Editing Chrysler Building (section)

==== Upper stories ====
===== Cloud Club =====
[[File:Chrysler Building Office North Facing Window.jpg|thumb|right|upright|View from one of the north-facing triangular windows]]
{{main|Cloud Club}}

The private [[Cloud Club]] formerly occupied the 66th through 68th floors.<ref name="enc-nyc" /> It opened in July 1930 with some three hundred members, all wealthy males who formed the city's elite.{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=260}}<ref name="McGrath 2005">{{cite web|last=McGrath|first=Charles|title=A Lunch Club for the Higher-Ups|website=The New York Times|date=May 26, 2005|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/a-lunch-club-for-the-higherups.html|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Gray 1990">{{cite web|last=Gray|first=Christopher|title=Streetscapes: The Cloud Club; Still Exciting, but Still Vacant|website=The New York Times|date=January 14, 1990|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/14/realestate/streetscapes-the-cloud-club-still-exciting-but-still-vacant.html|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> Its creation was spurred by [[Texaco]]'s wish for a proper restaurant for its executives prior to renting fourteen floors in the building. The Cloud Club was a compromise between William Van Alen's modern style and Walter Chrysler's stately and traditional tastes.<ref name="McGrath 2005" /> A member had to be elected and, if accepted, paid an initial fee of $200, plus a $150 to $300 annual fee.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} Texaco executives comprised most of the Cloud Club's membership.<ref name="Hudson 1977" /> The club and its dining room may have inspired the [[Rainbow Room]] and the Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club at [[30 Rockefeller Plaza]].<ref>{{cite web |date=October 16, 2012 |title=Rainbow Room |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2505.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215043348/https://www1.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2505.pdf |archive-date=February 15, 2017 |access-date=November 5, 2017 |website=[[Government of New York City|nyc.gov]] |publisher=[[New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission]] |page=4}}</ref>

There was a [[Tudor Revival architecture|Tudor-style]] [[foyer]] on the 66th floor with oak paneling, as well as an old English-style grill room with wooden floors, wooden beams, wrought-iron chandeliers, and glass and lead doors.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}{{sfn|Miller|2015|p=260}}<ref name="McGrath 2005" /> The main dining room had a futuristic appearance, with polished granite columns and etched glass appliqués in Art Deco style.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}<ref name="Gray 1990" /> There was a mural of a cloud on the ceiling and a mural of Manhattan on the dining room's north side.<ref name="McGrath 2005" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|pp=281–283}} The 66th and 67th floors were connected by a Renaissance-style marble and bronze staircase.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}}<ref name="Gray 1990" /> The 67th floor had an open bar with dark-wood paneling and furniture.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} On the same floor, Walter Chrysler and Texaco both had private dining rooms.<ref name="Gray 1990" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} Chrysler's dining room had a black and frosted-blue glass frieze of automobile workers.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}}{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} Texaco's dining room contained a mural across two walls; one wall depicted a town in [[New England]] with a Texaco gas station, while the other depicted an oil refinery and Texaco truck. The south side of the 67th floor also contained a library with wood-paneled walls and fluted pilasters.{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=283}} The 68th floor mainly contained service spaces.<ref name="Gray 1990" />

In the 1950s and 1960s, members left the Cloud Club for other clubs. Texaco moved to [[Westchester County, New York|Westchester County]] in 1977,<ref name="Hudson 1977">{{cite web|last=Hudson|first=Edward|title=Texaco Is on the Way|website=The New York Times|date=August 14, 1977|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/08/14/archives/long-island-weekly-texaco-is-on-the-way-texaco-is-on-way-to-county.html|access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> and the club closed two years later.<ref name="McGrath 2005" />{{sfn|Reynolds|1994|p=281}} Although there have been several projects to rehabilitate the club or transform it into a disco or a gastronomic club, these plans have never materialized,<ref name="Gray 1990" /><ref name="McDowell 2000">{{cite web|last=McDowell|first=Edwin|title=Reviving High Life, 67 Floors Up; Chrysler Building Redoes the Cloud Club's Old Space|website=The New York Times|date=April 11, 2000|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/11/nyregion/reviving-high-life-67-floors-up-chrysler-building-redoes-cloud-club-s-old-space.html|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> as then-owner Cooke reportedly did not want a "conventional" restaurant operating within the old club.<ref>{{Cite news|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/05/realestate/commercial-property-unusual-spaces-a-striking-medley-for-the-right-renter.html|title=Commercial Property: Unusual Spaces; A Striking Medley For the Right Renter|last=Dunlap|first=David W.|date=May 5, 1991|work=The New York Times|access-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> Tishman Speyer rented the top two floors of the old Cloud Club.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> The old staircase has been removed, as have many of the original decorations,<ref name="Gray 1990" /> which prompted objections from the Art Deco Society of New York.<ref name="McDowell 2000" />

===== Private Chrysler offices =====
Originally, Walter Chrysler had a two-story apartment on the 69th and 70th floors with a fireplace and a private office. The office also contained a gymnasium and the loftiest bathrooms in the city.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 17, 2014 |title=New York Scrapers – Art Deco II |url=http://in-arch.net/NYC/nyc2a.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618193811/http://www.in-arch.net/NYC/nyc2a.html |archive-date=June 18, 2016 |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=in-Arch.net}}</ref> The office had a medieval ambience with leaded windows, elaborate wooden doors, and heavy plaster.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=609}} Chrysler did not use his gym much, instead choosing to stay at the Chrysler Corporation's headquarters in Detroit.<ref name="NYTimes-Stravitz-Answers1-2009" /> Subsequently, the 69th and 70th floors were converted into a dental clinic.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> In 2005, a report by ''The New York Times'' found that one of the dentists, Charles Weiss, had operated at the clinic's current rooftop location since 1969.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hamilton|first=William L.|title=On Top of the World, Drafting, Dreaming and Drilling|website=The New York Times|date=May 26, 2005|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/26/garden/on-top-of-the-world-drafting-dreaming-and-drilling.html|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The office still had the suite's original bathroom and gymnasium.<ref name="McDowell 2000" /> Chrysler also had a unit on the 58th through 60th floors, which served as his residence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://fultonhistory.com/highlighter/highlight-for-xml?altUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffultonhistory.com%2FNewspaper%252018%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201930%2FNew%2520York%2520NY%2520Sun%25201930%2520-%25202258.pdf|title=Chrysler's Loftiest Apartment|work=The New York Sun|last=Zismer|first=Gustave|page=55|date=April 16, 1930|access-date=November 3, 2017|via=[[Old Fulton New York Postcards]]}}</ref>

===== Observation deck and attic =====
From the building's opening until 1945, it contained a {{convert|3900|ft2|m2}} [[observation deck]] on the 71st floor, called "Celestial".<ref>{{cite web|last=Schellenbaum|first=Amy|title=Peek Inside 1945's 'Celestial' Chrysler Building Observatory|website=Curbed|date=February 28, 2014|url=https://www.curbed.com/2014/2/28/10137796/peek-inside-1945s-celestial-chrysler-building-observatory|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} For fifty cents visitors could transit its circumference through a corridor with vaulted ceilings painted with celestial motifs and bedecked with small hanging glass planets.{{sfn|Nash|McGrath|1999|p=63}}{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}}<ref name="Bascomb 2005">{{cite web|last=Bascomb|first=Neal|title=New York Observed; Knockin' on Heaven's Door|website=The New York Times|date=October 30, 2005|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/nyregion/thecity/knockin-on-heavens-door.html|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> The center of the observatory contained the toolbox that Walter P. Chrysler used at the beginning of his career as a mechanic;<ref name="enc-nyc" /><ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" />{{sfn|Landmarks Preservation Commission|1978|p=4}}{{sfn|Douglas|2004|p=97}} it was later preserved at the [[Chrysler Technology Center]] in [[Auburn Hills, Michigan]].{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=64}} An image of the building resembling a rocket hung above it.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=438}} According to a contemporary brochure, views of up to {{convert|100|mi|km}} were possible on a clear day;<ref name="Bascomb 2005" /> but the small triangular windows of the observatory created strange angles that made viewing difficult, depressing traffic. When the Empire State Building opened in 1931 with two observatories at a higher elevation, the Chrysler observatory lost its clientele.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum" /> After the observatory closed, it was used to house radio and television broadcasting equipment.<ref name="McCain 1988">{{cite web|last=McCain|first=Mark|title=Commercial Property: Tower Offices; Both Views and Prestige Draw Tenants to the Top|website=The New York Times|date=June 26, 1988|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/26/realestate/commercial-property-tower-offices-both-views-prestige-draw-tenants-top.html|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref> Since 1986, the old observatory has housed the office of architects Harvey Morse and Cowperwood Interests.<ref name="McCain 1988" /><ref name="mrbellers">{{cite web|last=Michaelis|first=David|url=http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=114|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090519083624/http://www.mrbellersneighborhood.com/story.php?storyid=114|archive-date=May 19, 2009|title=Inside the Needle: The Chrysler Building Gets Lit by David Michaelis|publisher=MrBellersNeighborhood|date=March 31, 2002|access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref>

The stories above the 71st floor are designed mostly for exterior appearance, functioning mainly as landings for the stairway to the spire and do not contain office space.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=400}} They are very narrow, have low and sloping roofs, and are only used to house radio transmitters and other mechanical and electrical equipment.<ref name="jayebee.com" /> For example, the 73rd floor houses the motors of the elevators and a {{convert|15000|gal|L|adj=on}} water tank, of which {{convert|3500|gal|L}} are reserved for extinguishing fires.<ref name="mrbellers" />

{{Clear}}