 and continue up to the $460 “all access” tour. The building is open to visitors 365 days a year between the hours of 8am and 2pm. There is also a museum on the 2nd floor.
TOP OF THE ROCK at ROCKEFELLER CENTER (30 Rockfeller Plaza) aka GE BUILDING
Another building that gives observatory tours for approximately $32 to $75 is Top-Of-The-Rock. Located in Rockefeller Center the tour consists of 3-tiers (67th, 69th, and 70th floors). It’s 360-degree, 850 feet high unobstructed view from the 70th floor observatory, is very impressive. Set up well for tours operating from 8am to 12:00pm (with the last ride up at 11pm) daily. It is the home of NBC Studios which hosts some top television shows such as The Today Show and Saturday Night Live.
It was built to mimic the deck of an ocean liner which seems fitting as it has one of the best views of Hudson and East Rivers.
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