2. The Chrysler Building used to have apartments, a car showroom, and a speakeasy
The Chrysler Building, technically within the borders of Turtle Bay to the east of Lexington Avenue, is an Art Deco masterpiece and defining feature of the city skyline that hides rather surprising features that have mostly been forgotten. On the 66th to 68th floors of the Chrysler Building, there was once a venue called The Cloud Club. This space was initially designed for executives of the oil company Texaco, which occupied 14 floors of the building. The Cloud Club restaurant had Futurist, Tudor, and Old English design elements. It also featured a barber shop, and locker rooms used to hide alcohol during Prohibition. In addition to this swanky lunch spot, the Chrysler Building also housed numerous apartments on its upper levels, including the 61st-floor apartment of LIFE photographer Margaret Bourke-White. Walter P. Chrysler also owned a private apartment on the top floor, notably boasting the highest toilet in Manhattan.
The functions of the Chrysler Building only get more surprising. As the building’s name suggests, it was designed to act as the headquarters of automaker Chrysler, but that never ended up working out. Despite the fact that Chrysler never moved its offices into the building, there was an automobile showroom. The showroom could be found in the lobby and on the floor above it. It had yellow floors and Moroccan marble walls. The basement of the building hosted a water bottling plant, where bottles were filled and then distributed to the building’s tenants.