The following press release comes from Antiques and Estate Auctioneers, in Wellington, Ohio:

Rediscovered Hugh Ferriss Rendering of Chrysler Building at Auction, January 27, 2007

An important piece of New York City history will be brought to auction on January 27, 2007 by John Farkas and Connie Rose of Antiques and Estate Auctioneers, in Wellington, Ohio. Live Internet bidding will be available. The print, which is featured as Lot 100, is an extremely rare rendering of the Chrysler Building in New York City by world-renowned artist and architect Hugh Ferriss. The recently discovered print measures 38.5″ by 16″, and is signed and dated with the signatures of: W.P. Chrysler, William Van Alen, Frank B. Rogers, Louis T.M. Ralston, Harry Gold and Stanley H. Ross.

Hugh Ferriss (1889-1962) was trained as an architect at Washington University. He was quite talented in that field, but early in his career, he discovered that he preferred to create architectural renderings of other architect’s works, rather than designing his own buildings. His skill as an architect and his artistic talents as a delineator of architectural design soon led him to become an extremely sought after freelance artist and architectural illustrator.

Ferriss is noted as having been the delineator for many well known and famous buildings, such as the Woolworth Building in New York City, the Chicago Tribune Tower, The Chicago Board of Trade Building, and the Radiator Building in New York City.

The Chrysler Building is located in the midtown Manhattan borough of New York City. It was designed by Van Alen, and is often lauded as the icon of skyscraper architecture and the epitome of Art Deco design. The ground breaking took place on Sept 19, 1928, and the opening ceremonies were held on May 28, 1930. The Chrysler Building was the world’s tallest building for a brief time until it was surpassed by the Empire State Building in 1931. It retains, to this day, the distinction of being the world’s tallest brick building.

This print of Ferriss’ rendering of the Chrysler Building appears to be a previously undiscovered gem. It actually depicts his vision of the building just prior to it’s completion. The vast majority of Ferriss’ works are housed in museum collections, such as the large collection held by Columbia University. According to Farkas, “This is a very rare opportunity for the high bidder on this unique item to join the select few who actually own a Hugh Ferriss rendering. We are looking forward to offering this exciting and historic item.”

Antiques and Estate Auctioneers have been featured in numerous national publications regarding their many unique auctions including the recent completion of the massive estate auction of automotive historian Mickey Mishne as well as their discovery of a rare pocket watch which fetched over $620,000 at auction.

The upcoming auction of the Chrysler Building print will provide live bidding at the Antiques and Estate Auctioneers gallery, which is located at 44777 St. Rt. 18 E. Wellington, OH 44090. The gallery is a 10,000 sq. ft. building which features a state of the art 8′ digital projection screen and custom gallery lighting. All gallery auctions are fully cataloged and offer the action of live auction bidding, as well as incorporating a world wide audience of online Internet bidders, with full on line catalogs, which are professionally handled by Proxibid.com. More information is available by telephone at 440-647-4007 or by visiting the website at www.estateauctioneers.com.