Chrysler Building
New York City, NY Photo courtesy Gorb70
Look up toward 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue to catch one of the grandest Art Deco sights anywhere in the country. The Chrysler Building is a machine-age masterpiece, finished in 1930 and custom-designed by architect William Van Alen for automotive titan Walter P. Chrysler. Automotive details are worked right into the brick and steel facade, from stylized eagle gargoyles jutting out over the street to geometric friezes modeled after 1929 Chrysler Plymouth radiator caps and winged hood ornaments.
Check out that gleaming, sunburst-patterned crown. Van Alen famously kept a 185-foot steel needle secretly hidden inside the framework of the tower, hoisting it through the roof in just 90 minutes to beat out 40 Wall Street in the dramatic 1930 "race to the sky." That surprise move briefly made the Chrysler Building the tallest structure in the world, eclipsing the Eiffel Tower until the Empire State Building took the title eleven months later. Even Walter Chrysler paid for the entire 20-million-dollar construction out of his own pocket so his kids could inherit the real estate directly. 07-07
UPDATE: The landmark skyscraper remains an active Midtown office tower facing Lex and 42nd. 08-26
RCA General Electric Building
New York City, NY Photo courtesy Gorb70
The RCA General Electric Building at 570 Lexington Avenue looks like a towering Gothic cathedral crossed with a giant radio transmitter. Rising 50 stories over the corner of Lex and 51st Street, this 1931 Art Deco stunner was originally commissioned as the RCA Victor Building before a corporate reshuffle handed the keys over to General Electric just before the doors opened.
Check out the wild machine-age details worked across the terracotta and salmon-brick facade. The architects specifically loaded the building with lightning bolts, gears, and dynamic radio waves to symbolize the invisible power of electricity. Right above the corner entrance, a custom nickel-bronze clock features a pair of metallic arms clutching bolts of lightning beneath the classic cursive GE script. Look all the way up to the crown, and the open Gothic tracery is designed to look like a giant glowing torch against the night sky, complete with massive stylized figures holding yet more lightning bolts. 07-07
UPDATE: The landmark tower continues to serve as boutique office and retail space along Lexington Avenue. 08-26
Helmsley Building
New York City, NY Photo courtesy Gorb70
Take a look at this massive Beaux-Arts tower planted right smack in the middle of Park Avenue. Built in 1929, the 34 story *Helmsley Building was originally the home of the New York Central Railroad Company. Designed by Warren & Wetmore, the same architects behind neighboring Grand Central Terminal, this place has one of the wildest roadside setups you'll ever see. Instead of routing traffic around the block, cars heading uptown and downtown cruise right through two giant arched road tunnels punch-holed straight through the base of the building!
Look all the way up top and you can't miss that steep pyramidal copper crown and ornate lantern spire. Back in the day, it stood solo against the open sky before the giant Pan Am Building rose up behind it in the sixties to block the view. Real estate mogul Harry Helmsley picked up the property in the late seventies and slapped his name on it, making sure it legally had to stay that way. 07-07
UPDATE: The landmark tower continues to straddle the Park Avenue viaduct tunnels as an active office building. 08-26
Fitchburg Rail Bridge
Bellows Falls, VT Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
Here is the old stone bridge built for the Fitchburg railroad in 1899. Note the date. The building of the bridge began September 13 and finished December 10, and that is by building it 1 stone at a time! Many thanks to Richard Weiss for info. 07-07
Connecting the village of Bellows Falls, Vermont, straight across the state line to North Walpole, New Hampshire, the Fitchburg Rail Bridge (also widely known as the Bellows Falls Stone Arch Bridge) is a massive piece of roadside railroad muscle. With its heavy cut-stone masonry arches anchored directly onto the exposed bedrock of the river gorge, the bridge looks like it was built to withstand just about anything nature could throw at it.
Before this stone span went up, an enormous double-track wooden covered railroad bridge crossed the gorge on this very spot. Built back in the 1850s, that old wooden structure was an engineering marvel in its own right, boasting 110-foot spans that were among the longest timber rail bridges ever constructed in the country. But by the turn of the century, those aging timbers simply couldn't handle the crushing weight of newer, heavier steam locomotives. So what did the railroad do? In 1899, crews condemned the old timber bridge, pushed the entire wooden structure right off into the churning river waters below, and set it ablaze in a giant bonfire to clear out the channel!
Fitchburg Rail Bridge
Bellows Falls, VT Photo courtesy Richard Weiss
To replace it, contractor Holbrook, Cabot & Daly stepped in and pulled off a small construction miracle. Working over the narrow, rushing rocky gorge, masonry crews began laying stone on September 13, 1899, and finished the entire heavy stone arch bridge by December 10, 1899, assembling it block by block in under three months flat. Custom-built for the Fitchburg Railroad, the line soon passed to the Boston & Maine and Rutland Railroads, serving as a vital transportation artery across the river for generations.
More than a century later, heavy freight trains still regularly rumble across the heavy stone deck high above the rocky riverbed, making it well worth pulling off near Bridge Street for a quick look.
UPDATE: The bridge remains an active mainline rail crossing operated by the Green Mountain Railroad. 08-26
Foxburg Bridge (Demolished)
Foxburg, PA Photo courtesy Rick McOmber
The future is uncertain for the Foxburg Bridge, but demolition is likely in 2008 as a new bridge is being built beside it. This bridge constructed in 1921 used to carry rail traffic above. Many thanks to Rick McOmber for info. 10-07
Check out this rare double-decker truss span crossing over the Allegheny River.
The Foxburg Bridge along Route 58 was built in 1921 for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad with a wild two-tier design. Trains rumbled across the top level, while local cars shared a tight, single-lane wooden roadway suspended directly underneath.
Train traffic ended on the upper deck in 1964, but drivers kept using the narrow lower level for decades until a modern replacement span opened next door in July 2008. Just weeks later, crews brought down the historic 1921 steel bridge in a spectacular explosive implosion.
UPDATE: The bridge was demolished in July 2008, and Route 58 traffic now uses the adjacent modern concrete crossing. 08-26
Meadville Bridge (Gone)
Meadville, PA Photo courtesy Rick McOmber
The Meadville bridge built in 1871 was recently closed to traffic and its future is unknown. This bridge is located in Meadville, Pennsylvania.Many thanks to Rick McOmber for info. 10-07
Take a look at one of the strangest engineering setups you'd ever run across on a bridge hunt.
The Mead Avenue Bridge (long known locally as the Meadville Bridge) crossed French Creek with two completely different bridges built right on top of each other! The inner core was an 1870s wrought-iron Whipple truss made with Andrew Carnegie's patented Keystone columns. In 1912, instead of tearing the antique span down to handle heavier streetcars and trucks, builders wrapped a whole new steel Baltimore truss bridge directly around the outside of the old iron frame.
The unique two-in-one crossing carried traffic for nearly a century until structural wear forced an emergency closure in March 2007. Crews eventually dismantled the spans, crating up the historic metal panels for storage.
UPDATE: The historic encased bridge was removed after closing in 2007, and its metal truss panels were placed in storage. 08-26
Empire State Building
New York City, NY Photo by RoadsidePeek.com
Here is a shot of the Empire State Building in New York City.
The Empire State Building along Fifth Avenue and 34th Street is probably the most famous skyscraper in the world. Rising 102 stories above the Manhattan sidewalks, construction began on March 17, 1930, and the entire limestone giant went up in just 1 year and 45 days, opening its doors on May 1, 1931. It became the world's first building with over 100 stories, and held the title of the tallest building in the world all the way until the World Trade Center went up in 1970.
Check out that towering Art Deco spire reaching 1,454 feet into the sky. Believe it or not, the designers originally intended that mast to serve as a docking station for giant passenger airships, though wild high-altitude winds quickly put an end to that idea! The building cemented its pop-culture fame when King Kong swatted biplanes from the top in the 1933 cinema classic, and it even survived a real-life collision in 1945 when an Army B-25 bomber accidentally crashed into the 79th floor during heavy fog.
After 9/11, it briefly became the city's tallest skyscraper again until One World Trade Center rose in 2012. 11-20
UPDATE: The Empire State Building continues to welcome visitors to its observation decks as an active office and broadcast landmark. 08-26
Chrysler Building
RCA General Electric Building
Helmsley Building
Fitchburg Rail Bridge
Fitchburg Rail Bridge
Foxburg Bridge (Demolished)
Meadville Bridge (Gone)
Empire State Building
