Can you go inside the Chrysler Building?

Only the lobby. The Chrysler Building is a private office tower with no public observation deck; the one on the 71st floor closed in 1945. The lobby, though, is free to enter on weekdays during business hours, and it's one of the great Art Deco interiors in the world, with red Moroccan marble walls, chrome details, and a 100-foot ceiling mural. Security keeps visitors to the lobby floor.

How tall is the Chrysler Building?

The Chrysler Building is 1,046 feet tall with 77 floors. When it was completed in May 1930 it was the tallest building in the world, surpassing the Eiffel Tower, but it held the title for only eleven months before the Empire State Building opened in 1931. It remains the tallest brick building in the world and is widely considered the finest Art Deco skyscraper ever built.

Where is the best place to see the Chrysler Building?

The crown is best seen from a distance and from height. From the street, the corner of 42nd Street and Third Avenue looks straight up at it, and the Tudor City steps at 42nd and First Avenue frame it above the traffic. For the full spire, go up to the Empire State Building, Top of the Rock, or Summit One Vanderbilt, where it sits at eye level. At night it's lit from within and visible across Midtown.

Chrysler Building

Landmark

Midtown

Manhattan

Free Entry

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About

The Chrysler Building is the most beautiful skyscraper in New York City, and many would say in the world: a 1,046-foot Art Deco tower at Lexington Avenue and 42nd Street whose stainless-steel crown of sunburst arches and triangular windows has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930. For eleven months it was the tallest building on earth, until the Empire State Building surpassed it, and it remains the tallest brick building in the world, with nearly four million bricks laid by hand around its steel frame.

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Designed by William Van Alen for automaker Walter Chrysler, the building is a monument to the car: its 31st-floor corners carry replicas of 1929 Chrysler radiator caps, eagle gargoyles project from the 61st floor, and the crown's stainless-steel cladding was chosen to gleam like a hood ornament. The spire was assembled in secret inside the building and hoisted through the roof in 90 minutes in October 1929, adding 125 feet to win a race for the world's tallest with 40 Wall Street, whose builders never saw it coming.

Eagle gargoyles of Chrysler Building — Eagle gargoyles of Chrysler building

The Chrysler Building has never had a public observation deck since the 1940s, and the tower is private offices. But its lobby, a triangular Art Deco jewel of Moroccan red marble, chrome, and a 100-foot ceiling mural celebrating transportation and human endeavor, is one of the finest interiors in the city, and it's free to step into.

Insider Tip

Walk into the lobby on a weekday between 9am and 5pm, tell security you'd like to see the lobby, and look up: the ceiling mural and the elevator doors, inlaid with wood in a lotus pattern, are the reason to come. Then cross 42nd Street to the east side of Third Avenue and look straight up the facade to the eagles. For the classic photograph of the crown, climb the Tudor City steps at 42nd and First Avenue at dusk, when the spire lights come on and 42nd Street stretches below it.

History & Facts

The Chrysler Building has crowned Midtown since 1930. Here are the key facts every visitor should know:

Can you go inside the Chrysler Building? Only the lobby. There's no observation deck, but the Art Deco lobby with its marble, chrome, and ceiling mural is free to enter during business hours.
How tall is the Chrysler Building? 1,046 feet and 77 stories, the tallest building in the world for eleven months in 1930 and still the tallest brick building on earth.
The 185-foot spire was built in secret inside the building and raised through the roof in 90 minutes to beat 40 Wall Street to the title of world's tallest.
The eagle gargoyles on the 61st floor and the radiator-cap ornaments on the 31st are modeled on 1929 Chrysler cars.
The crown's stainless steel is Nirosta, a German alloy that has never needed replacing in nearly a century.
The lobby's ceiling mural, Transport and Human Endeavor by Edward Trumbull, is 97 by 100 feet and was the largest painting in the world when completed.

When to visit

The Chrysler Building is an exterior landmark with one interior worth seeing, and the timing is about light and access.

The lobby is open on weekdays during business hours, roughly 8am to 6pm, and closed on weekends; midmorning on a weekday is the calmest time, after the commuter rush and before lunch. Security allows visitors into the lobby floor to look at the marble, the mural, and the elevator doors, but not beyond.

For the exterior, the crown catches the sun in the late afternoon from the west and glows at dusk when its lights come on; the view from the Tudor City steps on 42nd Street at First Avenue is best in the hour before dark. Morning light from the east lights the Lexington Avenue facade and the eagles.

The crown is visible from every observation deck in Midtown, and from Summit One Vanderbilt, a block away, it's almost close enough to touch. Winter's low sun and clear air make the stainless steel shine brightest; in summer haze it softens. Because the building is beside Grand Central, it fits into any Midtown walk in any weather.

Getting there

The Chrysler Building is at 405 Lexington Avenue on the corner of East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, one block east of Grand Central Terminal. Take the 4, 5, 6, 7, or S train to Grand Central–42nd Street and walk one block east; the building's Lexington Avenue entrance is directly across from the station's east exit.

Grand Central is a two-minute walk, Summit One Vanderbilt is three minutes, and the New York Public Library and Bryant Park are ten minutes west along 42nd Street. The Empire State Building is a 15-minute walk southwest.

Use our interactive NYC subway guide to plan your exact route from any hotel or neighborhood before you arrive.