Until 1996, the world's tallest building was defined by the height to the top of the tallest architectural element, including spires but not antennae. This led to a rivalry between the Bank of Manhattan Building and the Chrysler Building. The Bank of Manhattan Building (i.e. 40 Wall Street) employed only a short spire and was tall and had a much higher top occupied floor (the second category in the 1996 criteria for tallest building). In contrast, the Chrysler Building employed a very large spire secretly assembled inside the building to claim the title of world's tallest building with a total height of , although it had a lower top occupied floor and a shorter height when both buildings' spires were excluded.
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