Roughly two dozen famous architects came dressed as the buildings they designed to 1931's Beaux-Arts Ball in Manhattan. Below are just seven of them.
In a 2006 article about the event (A New Age of Architecture Ushered in Financial Gloom) published by New York Times writer Christopher Gray, William Van Alen's ornate "Chrysler Building" costume is described in vivid detail:
Indeed, his cloak was designed to emulate the design of the doors, and two shoulder ornaments replicated the eagle heads at the 61st-floor setbacks. On his head rose a strikingly dangerous-looking crown, the graduated layers of the Chrysler tower itself rising to a spire, the ensemble at least four feet above his scalp.
Can you guess the other buildings (and their designers)? Answers are listed under the photo.
Photo: Ely Jacques Kahn, Architect by Jewel Stern and John A. Stewart
L-R: A. Stewart Walker (Fuller Building), Leonard Schultze (Waldorf-Astoria), Ely Jacques Kahn (Squibb Building), William Van Alen (Chrysler Building), Ralph Walker (1 Wall Street), D.E.Ward (Metropolitan Tower), Joseph H. Freelander (Museum of New York).
Read more about this iconic photo here.
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