Haha, I just TIL.

Haha just#TIL#For a moment, what is this needle on the Chrysler Building in New York, USA?

Not lightning protection, nor antenna, nor aesthetic design… It was William Van Alen, the architect of the building in the 1920s, who was fighting with his rival, the architect of the Bank of Manhattan Building, who at almost the same time claimed to be building the tallest building in New York.
Van Alen’s building began to be repaired, and his opponent soon said that I was going to build a higher one. Van Alen decided not to modify his original design (fixing may reveal the final height, let opponents also change), so in the building silently, quietly assembled the needle, when it was about to be repaired, suddenly bang out (…) An old needle was erected on the roof of the building and defeated the opponent at once.

(Soon, however, the Empire State Building was built. Chrysler Building was the tallest building in the world for only a few years.)