William Van Alen

William Van Alen ( born August 10, 1882 in Brooklyn, New York City; † May 24, 1954 ) was an American architect. He was known by the construction of the Chrysler Building ( 1928-1930 ).

After finishing school, Van Alen studied at the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. During his education, and immediately thereafter he worked in various New York architectural firms. 1908 Lloyd Warren Fellowship enabled him to travel to Europe. By 1911, Van Alen studied at the École nationale supérieure des beaux -arts de Paris by Victor Laloux.

In 1911 he made together with his partner, H. Craig Severance in New York with its own architectural practice independently. The two were known for their high-rise buildings, but quarreled with each other and dissolved in 1925 their community.

In the late 1920s got Van Alen by Walter P. Chrysler commissioned to build a building that not only scrapes the sky, but pierces ("A building Which would not Merely scrape the sky but positively pierce it" ). After the completion of the Chrysler Building in 1930 was the building in Art Deco style for a year until the completion of the Empire State Building the tallest building in the world. Van Alen but also clashed with Chrysler in dispute, which had an impact for the rest of his life detrimental to his career.

• Architect ( United States)
• Americans
• Born in 1882
• Died in 1954
• Man