





[Photos from the amazing Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon Day by Day by D Stravitz]

“A strong example of the influence of German Expressionist film set design is found in the Chrysler Building’s seventy-first floor observatory, which was open to the public until 1945. The observatory featured a celestial motif, with sun rays painted on the walls, and Saturn-shaped lighting globes hanging from the ceiling. “The steeply tilted walls reflected structural necessity masked as pure design through a close look at Expressionst film sets, principally the angular mad-house of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (Pierpont 79). The effect, no doubt, was one of disorienting splendor. Like the German Expressionist filmmakers, Van Alen used architecture to dramatize a state of mind (Rhode 204).” *

Sigh. I wish I had a time machine.

*From The Chrysler Building: One Kansas Mechanic and His Jazz-Age Tower of Babel, by yours truly



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