I'm usually in NYC every weekend, I have always loved the building and I have always wanted to see those eagle hood ornaments close up...

Big Pic (1.1 mgs) I took on a brilliant day

http://rbk3.com/nyc/IMG_1625.JPG

so I stopped by and spoke to the guard in the lobby. He said that the building was privately owned and that no tours were given. I commented that I was a car guy and how much I liked art deco auto theme, and especially the eagles. He replied that a law firm was on the 61st floor and that was the only place you can really see them. I persisted and he offered to arrest me so that I might avail myself of that law firm, thereby gaining entrance to the 61st floor and thussly viewing the eagles. I politely declined.

Its still worth going, the lobby is stunning, the mural is awesome...heres a review...


It is illuminated with some simple Art Deco light fixtures whose emanation is amplified by reflections along its exceedingly luscious red Moroccan marble walls, yellow Siena marble floor and amber onyx and blue marble trim. The large lobby ceiling is covered by a mural, entitled, "Energy, Result, Workmanship and Transportation," by Edward Turnbull. The elaborate and confusing mural contains a large image of the building, a plane, workers, and decorative patterns. As much of the ceiling has recessed lighting and the overall illumination in the large space is quite low, it is very difficult to appreciate the mural on which the artist allegedly used some of the building's construction workers as models. The 100 by 76 foot mural was covered in the 1970's with a coating that darkened it and and spotlights were cut into it. As part of a $100 million renovation project by Tishman Speyer Properties, that included the reclading with glass of the white-brick annex office tower at Third Avenue and the creation of angled, prismatic structures in the low-rise spaces between the annex and the Chrysler Building, the mural was restored in 1999 by the EverGreene Painting Studios.

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Cheers,
Robert