Chanin Building

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Chanin Building is a historic Midtown Manhattan skyscraper. Built in 1929 by architect Irwin Chanin, the building provided office space both Chanin and others he decided to rent it out to. The building was also known for its use of French art-deco architectural style. It was designated as a New York City Landmark in November of 1978, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in April of 1980. Today, the Chanin Building continues to have office space for rent.

Images

A view of the building in 2003 ((By Doc Searls from Santa Barbara, USA (ny_mayday02_09.JPG Uploaded by xnatedawgx) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons))

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

In the early twentieth century, Irwin Chanin trained as an architect at the famed school of Cooper Union and wanted to design a building as a “speculative venture.” After touring Paris in 1925, Chanin came back to the United States with a great deal of knowledge about the architecture there, which inspired him to use the French art-deco style - a popular architecture movement at the time. Chanin decided to collaborate with the firm of Sloan and Robertson to design and construct his building, and in 1927, construction commenced. Construction of the building was completed in 1929, and soon after its completion, Chanin moved his personal office into the building and left the rest of the building as open office space to rent out.

The building would go on to flourish for years to come, and on November 14th of 1978, it was designated as a New York City Landmark. Not long after that, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 23rd of 1980. Today, the Chanin Building continues to serve as a building for office space to rent to the Midtown Manhattan area.

Sources

"New York Architecture Images - Chanin Building." New York Architecture. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Aug. 2016.