I remember once hearing a story about one of the skyscrapers built in the early 1900's being topped with an aluminium spire beacuse it was the most expensive metal whenthe building was finished. Is this true or an urban myth? If it is true could someone tell me the name of the building, when it was built and who built it.

• ID# 182.2 (reply to #182.1) - 31 October 2000
  Sounds like an urban legend, or an inaccurate reference to the Chrysler Building. Alumium is of course expensive to make (especially in the early 1900s) in the sense that its making requires a lot of electricity, but the only 'scraper of that period with a shiny spire (that I know of) is the Chrysler, with its nickel-chrome spire and "sunburst" roof -- maybe it refers to that. ED