3. A water bottling plant once existed in the basement
One spot that didn’t make it into the book The Chrysler Building: Creating a New York Icon Day by Day was the water bottling plant, labeled in an old film negative as the “hydrozone water bottling” unit. After the water was filtered and bottled, it would be sent up to higher floors throughout the Chrysler Building.
Author David Stravitz wrote, “Tap water was filtered through an intricate system and then bottled for water coolers to be distributed to tenants in the building. The large room was magnificent, with fabulous tiling throughout. Quite exotic for a space most people never saw.”
