The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of and stands a total of tall, including its antenna. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970; following its collapse in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the city's tallest skyscraper until 2012. , the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City, the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, the 48th-tallest in the world, and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas.
Introduction
Empire State Building
Empire State Building | Introduction
Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. National Historic Landmark It is an American cultural icon, it has been featured in more than 250 TV shows and movies since the film "King Kong" was released
how many floors is the empire state building observation deck
user
3 floors.
assistant
where is it located?
user
Midtown Manhattan in New York City.
assistant
what is the earlier mentioned building used for?
user
The site of the Empire State Building, located in Midtown South on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets, was originally part of an early 18th-century farm. It was developed in 1893 as the site of the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel. In 1929, Empire State Inc. acquired the site and devised plans for a skyscraper there. The design for the Empire State Building was changed fifteen times until it was ensured to be the world's tallest building. Construction started on March 17, 1930, and the building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931.
Empire State Building | Introduction
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of and stands a total of tall, including its antenna. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building until the construction of the World Trade Center in 1970; following its collapse in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the city's tallest skyscraper until 2012. , the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City, the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, the 48th-tallest in the world, and the fifth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas.
Empire State Building | Introduction
The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets in Midtown, Manhattan, New York City. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 m), and with its antenna included, it stands a total of tall. The Empire State Building stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the original World Trade Center's North Tower in late 1970. It has been featured in numerous films, TV shows, songs, video games, books, photographs, and artwork.
Empire State Building in popular culture | Introduction
The Empire Building is an office skyscraper at 71 Broadway, on the corner of Rector Street, in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Kimball & Thompson in the Classical Revival style and built by Marc Eidlitz & Son from 1897 to 1898. The building consists of 21 stories above a full basement story facing Trinity Place at the back of the building and is tall. The Empire Building's articulation consists of three horizontal sections similar to the components of a column—namely a base, shaft, and capital—and has a facade of gray granite at its base and white granite on the upper stories.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Introduction
The Empire State Building, a 102-story contemporary Art Deco style building in Midtown Manhattan, was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon and finished in 1931. It was the world's tallest building for 42 years. The tower takes its name from the nickname of New York State. It was the first building to go beyond the 100-story mark, and has one of the world's most visited observation decks, which sees about 4 million visitors a year. The building was built in just 14 months. Completed in 1930, the Chrysler Building is a distinctive symbol of New York, standing high in East Midtown, Manhattan.
Architecture of New York City | Art Deco
without the antenna). The relief, which was intended to provide a welcoming effect, contains an embossing of the building's outline, accompanied by what the Landmarks Preservation Commission describes as "the rays of an aluminum sun shining out behind [the tower] and mingling with aluminum rays emanating from the spire of the Empire State Building". In the background is a state map of New York with the building's location marked by a "medallion" in the very southeast portion of the outline. A compass is located in the bottom right and a plaque to the tower's major developers is on the bottom left.
Empire State Building | Lobby
New York is widely known by the nickname "Empire State", and its effects can be seen throughout the state. Manhattan's Empire State Building opened in 1931 and was the world's tallest building until the completion of the north tower of the World Trade Center in 1970. Following the September 11 attacks, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in Manhattan until One World Trade Center claimed the title in April 2012. 1939 New York World's Fair dubbed the span between the Trylon and N.Y. State Exhibit as The Empire State Bridge. The main offices of state government are located at the Empire State Plaza (ESP) in Albany, the state capital.
Empire State | Namesakes
The total height of the building is . The facade rises straight from street level and fills the entire lot except for two light courts on the south end of the lot. The offices were arranged so that they faced north toward Trinity Church, while utility rooms and elevators are located on the southern portion of the building.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Design
According to the official fact sheets the building rises 1,860 steps from the first to the 102nd floor, weighs , has an internal volume of , and an exterior with of limestone and granite. Construction of the tower's exterior required ten million bricks and of aluminum and stainless steel, and the interior required of elevator cable and of electrical wires. The building has a capacity for 20,000 tenants and 15,000 visitors. The building has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate.
Empire State Building | Architecture
There is a cornice above the 16th floor. The capital is four stories tall with loggias and a metal cornice above the 20th floor. The loggias, located on the 18th and 19th floors, are composed of Corinthian paired columns that form a colonnade. There are also ornamental panels. The 21st story was added in 1928–1930. Atop the south side of the 21st floor is a small terracotta tower that holds the machine rooms for the elevators.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Other stories
Eliot Gregory stated in 1899, without mentioning the building by name, that the Empire Building contained a "grotesque resemblance to a waffle iron", which gave it "the impression of instability". The Empire Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1996. It was also added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Critical reception and landmark status
It is one of the earliest skyscrapers built on pneumatic caissons and one of the oldest such buildings that remain standing. The building contains an interior steel frame structure with a curtain-walled facade. The top stories contain a loggia on the facade as well as a large metal cornice above the 20th floor. There are numerous band courses, balconies, and arched windows along the facade. The original Empire Building was a brownstone structure constructed in 1859. Though the politician and real estate developer Orlando B. Potter had acquired the brownstone in 1884, he died prior to the current building's construction.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Introduction
After the World Trade Center was destroyed on September 11, 2001, it remained the tallest building in New York City for 13 years until the One World Trade Center was completed. Numerous people have mentioned its similarities in appearance to the phallus, with its "tall and glinting" towers.
Phallic architecture | Empire State Building
The original plan of the building was 50 stories, but was later increased to 60 and then 80 stories. Height restrictions were placed on nearby buildings to ensure that the top fifty floors of the planned 80-story, building would have unobstructed views of the city. "The New York Times" lauded the site's proximity to mass transit, with the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit's 34th Street station and the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad's 33rd Street terminal one block away, as well as Penn Station two blocks away and the Grand Central Terminal nine blocks away at its closest. It also praised the of proposed floor space near "one of the busiest sections in the world".
Empire State Building | Design changes
The of steel ordered for the project was the largest-ever single order of steel at the time, comprising more steel than was ordered for the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street combined. According to historian John Tauranac, building materials were sourced from numerous, and distant, sources with "limestone from Indiana, steel girders from Pittsburgh, cement and mortar from upper New York State, marble from Italy, France, and England, wood from northern and Pacific Coast forests, [and] hardware from New England." The facade, too, used a variety of material, most prominently Indiana limestone but also Swedish black granite, terracotta, and brick.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11 attacks, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, and the second-tallest building in the Americas, surpassed only by the Willis Tower in Chicago. The Empire State Building remained the tallest building in New York until the new One World Trade Center reached a greater height in April 2012. , it is the fourth-tallest building in New York City after One World Trade Center, 432 Park Avenue, and 30 Hudson Yards. It is the fifth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States behind the two other tallest buildings in New York City, as well as the Willis Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago.
Empire State Building | Height records
The Empire State Building's art deco design is typical of pre–World War II architecture in New York. The modernistic, stainless steel canopies of the entrances on 33rd and 34th Streets lead to two-story-high corridors around the elevator core, crossed by stainless steel and glass-enclosed bridges at the second-floor level. The riveted steel frame of the building was originally designed to handle all of the building's gravitational stresses and wind loads. The exterior of the building is clad in Indiana limestone panels sourced from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana, which give the building its signature blonde color. The amount of material used in the building's construction resulted in a very stiff structure when compared to other skyscrapers, with a structural stiffness of versus the Willis Tower's and the John Hancock Center's .
Empire State Building | Exterior
The Empire State Plaza consists of various steel and reinforced concrete buildings, all clad in imported stone (except The Egg, which fully exposes its concrete structure). The buildings are placed on a 6-story stone-clad Main Platform, supported by more than 25,000 steel pilings driven an average of into soft glacial clay deposits underlying the site. The placement of starkly abstract geometric building forms on a monolithic plaza is said to represent Rockefeller's concept of architecture as similar to sculpture. The exterior columns and narrow windows of the buildings resemble the style of the World Trade Center towers in New York City, which were completed around the same time.
Empire State Plaza | Architecture
The British Empire Building, also known by its address 620 Fifth Avenue, is a 6-story retail building located on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 1934, the structure is part of Rockefeller Center, and was built in the Art Deco style.
British Empire Building | Introduction
The Empire State Building's owner, Anthony Malkin, asked the City Council on August 24, 2010, to deny permission for the construction of the Vornado Tower. Malkin's reasoning is that the new building would alter the skyline and obscure the view of the western side of the Empire State Building. Located at Seventh Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets on the site of present-day Hotel Pennsylvania, opposite Pennsylvania Station – a major transit hub for the Long Island Rail Road, New Jersey Transit, Amtrak and the New York City Subway – the proposed building would add a concourse improving access within Penn Station and adding several new subway entrances.
15 Penn Plaza | Controversy
A symbol of New York City, the tower has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It was ranked first on the American Institute of Architects' List of America's Favorite Architecture in 2007. Additionally, the Empire State Building and its ground-floor interior were designated city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1980, and were added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
Empire State Building | Introduction
This was built as a disembarkation floor for airships tethered to the building's spire, and has a circular balcony outside. It is now an access point to reach the spire for maintenance. The room now contains electrical equipment, but celebrities and dignitaries may also be given permission to take pictures there. Above the 103rd floor, there is a set of stairs and a ladder to reach the spire for maintenance work. The mast's 480 windows were all replaced in 2015.
Empire State Building | Above the 102nd floor
Lamb described the other specifications he was given for the final, approved plan:
Empire State Building | Design changes
The building officially opened the next day. Advertisements for the building's observatories were placed in local newspapers, while nearby hotels also capitalized on the events by releasing advertisements that lauded their proximity to the newly opened tower. According to "The New York Times", builders and real estate speculators predicted that the Empire State Building would be the world's tallest building "for many years", thus ending the great New York City skyscraper rivalry. At the time, most engineers agreed that it would be difficult to build a building taller than , even with the hardy Manhattan bedrock as a foundation. Technically, it was believed possible to build a tower of up to , but it was deemed uneconomical to do so, especially during the Great Depression.
Empire State Building | Opening and early years
They responded by firing 16 shots, killing him but also wounding nine bystanders. Most of the injured were hit by bullet fragments, although three took direct hits from bullets.
Empire State Building | Shootings
Around this time, Lamb held a press conference on the building plans. He described the reflective steel panels parallel to the windows, the large-block Indiana Limestone facade that was slightly more expensive than smaller bricks, and the tower's lines and rise. Four colossal columns, intended for installation in the center of the building site, were delivered; they would support a combined when the building was finished. The structural steel was pre-ordered and pre-fabricated in anticipation of a revision to the city's building code that would have allowed the Empire State Building's structural steel to carry , up from , thus reducing the amount of steel needed for the building.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the AIA's List of America's Favorite Architecture.
Empire State Building | Architecture
The final stage of the building was the installation of a hollow mast, a steel shaft fitted with elevators and utilities, above the 86th floor. At the top would be a conical roof and the 102nd-floor docking station. The elevators would ascend from the 86th floor ticket offices to a 101st-floor waiting room. From there, stairs would lead to the 102nd floor, where passengers would enter the airships. The airships would have been moored to the spire at the equivalent of the building's 106th floor. On the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building (formerly the 101st floor), there is a door with stairs ascending to the 103rd floor (formerly the 102nd).
Empire State Building | Above the 102nd floor
The buildings are set around a row of three reflecting pools. On the west side are the four 23-story, Agency towers. On the east side is the Egg (Meeting Center) and the 44-floor () Erastus Corning Tower, which has an observation deck on the 42nd floor. On the south end is the Cultural Education Center, set on a higher platform; and on the north end is the New York State Capitol. While the Capitol predates the plaza, it is connected to the Concourse by an escalator which allows underground access to the rest of the plaza, most notably (to the New York State Legislature, at least), the Legislative Office Building.
Empire State Plaza | Layout
The hotel on the site of today's Empire State Building closed on May 3, 1929.
Empire State Building | Site
The height of the Empire State Building, to its 102nd floor, is , including its pinnacle. The building has 85 stories of commercial and office space representing a total of of rentable space. It has an indoor and outdoor observation deck on the 86th floor, the highest floor within the actual tower. The remaining 16 stories are part of the Art Deco spire, which is capped by an observatory on the 102nd floor. The spire is hollow with no floors between levels 86 and 102. Atop the tower is the pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, and surmounted with a lightning rod.
Empire State Building | Architecture
In addition to the time constraint builders had, there were also space limitations because construction materials had to be delivered quickly, and trucks needed to drop off these materials without congesting traffic. This was solved by creating a temporary driveway for the trucks between 33rd and 34th Streets, and then storing the materials in the building's first floor and basements. Concrete mixers, brick hoppers, and stone hoists inside the building ensured that materials would be able to ascend quickly and without endangering or inconveniencing the public. At one point, over 200 trucks made material deliveries at the building site every day.
Empire State Building | Completion and scale
Proshansky Auditorium on the concourse, the 180-seat Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall on the first floor, and the 70-seat Martin E. Segal Theatre on the first floor. The ground floor also houses the Amie and Tony James Gallery. An eighth-floor dining room contains ceilings of as well as a skylight from which the Empire State Building is visible. On the Madison Avenue side of the building, the NYPL occupied an eight-floor condominium spanning from the 1990s. The NYPL condominium was split up into four units in 2012. Prior to 2020, the NYPL's Science, Industry and Business Library (SIBL) occupied five floors in the building, with a research library in the basement, a lobby and circulating library at ground level, and offices on three upper levels.
B. Altman and Company Building | Current usage
The present Empire Building was ultimately developed by his children as a 20-story structure. The Empire Building was the home of United States Steel Corporation from the company's 1901 founding to 1976, and U.S. Steel owned the building between 1919 and 1973. The Empire Building's 21st floor was constructed between 1928 and 1930 to designs by John C. Westervelt. The building was converted to apartments in 1997. It was designated a New York City landmark in 1996 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Introduction
Prior to the explosion, a building tenant had written a letter to the New York City Department of Buildings' commissioner, claiming that the building sometimes "vibrated violently" and was unsafe. The bombing was subsequently reclassified as an assassination attempt. Sage moved to 31 Nassau Street afterward.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Context
The building has also been featured in other works, such as "Daleks in Manhattan", a 2007 episode of the TV series "Doctor Who"; and "Empire", an eight-hour black-and-white silent film by Andy Warhol, which was later added to the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.
Empire State Building | In popular culture
The Empire Building was designed by the partnership of Kimball & Thompson, composed of Francis H. Kimball and George Kramer Thompson, in the Classical Revival style. It was built by Marc Eidlitz & Son, with Charles Sooysmith as foundation engineer. Though the building faces Broadway, with its main entrance on 71 Broadway, it also has entrances at 51-53 Trinity Place. The Empire Building has also been historically known as the "U.S. Steel Company Building" or "O.B. Potter Trust Building", reflecting its past ownership. As designed, the Empire Building was 20 stories, excluding the full basement on Trinity Place, but this was later expanded to 21 stories plus the basement.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Design
On the third and fourth floors of the Rector Street facade, there is an arcade with Ionic-style vertical pilasters.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Base
The Empire State Building has been hailed as an example of a "wonder of the world" due to the massive effort expended during construction. "The Washington Star" listed it as part of one of the "seven wonders of the modern world" in 1931, while "Holiday" magazine wrote in 1958 that the Empire State's height would be taller than the combined heights of the Eiffel Tower and the Great Pyramid of Giza. The American Society of Civil Engineers also declared the building "A Modern Civil Engineering Wonder of the United States" in 1958, and one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World in 1994.
Empire State Building | Iconic status
The Empire State Plaza, a collection of state agency office buildings, dominates almost any view of Albany. Built between 1965 and 1978 at the hand of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and architect Wallace Harrison, the complex is a powerful example of late American modern architecture and remains a controversial building project both for displacing city residents and for its architectural style. The most recognizable aspect of the complex is the Erastus Corning Tower, the tallest building in New York outside of New York City. Juxtaposed at the north end of the Plaza is the 19th-century New York State Capitol, the seat of the New York State Legislature and the home of the Governor's office.
Albany, New York | Architecture
Both buildings were soon surpassed with the May 1931 completion of the 102-story Empire State Building with its Art Deco tower reaching at the top of the building. The high pinnacle was later added bringing the total height of the building to . The former Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were located in Lower Manhattan. At , the 110-story buildings were the world's tallest from 1972 until they were surpassed by the construction of the Willis Tower in 1974 (formerly known as the Sears Tower, located in Chicago). One World Trade Center, a replacement for the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, is currently the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
Manhattan | Architectural history
The plaque at the western end of the lobby is located on the eastern interior wall of a one-story tall rectangular-shaped corridor that surrounds the banks of escalators, with a similar design to the lobby. The rectangular shaped corridor actually consists of two long hallways on the northern and southern sides of the rectangle, as well as a shorter hallway on the eastern side and another long hallway on the western side. At both ends of the northern and southern corridors, there is a bank of four low-rise elevators in between the corridors. The western side of the rectangular elevator-bank corridor extends north to the 34th Street entrance and south to the 33rd Street entrance.
Empire State Building | Lobby
The plot measures along Broadway, along Rector Street, and on Trinity Place with a footprint of approximately . Because of modifications made to the building after its completion, some portions of the Broadway entrance cross over the lot line. The previous building on the site, a six-story brownstone structure, measured along Broadway, along Rector Street, and on Trinity Place. Along Rector Street, it is adjacent to the churchyard of Trinity Church, providing a dramatic backdrop for the church and ensuring open views for the building. To the south is 65 Broadway, the former headquarters of the American Express company. There are entrances to New York City Subway stations right outside both of the Empire Building's principal facades: two stairs to the Wall Street station () are located to either side of the building's main entrance, while an entrance to the Rector Street station () is located on Trinity Place just outside the building entrance there.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Site
The Empire State Building is the 28th-tallest in the world , the tallest being Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It is also the sixth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas behind the five tallest buildings and the CN Tower.
Empire State Building | Height records
The chapel-like three-story-high lobby, which runs parallel to 33rd and 34th Streets, contains storefronts on both its northern and southern sides. These storefronts are framed on each side by tubes of dark "modernistically rounded marble", according to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and above by a vertical band of grooves set into the marble. Immediately inside the lobby is an airport-style security checkpoint. The walls on both the northern and southern sides of the lobby house storefronts and escalators to a mezzanine level. At the west end of the lobby is an aluminum relief of the skyscraper as it was originally built (i.e.
Empire State Building | Lobby
Concurrently, Lamb's partner Richmond Shreve created "bug diagrams" of the project requirements. The 1916 Zoning Act forced Lamb to design a structure that incorporated setbacks resulting in the lower floors being larger than the upper floors. Consequently, the tower was designed from the top down, giving it a "pencil"-like shape.
Empire State Building | Early plans
It has Art Deco architecture.
Empire Manufacturing Company Building | Introduction
The remaining nearby buildings are in a more modernist late 20th-century style. On the west, past a plaza with a small fountain, is the large building that houses the New York State Museum, library and archives. Erastus Corning Tower, the centerpiece of Empire State Plaza and the tallest building in upstate New York, rises to the north behind a high retaining wall. East of the cathedral is a parking garage for state government workers.
Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Albany, New York) | Building
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza (known commonly as the Empire State Plaza, and also as the South Mall) is a complex of several state government buildings in downtown Albany, New York. The complex was built between 1965 and 1976 at an estimated total cost of $2 billion. It houses several departments of the New York State administration and is integrated with the New York State Capitol, completed in 1899, which houses the state legislature. Among the offices at the plaza are the Department of Health and the Biggs Laboratory of the Wadsworth Center. The Empire State Art Collection, a major public collection of 1960s and 1970s monumental abstract artworks, is on permanent display throughout the site.
Empire State Plaza | Introduction
The Empire State Building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space was vacant from its opening. In the first year, only 23% of the available space was rented, as compared to the early 1920s, where the average building would have occupancy of 52% upon opening and 90% rented within five years. The lack of renters led New Yorkers to deride the building as the "Empty State Building". Jack Brod, one of the building's longest resident tenants, co-established the Empire Diamond Corporation with his father in the building in mid-1931 and rented space in the building until he died in 2008.
Empire State Building | Tenants and tourism
The building also sits nearly exactly on a straight line between Center City, Philadelphia and Downtown Manhattan.
New Jersey State House | Introduction
Vriesendorp noted that both buildings were built in the 1930s in New York City and were competing to be the tallest in the skyline, however the Empire State building appeared more masculine when compared to the Chrysler building. Koolhaas suggested she add in the Rockefeller Center catching the two buildings in the act, as a reference to Modernity. Her largest artwork was a mural (1987–2015) on the stage tower of the Netherlands Dance Theatre in The Hague, however in 2015 the building and the mural was demolished.
Madelon Vriesendorp | Biography
The original main lobby is accessed from Fifth Avenue, on the building's east side, and contains an entrance with one set of double doors between a pair of revolving doors. At the top of each doorway is a bronze motif depicting one of three "crafts or industries" used in the building's construction—Electricity, Masonry, and Heating. The lobby contains two tiers of marble, a lighter marble on the top, above the storefronts, and a darker marble on the bottom, flush with the storefronts. There is a pattern of zigzagging terrazzo tiles on the lobby floor, which leads from the entrance on the east to the aluminum relief on the west.
Empire State Building | Lobby
obtained a $27.5 million loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance Company so construction could begin. The stock market crash resulted in no demand in new office space, Raskob and Smith nonetheless started construction, as canceling the project would have resulted in greater losses for the investors.
Empire State Building | Hotel demolition
While plans for the Empire State Building were being finalized, an intense competition in New York for the title of "world's tallest building" was underway. 40 Wall Street (then the Bank of Manhattan Building) and the Chrysler Building in Manhattan both vied for this distinction and were already under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities. The 40 Wall Street tower was revised, in April 1929, from to making it the world's tallest.
Empire State Building | Design changes
Following the destruction of the World Trade Center during the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, but was only the second-tallest building in the Americas after the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago. As a result of the attacks, transmissions from nearly all of the city's commercial television and FM radio stations were again broadcast from the Empire State Building. The attacks also led to an increase in security due to persistent terror threats against New York City landmarks. In 2002, Trump and Yokoi sold their land claim to the Empire State Building Associates, now headed by Malkin, in a $57.5 million sale.
Empire State Building | 2000s
The building consists of a central pavilion with two projecting wings. The entrance, reached by a long flight of steps, has figured prominently in civic events for over a century and a half. There is a columned entrance portico capped by a balustrade, and another balustrade at the roof. The domed tower in the center was rebuilt in 1917 after the last of two major fires. The original Massachusetts marble facade, quarried from Alford, Massachusetts, and complemented with brownstone on the rear elevation, had deteriorated over time from pollution and pigeons. It was completely reclad in Alabama limestone above a Missouri granite base in 1954–56 by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, architects of the Empire State Building.
New York City Hall | Exterior
Normally, a building of the Empire State's dimensions would be permitted to build up to 12 stories on the Fifth Avenue side, and up to 17 stories on the 33rd/34th Streets side, before it would have to utilize setbacks. However, the setbacks were arranged such that the largest setback was on the sixth floor, above the five-floor "base", so the rest of the building above the sixth floor would have a facade of uniform shape.
Empire State Building | Exterior
The 102-story Empire State Building, located in New York City, is one of the city's most famous landmarks, and is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. Cited by Valerie Briginshaw as a symbol of American pride and "the ultimate sign of American phallic power", it was inaugurated on 31 May 1931. Designed in the Art Deco style, it has a roof height of 1,250 feet (381 meters), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft (443.2 m) high. It stood as the world's tallest building for 40 years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972.
Phallic architecture | Empire State Building
Only a few broadcasters renewed their leases in the Empire State Building.
Empire State Building | Broadcast stations
Timely later moved to the Empire State Building, Suite 1401. As the street declined, the building was more of a liability. McGraw-Hill moved out in 1972 to a new McGraw-Hill Building at 1221 Avenue of the Americas, while selling this building, which was subsequently declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.
330 West 42nd Street | History
The facades of the Empire Building are arranged in three sections, consisting of a four-story "base", a "shaft", and a four-story "capital" on top, similar to the components of a column. This was a common setup for facades of buildings that were being erected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original design called for architectural terracotta sheathing, but the Potter family, which developed the Empire Building, switched to granite because they felt the material was "more suitable".
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Facade
The Chrysler Building was soon surpassed in height by the Empire State Building, in a slightly less lavish Deco style. Rockefeller Center added a new design element: several tall building grouped around an open plaza, with a fountain in the center.
Art Deco | Skyscrapers
An elevator cab with eggs and light bulbs was experimentally dropped from the top of the shaft on July 18, 1898; despite having fallen past the third floor at , the eggs and light bulbs were found to have been undamaged.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Features
Despite favorable publicity related to the building's construction, because of the Great Depression and World War II, its owners did not make a profit until the early 1950s. The building's Art Deco architecture, height, and observation decks have made it a popular attraction. Around 4 million tourists from around the world annually visit the building's 86th and 102nd floor observatories; an additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019. The Empire State Building is an American cultural icon: it has been featured in more than 250 TV shows and movies since the film "King Kong" was released in 1933.
Empire State Building | Introduction
The fire began among some crates in the company's basement shipping room. The collapse was caused when three unprotected 14-inch diameter hollow cast iron support columns buckled because of excessive heat, bring down the eight stories above. Fire-resistant insulation might have prevented the collapse.
New Era Building (New York City) | History
In 1961, the same year that Helmsley, Wien, and Malkin had purchased the Empire State Building, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey formally backed plans for a new World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The plan originally included 66-story twin towers with column-free open spaces. The Empire State's owners and real estate speculators were worried that the twin towers' of office space would create a glut of rentable space in Manhattan as well as take away the Empire State Building's profits from lessees. A revision in the World Trade Center's plan brought the twin towers to each or 110 stories, taller than the Empire State.
Empire State Building | Loss of "tallest building" title
The base is four stories of polished gray granite. Due to the difference in elevation between the front and the back of the building, the site slopes down from Broadway to Trinity Place, and there is a full-height storefront in the basement on Trinity Place. The main entrance on Broadway is based on a triumphal arch, with a main archway that contains three pairs of steel doors, and two smaller flanking ones that lead to first floor stores. The triumphal arch is flanked by two pairs of granite columns, topped by eagles on globes. The entrance originally consisted of three pairs of doors, leading to a portico with a barrel vault; it was modified by Walker & Gillette in 1937–1938 in the Art Deco style.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Base
Balazs explains the choice for hinging the slabs as such: "It [allowed] us to squeeze in an extra room per floor, but more significantly, it provides a variety of view corridors while retaining as many views as possible of the Empire State Building." The two prevalent materials used were concrete and glass. Two techniques of concrete pouring were used, pour-in-place and board form. The grid of the concrete serves as a frame for the water-white glass. The combination of the two materials creates a curtain wall for the façade of the structure. "Architype Review" notes that, "the juxtaposition of the building’s two materials…reflects the character of New York City: the gritty quality of the concrete contrasts with the refinement of the glass."
The Standard, High Line | Design
As the tallest building in the world and the first one to exceed 100 floors, the Empire State Building immediately became an icon of the city and of the nation. In 2013, "Time" magazine noted that the Empire State Building "seems to completely embody the city it has become synonymous with". The historian John Tauranac calls the tower "'the' twentieth-century New York building", despite the existence of taller and more modernist buildings. Early in the building's history, travel companies such as Short Line Motor Coach Service and New York Central Railroad used the building as an icon to symbolize the city.
Empire State Building | Iconic status
The building, located in the middle of the block between Rockefeller Plaza and Fifth Avenue, contains a central plaza on its east, facing the Fifth Avenue entrance. The Fifth Avenue entrance leads to the four-story-high lobby. There are three glass-and-nickel bronze revolving doors underneath a sign that spells "FIFTH AVENUE" in nickel bronze capital letters. Three-story-high windows, surrounded by marble, are located above the doors. These windows can be used to hold exhibitions. The International Building's lobby was inspired by the triangular-shaped lobby of the Chrysler Building and the chapel-like lobby of the Empire State Building. As the International Building was not as big as 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the tower's architects designed the lobby so that it created an illusion of grandeur.
International Building (Rockefeller Center) | Description
This particular hole was the source of limestone used for the Empire State Building in New York City. 35,017,500 pounds of limestone block were extracted from this part of the quarry in 1931 and shipped to Manhattan for the 102-story building. The Empire hole was also the source of stone used for the Empire State Building’s 2001 renovations.
Indiana state stone (sculpture) | Limestone of the P. M. & B. Quarry
The cover depicts the Empire State Building in New York City.
Saturday Nights &amp; Sunday Mornings | Introduction
The Egg is a performing arts venue in Albany, New York. Named for its shape, the building was designed by Harrison & Abramovitz as part of the Empire State Plaza project, and built between 1966 and 1978. It is located in the northeast corner of the Plaza. It has become an icon of New York's Capital District due to its unusual shape and central location. The New York State Office of General Services maintains the Egg. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Performing Arts Center Corporation is a New York state public-benefit corporation that was created in 1979 to manage the performing arts facility in the Empire State Plaza.
The Egg (building) | Introduction
During 1896, the caisson foundations were sunk at a depth of . Construction on the above-ground structure started on June 1, 1897. During the excavation, a cornerstone from the old Grace Church was found at the building site, as well as bones and numerous tombstones. The arcade from the old building was kept within the new building. The facade was completed on April 19, 1898, with the first tenants moving to the new building shortly afterward. At the time of the Empire Building's completion, it was one of the tallest buildings in New York City by floor count. It was among the first of several high-rise buildings that were erected on the southernmost section of Broadway starting in the late 1890s as well as one of the city's oldest steel-frame skyscrapers on pneumatic caissons.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Construction
The New York State Education Building (commonly known as the State Education Building) is a state office building in Albany, New York. It houses offices of the New York State Education Department (NYSED) and was formerly home to the New York State Museum and New York State Library. Designed by Henry Hornbostel in the Beaux-Arts style and opened in 1912, the building is known for its expansive colonnade.
New York State Education Building | Introduction
These include the engraving of the names of all 62 New York State counties around the street-level facade and an Art Deco lobby with a mural depicting famous New Yorkers. A tunnel connects the building to the Capitol. The skyscraper is constructed of limestone and granite, and has views of Albany and the nearby landscape.
Alfred E. Smith Building | Introduction
The New Era Building is an 1893 Art Nouveau commercial loft building at 495 Broadway, between Spring Street and Broome Street, in the SoHo section of Manhattan in New York City.
New Era Building (New York City) | Introduction
The Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators. Utilities are grouped in a central shaft. On each floor between levels 6 and 86, the central shaft is surrounded by a main corridor on all four sides. As per the final specifications of the building, the corridor is surrounded in turn by office space deep. Each of the floors has 210 structural columns that pass through it, which provide structural stability, but limits the amount of open space on these floors. However, the relative dearth of stone in the building allows for more space overall, with a 1:200 stone-to-building ratio in the Empire State compared to a 1:50 ratio in similar buildings.
Empire State Building | Interior
When the Empire State Building opened in 1931 with two observatories at a higher elevation, the Chrysler observatory lost its clientele. After the observatory closed, it was used to house radio and television broadcasting equipment. Since 1986, the old observatory has housed the office of architects Harvey Morse and Cowperwood Interests. , a new observation deck has been proposed for the 61st floor of the building. The new deck will take advantage of that floor's setbacks to create an outdoor space.
Chrysler Building | Observation deck
It is now occupied by Credit Suisse since MetLife moved their headquarters to the Pan Am Building. The marble clock tower of this building dominates Madison Square and the park there. Nearby, on Madison Avenue between 26th and 27th Streets, on the site of the old Madison Square Garden, is the New York Life Building, built in 1928 and designed by Cass Gilbert, with a square tower topped by a striking gilded pyramid. Also of note is the statuary adorning the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court on Madison Avenue at 25th Street.
Flatiron District | Buildings
The remodeled entrance has a stainless-steel transom band directly atop the doors with the stainless-steel text "71 Broadway 71", as well as a round-arched stainless-steel spandrel panel at the top of the arch, with the number "71" in stainless steel. Staircases to the Wall Street subway station flank the arches at the main entrance. On the corner of Broadway and Rector Street, there is a chamfer that used to have an entrance at the first floor. Along Rector Street, the facade of the base is divided into three parts, and the full basement has storefronts. An entrance arch was located in the middle of the facade.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Base
By 1980, there were nearly two million annual visitors, although a building official had previously estimated between 1.5 million and 1.75 million annual visitors. The building received its own ZIP code in May 1980 in a roll out of 63 new postal codes in Manhattan. At the time, the tenants of the tower collectively received 35,000 pieces of mail daily. The Empire State Building celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 1, 1981, with a much-publicized, but poorly received, laser light show, as well as an "Empire State Building Week" that ran through to May 8. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to make the lobby a city landmark on May 19, 1981, citing the historic nature of the first and second floors, as well as "the fixtures and interior components" of the upper floors.
Empire State Building | 1980s and 1990s
The residential units were quickly occupied: One of the residents of 71 Broadway was the politician and economist Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was placed under house arrest in the building in 2011 during the criminal lawsuit filed against him, after another apartment building on the Upper East Side declined to host him. During Strauss-Kahn's house arrest, the Empire Building received extensive attention from the media and from passersby on Broadway, and it was dubbed "a new tourist hot spot".
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Late 20th century to present
The New York Times Building is a skyscraper at 620 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, that was completed in 2007. New York Times Building may also refer to:
New York Times Building (disambiguation) | Introduction
A direct entrance from the building to the Wall Street station was not provided in the original construction, but such an entrance was built in 1910. On April 23, 1919, the U.S. Steel Corporation bought the building from the Potter trust for approximately $5 million in cash. At the time, the sale was reported to be one of the largest transactions ever conducted for a private property in New York City. The purchase was of interest to real-estate developers and to other steel companies, since it signified that "the steel centre of the world had been once and for all permanently established in New York", according to "The New York Times".
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Early and mid-20th century
Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York and U.S. presidential candidate whose 1928 campaign had been managed by Raskob, was appointed head of the company. The group also purchased nearby land so they would have the needed for the tower's base, with the combined plot measuring wide by long. The Empire State Inc. consortium was announced to the public in August 1929. Empire State Inc. contracted William F. Lamb, of architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, to create the building design. Lamb produced the building drawings in just two weeks using the firm's earlier designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as the basis.
Empire State Building | Early plans
The facade of the base was also redesigned, and the shops in the Empire Building's arcade were removed. The renovation was completed in 1938.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Early and mid-20th century
Similar to the Empire State Building nine blocks south, which was being constructed simultaneously, 500 Fifth Avenue's construction was highly coordinated. 500 Fifth Avenue opened in March 1931, but it was overlooked by the much larger Empire State Building. The building was designated an official city landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2010.
500 Fifth Avenue | Introduction
In December 1975, the observation deck was opened on the 110th floor of the Twin Towers, significantly higher than the 86th floor observatory on the Empire State Building. The latter was also losing revenue during this period, particularly as a number of broadcast stations had moved to the World Trade Center in 1971; although the Port Authority continued to pay the broadcasting leases for the Empire State until 1984.
Empire State Building | Loss of "tallest building" title
The Empire State Building officially opened on May 1, 1931, forty-five days ahead of its projected opening date, and eighteen months from the start of construction. The opening was marked with an event featuring United States President Herbert Hoover, who turned on the building's lights with the ceremonial button push from Washington, D.C.. Over 350 guests attended the opening ceremony, and following luncheon, at the 86th floor including Jimmy Walker, Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Al Smith. An account from that day stated that the view from the luncheon was obscured by a fog, with other landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty being "lost in the mist" enveloping New York City.
Empire State Building | Opening and early years
If the exact year of initial construction is estimated, it will be shown as a range of dates.
List of the oldest buildings in New York | Introduction
Architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler said that the Empire Building was "one of the best [...] commercial buildings" to be built in New York City to date, and that its value was "immensely enhanced by the open space opposite" which was occupied by the Trinity churchyard. According to Schuyler, the building's value was increased by the fact that the entirety of the Rector Street facade could be seen because of the churchyard's presence. Architectural writer Sarah Bradford Landau stated that the Empire Building "possesses a quite dignity and an assured elegance", unlike Kimball's earlier Manhattan Life Building. Not all critics viewed the Empire Building positively.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Critical reception and landmark status
The building would have 430 units on 68 floors and 2,050,000 square feet (190,451 m²) of floor space. It would be in height, in addition to being away from, and shorter than, the Empire State Building. Anthony and Peter L. Malkin, owners of the historic structure, had requested the creation of a 17-block exclusion zone that would prohibit large buildings from being built that would obstruct views of the Empire State Building and suggested that the proposed skyscraper be limited to in height. While Manhattan Community Board 5 voted overwhelmingly against the proposed project, the New York City Planning Commission approved the plan, which would allow the building to be 56% larger than standard zoning rules provide under special regulations that encourage the development of high-density office space near transit hubs.
15 Penn Plaza | Description
After the construction of the first World Trade Center, architect Paul Goldberger noted that the Empire State Building "is famous for being tall, but it is good enough to be famous for being good." As an icon of the United States, it is also very popular among Americans. In a 2007 survey, the American Institute of Architects found that the Empire State Building was "America's favorite building". The building was originally a symbol of hope in a country devastated by the Depression, as well as a work of accomplishment by newer immigrants. The writer Benjamin Flowers states that the Empire State was "a building intended to celebrate a new America, built by men (both clients and construction workers) who were themselves new Americans." The architectural critic Jonathan Glancey refers to the building as an "icon of American design".
Empire State Building | Iconic status
The plaza is connected to the Times Union Center (a covered sports arena, known formerly as the Pepsi Arena, and originally named the Knickerbocker Arena) by a pedestrian bridge and to the New York State Capitol by a tunnel. Additionally a tunnel that runs under the West Capitol Park connects the Capitol building with the Alfred E. Smith Building at 80 South Swan Street. The entire complex is wheelchair-accessible, except the State Street Capitol entrance and the Concourse tunnel to the Swan Street Building. An access map is available onsite or is downloadable.
Empire State Plaza | Layout
The New York State Capitol, the seat of the New York State government, is located in Albany, the capital city of the U.S. state of New York. The capitol building is part of the Empire State Plaza complex on State Street in Capitol Park. Housing the New York State Legislature, the building was completed in 1899 at a cost of US$25 million (equivalent to $ million in ), making it the most expensive government building of its time. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, then included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed in 1978.
New York State Capitol | Introduction
In 1931, NBC took up tenancy, leasing space on the 85th floor for radio broadcasts. From the outset the building was in debt, losing $1 million per year by 1935. Real estate developer Seymour Durst recalled that the building was so underused in 1936 that there was no elevator service above the 45th floor, as the building above the 41st floor was empty except for the NBC offices and the Raskob/Du Pont offices on the 81st floor.
Empire State Building | Tenants and tourism
The Empire State Building, also known as the Great Western Savings and Loan Building, is a historic building in Spokane, Washington. It was designed by architect John K. Dow, and built in 1899 for Charles Sweeny, an investor who had served under Union Army General George Armstrong Custer during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since August 18, 1977.
Empire State Building (Spokane, Washington) | Introduction
One such Art Deco taxpayer was the East River Savings Bank on 22 Cortlandt Street, which replaced a fifteen-story building from the 1890s. The "New York Times" dubbed the lot "the most valuable piece of New York real estate for a tax payer in the city." Despite being a more modest building, the structure is appointed with polished stone eagles, interior marble, and at one time featured a mural of the East River. Completed speculative buildings faced issues in the difficult economy—the Empire State Building took more in as a tourist attraction than from tenants, and office buildings across Midtown felt pinched by the Rockefeller Center's aggressive tactics to lure and keep tenants.
Art Deco architecture of New York City | Commercial