# What Are The Top Floors of the Chrysler Building Like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924 "2010-06-20T23:04:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/1 "2010-06-20T23:04:59Z")
I always wondered what the top floors of this iconic building are like…where the roof curves over and those art deco triangular windows begin. Are they delux apartments or offices? Can you visit them? ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/2 "2010-06-21T00:08:44Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I always wondered what the top floors of this iconic building are like..where the roof curves over and those art deco triangular windows begin. > Are they delux apartments or offices? Can you visit them? Last I checked, an architectural firm has their offices there. And apparently they are dicks about letting anyone photograph their offices, or visit. I much preferred the Vonnegut book _Jailbird_ where the American Harp Company had their showroom in the spire. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/3 "2010-06-21T00:50:58Z")
Someone used to have a fan web site for the Chrysler Building, but they let the registration lapse and it’s now an amusingly incompetent dating site. [But the WayBack Machine comes to the rescue](http://web.archive.org/web/20020407230800/www.chryslerbuilding.org/frames.html) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/4 "2010-06-21T01:09:18Z")
Ask the question at [SkyScraperPage (Dot) Com](http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/)’s forum page. Anything you want to know about a tall building anywhere, they have the answer ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/5 "2010-06-21T01:46:57Z")
From Wiki > [@](#): > > Crown usage > When the building first opened, it contained a public viewing gallery on the 71st floor, which was closed to the public in 1945. This floor is now the highest-occupied floor, most recently occupied by an office space management firm.[38] The private Cloud Club occupied a three-floor high space from the 66th–68th floors, but closed in the late 1970s. Above the 71st floor, the stories of the building are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire. Very narrow with low, sloped ceilings, these top stories are useful only for holding radio-broadcasting and other mechanical and electrical equipment.[11] Television station WCBS-TV (Channel 2) originally transmitted from the top of the Chrysler in the 1940s and early 1950s, before moving to the Empire State Building.[11] For many years, WPAT-FM and WTFM (now WKTU) also used the Chrysler Building as a transmission site, but they also moved to the Empire by the 1970s. There are currently no commercial broadcast stations located at the Chrysler Building [Here’s a tour](http://www.mapsites.net/gotham/sec5/insidetheneedle.html) ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/6 "2010-06-21T04:41:55Z")
Fantastic! There has _never_ been any glass in the windows past floor 75, and when it’s 32°F at street level, the wind chill up there can get down to -20°! ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/7 "2010-06-21T12:26:38Z")
Here’s a pretty interesting article from a few years back about a dentist and the aforementioned architect who have their offices up there. [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/26mayor.html?\_r=1&scp=7&sq="Chrysler+Building"&st=nyt](http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/26mayor.html?_r=1&scp=7&sq=%22Chrysler+Building%22&st=nyt) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/8 "2010-06-21T16:07:37Z")
Good stuff - thanks. The half-floors near the very top remind me of _Being John Malkovich._ ---
**Author:** ![Lex42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@Lex42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lex42)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/9 "2011-02-16T17:36:26Z")
Awesome articles and links! I wonder if there are any photos of the inside of the topmost floors and into the needle? That would be something to see! Maybe Ernie has some. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/10 "2011-02-16T17:51:49Z")
In _The Aviator_, there’s a few scenes that take place in the Pan Am offices at the very top of the Chrysler Building. The scenes were shot on a soundstage, but are supposedly very faithful to the look of the office in the 30’s. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/11 "2011-02-16T20:06:55Z")
Huh, I always thought a [Quetzecoatl](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084556/) lived up there. At least that’s what I saw in a movie. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/12 "2011-02-17T02:21:44Z")
This question has an amazing answer. I’m surprised no one has posted it yet. [http://www.ineightydays.com/archives/hidden-treasure-of-the-chrysler-building-still-hidden/](http://www.ineightydays.com/archives/hidden-treasure-of-the-chrysler-building-still-hidden/) > [@](#): > > Inside the highest point of the building’s interior (inside the spire), only accessible by stairwell, then ladder, sits a toilet. My source is unsure of whether it is still functional. I dream of the view. In 1929, it was the highest toilet in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/13 "2011-02-17T02:34:31Z")
Wouldn’t it make great digs for a super criminal? I always was disappointed in the subterranean crap hole Lex Luthor got stuck with. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/14 "2011-03-11T23:04:53Z")
Strange picture of the Chrysler building in [this article](http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2011/02/28/the-skyscraper-marathon/) over at Modern Mechanix. (You can click the page for a higher-res scan.) Does it show the scaffolding for the top floors, or was the shape somehow changed in the early years? Or did they just publish an outdated artists’s conception of the building? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/15 "2011-03-12T01:58:07Z")
Construction scaffolding, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/16 "2011-03-12T03:50:14Z")
Anybody want to have a screw at this [hi-res pic of the very top](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/5152896253_fa028656de_o.jpg) and see if they can’t link it up with whatever that Michaelis guy was talking about in his [article?](http://www.mapsites.net/gotham/sec5/insidetheneedle.html) He was trying so hard to paint word-pictures, he didn’t make much sense at times. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/17 "2011-03-12T04:15:17Z")
> [@Heyoka13](#): > > Wouldn’t it make great digs for a super criminal? > > I always was disappointed in the subterranean crap hole Lex Luthor got stuck with. Yes, actually, Wison Fisk, also known as the [Kingpin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kingpin), has his headquarters there. In fact, one side of the top of the building swings down to reveal a hangar from which he can launch armies of killer robots and squadrons of high tech bombers upon mid-town Manhattan. I spent many Saturday mornings gathering this information from the animated Spider-Man series in the 90s. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/18 "2011-03-13T03:06:55Z")
The 185-foot spire was built secretly inside the building and then raised up and installed in 3 sections so that it would surpass the equal height of a bank building, making the Chrysler Building the tallest, for a while. See excellent story, with many exterior/interior pix: > **[This site is temporarily unavailable](http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID021.htm)** > > Small business web hosting offering additional business services such as: domain name registrations, email accounts, web services, FrontPage help, online community resources and various small business solutions. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-top-floors-of-the-chrysler-building-like/543924/19 "2011-03-13T04:11:09Z")
Thanks for that link, **Ignatz**. Some great pics! If you want to see the Chrysler Building spectacularly destroyed, on the other hand, check out the opening scenes of _Armageddon_.