LIFE Magazine's Classic Photos
The Chrysler Building, circa 1935
By Oscar Graubner
In 1930, six years before signing on at LIFE, Margaret Bourke-White leased a studio in New York City's sexy new Deco darling, the Chrysler Building, which had been completed only that May (and for a brief time was the world's tallest building). She took striking pictures of the building's majestic spire, and, while situated atop its 61st-floor gargoyles, this woman once known as Maggie the Indestructible cast her eye and lens over all of Gotham and made fantastic cityscapes. This particular photo, as famous as any of the Chrysler shots that Bourke-White took, shows the photographer at her precarious perch, readying her camera. This portrait of the artist as a young daredevil was taken by Bourke-White's assistant.