Editing Chrysler Building (section)

====Crown and spire====
[[File:Chrysler Building detail.jpg|thumb|upright|Detail of the Art Deco ornamentation at the crown|left]]

The Chrysler Building is renowned for, and recognized by its terraced crown, which is an extension of the main tower.{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}} Composed of seven radiating terraced arches, Van Alen's design of the crown is a cruciform [[groin vault]] of seven concentric members with transitioning setbacks.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thecityreview.com/chryslerb.html|title=Chrysler Building|first=Carter B.|last=Horsley|publisher=The City Review|access-date=September 27, 2010}}</ref> The entire crown is clad with Nirosta steel, ribbed and riveted in a radiating [[sunburst]] pattern with many triangular vaulted windows, reminiscent of the spokes of a wheel.{{sfn|Stern|Gilmartin|Mellins|1987|p=608}}<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=105–108}} The windows are repeated, in smaller form, on the terraced crown's seven narrow setbacks.<ref name="jayebee.com" />{{sfn|Cobb|2010|pp=105–108}} Due to the curved shape of the dome, the Nirosta sheets had to be measured on site, so most of the work was carried out in workshops on the building's 67th and 75th floors.<ref name="Skyscraper_Museum">{{cite web |last=Willis |first=Carol |title=The Skyscraper Museum: Times Square, 1984: The Postmodern Moment Walkthrough |url=http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/chrysler.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422174957/http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/TEN_TOPS/chrysler.php |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |access-date=November 1, 2017 |website=The Skyscraper Museum}}</ref> According to Robinson, the terraced crown "continue[s] the wedding-cake layering of the building itself. This concept is carried forward from the 61st floor, whose eagle gargoyles echo the treatment of the 31st, to the spire, which extends the concept of 'higher and narrower' forward to infinite height and infinitesimal width. This unique treatment emphasizes the building's height, giving it an other worldly atmosphere reminiscent of the fantastic architecture of Coney Island or the Far East."{{sfn|Curcio|2001|p=418}}

Television station [[WCBS-TV]] (Channel 2) originated its transmission from the top of the Chrysler Building in 1938.<ref>{{cite web|title=Columbia Setting Up Television Station; $650,000 Installation Atop the Chrysler Building|website=The New York Times|date=September 28, 1938|issn=0362-4331|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/09/28/archives/columbia-setting-up-television-station-650000-installation-atop-the.html|access-date=November 6, 2017}}</ref> WCBS-TV transmissions were shifted to the Empire State Building in 1960<ref name="earlytv">{{Cite web|title=W2XAB – CBS, New York|url=http://www.earlytelevision.org/w2xab.html|publisher=Early Television|access-date=February 15, 2016}}</ref> in response to competition from [[RCA]]'s transmitter on that building.<ref>{{cite book|last=Balio|first=Tino|title=Hollywood in the Age of Television|publisher=Taylor & Francis|series=Routledge Library Editions: Cinema|year=2013|isbn=978-1-317-92915-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=685iAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|access-date=November 5, 2017|page=66}}</ref> For many years [[WPAT-FM]] and [[WKTU|WTFM (now WKTU)]] also transmitted from the Chrysler Building, but their move to the Empire State Building by the 1970s ended commercial broadcasting from the structure.<ref name="earlytv" />

The crown and spire are illuminated by a combination of fluorescent lights framing the crown's distinctive triangular windows and colored floodlights that face toward the building, allowing it to be lit in a variety of schemes for special occasions.<ref name="emporis" /> The V-shaped fluorescent "tube lighting" – hundreds of 480V 40W bulbs framing 120 window openings<ref>{{cite web| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HeYCAAAAMBAJ&dq=chrysler+building+tube+lighting&pg=PA76| title = 'Queen of the Night', ''New York Magazine'', December 7, 1981| date = December 7, 1981}}</ref> – was added in 1981, although it had been part of the original design.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=189}}<ref name="enc-nyc">{{cite enc-nyc|page=247}}</ref> Until 1998, the lights were turned off at 2&nbsp;a.m., but ''[[The New York Observer]]'' columnist [[Ron Rosenbaum]] convinced Tishman Speyer to keep the lights on until 6&nbsp;a.m.<ref>See: * {{cite web|last=Rosenbaum|first=Ron|title=Come On Tishman, Light My Spire|website=Observer|date=February 23, 1998|url=http://observer.com/1998/02/come-on-tishman-light-my-spire/|access-date=November 5, 2017}} (lights turn on until 6 a.m.) * {{cite web|last=Rosenbaum|first=Ron|title=Edgy Gets Results! The Chrysler Spire Is Re-Lit Till Dawn|website=Observer|date=August 11, 2003|url=http://observer.com/2003/08/edgy-gets-results-the-chrysler-spire-is-relit-till-dawn/|access-date=November 5, 2017}} (lights turned off, then re-lit at Rosenbaum's request)</ref> Since 2015, the Chrysler Building and other city skyscrapers have been part of the [[Audubon Society]]'s Lights Out program, turning off their lights during [[bird migration]] seasons.<ref>{{cite web|last=Russ|first=Hilary|title=New York state to turn lights out for migrating birds|website=U.S.|date=April 27, 2015|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-new-york-birds/new-york-state-to-turn-lights-out-for-migrating-birds-idUSKBN0NI21R20150427|access-date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>