40 Wall Street the height of his project and then publicly claimed the title of the world's tallest building. (This distinction excluded structures that were not fully habitable, such as the Eiffel Tower.) Construction of 40 Wall Street began in May 1929 at a frantic pace, and it was completed twelve months later. In response, the Chrysler's architect William Van Alen obtained permission for a long spire and had it secretly constructed inside the frame of the building. The spire was delivered to the site in four different sections. On October 23, 1929, the day before the catastrophic Wall Street Crash of 1929
Wall Street bombing agitation in the United States. The Wall Street bomb killed more people than the 1910 bombing of the "Los Angeles Times", which was the deadliest act of terrorism on U.S. soil up to that point. The death toll was exceeded in the Tulsa Race Riot in 1921. At noon, a horse-drawn wagon passed by lunchtime crowds on Wall Street and stopped across the street from the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan bank at 23 Wall Street, on the Financial District's busiest corner. Inside the wagon, of dynamite with of heavy, cast-iron sash weights exploded in a timer-set detonation, sending the