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Chrysler Building Birdhouse

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My wife got a hold of plans for constucting a birdhouse designed as a scale model of NYC’s Chrysler Building. Both of us being native NYC folks and a birdhouse project, I had no choice but to go for it.

The model is mostly 1/4” plywood. The only prefab I used was the decorative molding between the corner ‘birds’. Do ya like the reproduction of the corner birds? That’s not even part of the original plans but is such a famous detail on the building, I could not leave ‘em off.

Also, rather than just painting on the windows, I cut thin plywood and glued on raised windows. Even the top floor windows on the sides and back were arched to remain true to ‘the original’.

The building is so large, 42 inches tall, total height, and it weighs in at 15+ pounds, I decided not to hang the monster. We also decided that we would use it more as a decoration and place it near our front door. But being in that alcove presented a display problem.

The matter of not hanging the house was resolved by constructing a 15” square shelf, made from cedar 2×4 and bolting it into the brick.

There is a post on this website about the shelf. 

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