It skyscraper at 40 Wall Street - one of the most famous in the United States. The reason is two things: the story of a giant building and its current owner.

In the late twenties of the last century architects Craig Severance and Yasuo Matsui designed for the Bank of the Manhattan skyscraper height of 260 meters. Customer set an ambitious goal: to create the tallest building in the world. He initially planned to 41 meters higher than the famous Woolworth Building, completed in 1913, and by 60 centimeters - the construction nearby Chrysler Building. To ensure that overtake a competitor, the architects have added to the project are 23 meters. They were confident of victory.

But the millionaire Walter Chrysler used a secret weapon: his engineers secretly gathered in a building under construction in stainless steel spire height of 38 meters. When installed, the Chrysler Building surpassed 40 Wall Street - though only eleven months until the order is not entered in the Empire State Building.

Skyscrapers could not be the highest, but the number of records he set. Despite the difficult construction conditions (poor soils, tight construction site), it was completed in just one year. Extremely complex foundation laid in just three weeks. The inner steel base frame mounted for 93 days.

Skyscraper quickly won the title of the "Pearl of the Wall Street." Its turquoise pyramidal crown stands out in the skyline of Manhattan. The building was built in Art Deco style, the six lower floors are decorated neoclassical colonnaded facades are covered with limestone.

May 20, 1946 US Air Force plane in heavy fog crashed into the facade of the building at 58 floors, breaking through three-meter hole in the brickwork. He killed the entire crew - five pilots. Amazingly, falling bricks did not touch anyone in the street.

Commercial giant fate was unenviable. In 1982 it was bought by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, but when the dictator was overthrown, its assets frozen, the skyscraper was in oblivion. In 1995, he acquired one of the most extravagant people in America - developers, investors, TV presenter, writer, billionaire Donald Trump. At first he planned to place in the top half of the building residential apartments, but the plan failed. Later the building was trying to sell, but buyers of the requested amount is not found. Businessman energetic and brave, Trump had time for this time to splurge to the nines, and then get back on their feet. He overhauled the building and today it shines in all its splendor. The second of its name - Trump Building.