225:, another architect with similar professional interests but a very different personal style. Severance was gregarious and charming, while Van Alen was more introverted. The partnership prospered and became known for its distinctive multistory commercial structures. It completed a building in 1914 in Lower Manhattan that was notable for having storefront windows that were flush with the walls rather than set back, an innovation that later became a standard practice. In the 1920s, Severance and Van Alen began to get bigger commissions, but their relationship grew more strained due to their personal differences, and the partnership dissolved in 1924.
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of his profession." However, the building itself was described by some critics as just flash which "embodies no compelling, organic idea" and which was "distinctly a stunt design, evolved to make the man in the street look up" but having "no significance as serious design." Nevertheless, the
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when he received the
Chrysler Building commission. After the building was completed, Van Alen requested payment of 6 percent of the building's construction budget ($ 14 million), a figure that was the standard fee of the time. After Chrysler refused payment, Van Alen sued him and won, eventually
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completed in 1925, incorporated curved glass corner windows which lacked a supporting corner post, another innovation that later became common. This building, which housed a Childs restaurant on its lower floors, garnered notice from
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and other prominent architecture critics. His design for another Childs location at 2 Massachusetts Ave. NW in
Washington, DC, completed in 1926, was very different. A single-story stone structure on a small triangular plot near
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Severance and Van Alen continued to practice on their own in New York, but Van Alen found it difficult to obtain large commissions and sustained his office with smaller commissions. In the mid-1920s he received two of these from
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In the late 1920s, Severance and Van Alen found themselves engaged in designing buildings that were heralded in the press to become the tallest buildings in the world: Severance, the
Manhattan Trust Building
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receiving the fee. The lawsuit significantly depreciated his reputation as an employable architect. After his career was effectively ruined by this, and further let down by the
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The completion of the
Chrysler Building was received by critics with mixed reactions. Van Alen was hailed as a "Doctor of Altitude" and as "the
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By the time Van Alen returned to New York in 1910, he had become interested in new architectural styles, including the
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128:(August 10, 1883 – May 24, 1954) was an American architect, best known as the architect in charge of designing
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After finishing his studies, Van Alen worked for firms in New York, notably working on the
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Early photo of 604 Fifth Avenue in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
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for which he later became known. In 1911 he formed a partnership with
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Building remains a beloved New York City landmark structure.
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Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City
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384:"For the Architect, a Height Never Again to Be Scaled"
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546:Gray, Christopher (March 22, 1998),
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187:in the United States, founded by
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682:20th-century American architects
175:while working for the architect
382:Bascomb, Neal (May 26, 2005),
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707:Architects from New York City
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193:Emmanuel Louis Masqueray
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104:Clinton & Russell
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83:, Atelier Masqueray
652:Van Alen Institute
553:The New York Times
449:Van Alen Institute
389:The New York Times
345:"William Van Alen"
321:Streamline Moderne
302:Van Alen Institute
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255:and Van Alen, the
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200:Hotel Astor
135:(1928–30).
69:Nationality
676:Categories
642:Structurae
633:archINFORM
331:References
191:architect
88:Occupation
47:, New York
37:1883-08-10
528:April 27,
506:April 27,
263:in 1931.
219:modernism
110:Buildings
91:Architect
325:Brighton
317:Art Deco
315:, a neo-
268:Ziegfeld
161:Brooklyn
100:Practice
72:American
45:Brooklyn
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311:The
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