Who was the original developer of the Allied Arts Building and how did he finish his career?

Joseph J. Oppenmeyer, a newly transplanted European diamond mogul, commissioned the building’s design and construction in 1929.   For some reason Oppenmeyer did not ask for an elevator to be included in the building 18 story design.  Construction was only two weeks from completion, when the Federal Land and Buildings Commission passed a national ordinance that required any building over four stories tall to include an elevator.

The cash strapped Oppenmeyer tried to lobby in Washington DC, but he was unable to get his building a grandfather clause to not have an elevator.   On June 30th, 1931, the building was completed but sat empty.  On July 1st, out of complete dismay of the situation, Oppenmeyer publicly vowed to hurl himself nude from the building’s pinnacle at noon on the 4th of July.  However, mid-morning on the 4th, Oppenmeyer announced to a crowd of reporters and onlookers, that an out-of-state group of silent investors had agreed to buy the Tower – the Allied Group.  The building opened six months later, with a newly retrofitted elevator. Oppenmeyer was forced into bankruptcy and in a twist of fate, he spent the last five years of his life as an employee of the new owner group, operating the elevator.