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
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3 floors.
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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
Located on the 42nd floor of the 44-story Erastus Corning Tower, the observation deck is free and open to the public on weekdays. However, it does not feature a 360-degree view because it has no windows on the west side. The tower is the tallest building in New York State outside of New York City.
Empire State Plaza | Corning Tower observation deck
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
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
The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors. It has 6,514 windows; 73 elevators; a total floor area of ; and a base covering . Its original 64 elevators, built by the Otis Elevator Company, are located in a central core and are of varying heights, with the longest of these elevators reaching from the lobby to the 80th floor. As originally built, there were four "express" elevators that connected the lobby, 80th floor, and several landings in between; the other 60 "local" elevators connected the landings with the floors above these intermediate landings.
Empire State Building | Interior
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 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
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
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 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 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 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 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
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
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
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
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 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors contain observatories. The latter two observatories saw a combined average of 4 million visitors per year in 2010. Since opening, the observatories have been more popular than similar observatories at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, the Chrysler Building, the first One World Trade Center, or the Woolworth Building, despite being more expensive. There are variable charges to enter the observatories; one ticket allows visitors to go as high as the 86th floor, and there is an additional charge to visit the 102nd floor. Other ticket options for visitors include scheduled access to view the sunrise from the observatory, a "premium" guided tour with VIP access, and the "AM/PM" package which allows for two visits in the same day.
Empire State Building | Observation decks
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 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
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
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'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 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
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 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 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
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 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
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 shaft is twelve stories of a white rusticated granite. The lowest section of the shaft is the 5th floor, which is designed as a transition between the base and the upper floors. The rest of the shaft's facade is composed of band courses that stretch horizontally across the facade on several floors. The facade of the 9th and 13th floors is composed of vertical pilasters rather than rusticated granite, and has arched windows instead of the rectangular windows seen on the other stories. The 7th, 11th, and 15th floors have balconies, while the 5th, 8th, and 12th floors have balconies.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Other stories
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
According to a 2010 report by Concierge.com, the five lines to enter the observation decks are "as legendary as the building itself". Concierge.com stated that there are five lines: the sidewalk line, the lobby elevator line, the ticket purchase line, the second elevator line, and the line to get off the elevator and onto the observation deck. However, in 2016, New York City's official tourism website, NYCgo.com, made note of only three lines: the security check line, the ticket purchase line, and the second elevator line. Following renovations completed in 2019, designed to streamline queuing and reduce wait times, guests enter from a single entrance on 34th Street, where they make their way through exhibits on their way up to the observatories.
Empire State Building | Observation decks
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
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
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
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 office floors begin at floor 20, and go up to floor 63. There is a sky lobby on floor 64; office floors resume on floor 65, and stop at floor 90. Floors 91–99 and 103–104 are mechanical floors. The tower has a three-story observation deck, located on floors 100–102, in addition to existing broadcast and antenna facilities. Similar to the Empire State Building, visitors to the observation deck and tenants have their own separate entrances; one entrance is on the West Street side of the building, and the other is from within the shopping mall, descending down to a below-ground security screening area.
One World Trade Center | Layout
The 86th floor observatory contains both an enclosed viewing gallery and an open-air outdoor viewing gallery, allowing for it to remain open 365 days a year regardless of the weather. The 102nd floor observatory is completely enclosed and much smaller in size. The 102nd floor observatory was closed to the public from the late 1990s to 2005 due to limited viewing capacity and long lines. The observation decks were redesigned in mid-1979. The 102nd floor was again redesigned in a project that was completed in 2019. An observatory on the 80th floor, opened in 2019, includes various exhibits as well as a mural of the skyline drawn by British artist Stephen Wiltshire.
Empire State Building | Observation decks
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
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
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
The State Tower Building is a high-rise building located in Syracuse, New York. Completed in 1928, the building remains the highest in Syracuse to date. It has 23 floors and rises 95.4 meters (312 feet) into the air. The building was designed as a large office building with the first 10 floors being large, and the top floors being setback and smaller such that one entity might occupy an entire floor. On the roof of the tenth floor was a deck on which there was a full-service restaurant.
State Tower Building | Introduction
A December 1930 feature in "Popular Mechanics" estimated that a building with the Empire State's dimensions would still stand even if hit with an impact of . The Empire State Building design has a recessed design, including one major setback and several smaller ones that reduce the level dimensions as the height increases, thus making upper 81 floors much smaller than the lower five floors. However, this design allows sunlight to illuminate the interiors of the top floors and, in addition, positions these floors away from the noisy streets below. This design was mandated as per the 1916 Zoning Resolution, which was intended to allow sunlight to reach the streets as well.
Empire State Building | Exterior
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
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 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
The narrowness of the lot resulted in the inclusion of an extensive system of steel skeleton framing and bracing. The foundations were nonetheless designed to accommodate a future expansion of the building. The total floor area is . Due to the irregular shape of the lot area, none of the sides are equal or parallel to each other. Since being converted to a residential building in 1997, the Empire Building has included 238 apartments, which contain between of space. The residential units include studio apartments as well as one- and two-bedroom apartments. Though the interior has been extensively remodeled, the Empire Building still contains one of its original staircases on the western side.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Features
On November 18, 1929, Smith acquired a lot at 27–31 West 33rd Street, adding to the width of the proposed office building's site. Two days later, Smith announced the updated plans for the skyscraper. The plans included an observation deck on the 86th-floor roof at a height of , higher than the Chrysler's 71st-floor observation deck. The 1,050-foot Empire State Building would only be taller than the Chrysler Building, and Raskob was afraid that Chrysler might try to "pull a trick like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute." The plans were revised one last time in December 1929, to include a 16-story, metal "crown" and an additional mooring mast intended for dirigibles.
Empire State Building | Design changes
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
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
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 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
Guests were offered a variety of ticket packages, including a package that enables them to skip the lines throughout the duration of their stay. The Empire State Building garners significant revenue from ticket sales for its observation decks, making more money from ticket sales than it does from renting office space during some years.
Empire State Building | Observation decks
It borders three large storefronts and leads to escalators that go both to the second floor and to the basement. Going from west to east, there are secondary entrances to 34th and 33rd Streets from both the northern and southern corridors, respectively, at approximately the two-thirds point of each corridor. Until the 1960s, an art deco mural, inspired by both the sky and the Machine Age, was installed in the lobby ceilings. Subsequent damage to these murals, designed by artist Leif Neandross, resulted in reproductions being installed. Renovations to the lobby in 2009, such as replacing the clock over the information desk in the Fifth Avenue lobby with an anemometer and installing two chandeliers intended to be part of the building when it originally opened, revived much of its original grandeur.
Empire State Building | Lobby
Though the Empire State Building had also included escalators between its lobby and mezzanine, 70 Pine Street was modeled on the layout of a department store, the first office building in New York City to be designed in this manner. These escalators were hidden behind a false marble wall. 70 Pine Street also included a hot-water heating system, innovative for its time, which obviated the need for boiler facilities. The building had a "unit ventilating system" as well; this system utilized spaces over the radiators and inside the walls to provide ventilation without any dust or noise. The basement contained a bank vault with the most advanced security systems available during that era.
70 Pine Street | Other features
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
The staircase has an iron railing, which contains decorative motifs featuring dolphins and Neptune's scepter, as well as marble treads. The building was originally equipped with 10 hydraulic elevators manufactured by Otis Worldwide, which were grouped in two banks of five. Of these, nine elevators were for passenger service and one was a freight elevator that could carry loads of up to . Each of the shafts was enclosed in masonry. The bottom of each elevator shaft narrowed slightly to create a protective "air cushion", which used air pressure to slow down elevator cabs if they were to fall. These safety features were included because of a series of elevator accidents that had taken place at nearby 150 Nassau Street.
Empire Building (Manhattan) | Features
The observation deck atop the skyscraper, dubbed "Top of the Rock", is built to resemble the deck of an ocean liner. It offers sightseers a bird's eye view of the city, competing with the 86th-floor observatory of the Empire State Building 200 feet (61 m) higher. It is often considered the best panoramic city view, mainly because it offers a far-away view of the Empire State Building. The timed entry system and larger observation deck also results in shorter waiting times compared to the Empire State. The frameless safety glass around the perimeter of the deck dates to 2005, when the facility reopened to the public.
30 Rockefeller Plaza | Observation deck
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
It has Art Deco architecture.
Empire Manufacturing Company Building | Introduction
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
The Erastus Corning Tower, the tallest building in Albany and the tallest in the state outside New York City, is named for him, as is the Corning Riverfront Park, a nature trail and fishing site on the western banks of the Hudson River in Albany. The tower is part of the Empire State Plaza, a , 11-building state government office and cultural complex. Some believe that the building was named after Corning because it has 42 floors (which is the same as the number of years he served as mayor), but the building actually has 44 floors with an observation deck on Floor 42.
Erastus Corning 2nd | Legacy
The Empire State Building Run-Up, a foot race from ground level to the 86th-floor observation deck, has been held annually since 1978. Its participants are referred to both as runners and as climbers, and are often tower running enthusiasts. The race covers a vertical distance of and takes in 1,576 steps. The record time is 9 minutes and 33 seconds, achieved by Australian professional cyclist Paul Crake in 2003, at a climbing rate of per hour.
Empire State Building | Empire State Building Run-Up
The new lobby also features free Wi-Fi provided for those waiting. A exhibit with nine galleries, opened in July 2019. The 102nd floor observatory, the third phase of the redesign, re-opened to the public on October 12, 2019. That portion of the project included outfitting the space with floor-to-ceiling glass windows and a brand-new glass elevator. The final portion of the renovations to be completed was a new observatory on the 80th floor, which opened on December 2, 2019. In total, the renovation had cost $165 million and taken four years to finish.
Empire State Building | 2010s
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
Of the 64 total elevators, 58 were for passenger use (comprising the four express elevators and 54 local elevators), and eight were for freight deliveries. The elevators were designed to move at . At the time of the skyscraper's construction, their practical speed was limited to as per city law, but this limit was removed shortly after the building opened. Additional elevators connect the 80th floor to the six floors above it, as the six extra floors were built after the original 80 stories were approved. The elevators were mechanically operated until 2011, when they were replaced with digital elevators during the $550 million renovation of the building.
Empire State Building | Interior
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
Afterward, work on the building's interior and crowning mast commenced. The mooring mast topped out on November 21, two months after the steelwork had been completed. Meanwhile, work on the walls and interior was progressing at a quick pace, with exterior walls built up to the 75th floor by the time steelwork had been built to the 95th floor. The majority of the facade was already finished by the middle of November. Because of the building's height, it was deemed infeasible to have many elevators or large elevator cabins, so the builders contracted with the Otis Elevator Company to make 66 cars that could speed at , which represented the largest-ever elevator order at the time.
Empire State Building | Completion and scale
It is on display in the Governor's Room of New York City Hall.
Washington at Verplanck's Point | Introduction
All stations are in the state of New York.
Empire Corridor | Stations
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 Mansion district is built on land that rises 100 feet (30 m) on its west from the flatlands along the Hudson River to its east, where the adjacent Pastures district is located. The South Mall Expressway, carrying traffic from the Dunn Memorial Bridge to Empire State Plaza separates the district from the Times Union Center and downtown to its north and northeast. Erastus Corning Tower and the other modernist high-rises of Empire State Plaza loom over the district from the northwest. Along its west is a strip of land that includes the governor's mansion, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the New York State Library.
Mansion Historic District | Geography
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
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
The Cultural Education Center is on the south side of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. Located on Madison Avenue, it faces northward towards the New York State Capitol building. Construction of the building, which was designed in the Brutalist style, was completed in 1978. The eleven story, 1.5 million square foot (135,000 m³) building houses the main offices of the New York State Office of Cultural Education (part of the New York State Education Department), which include the New York State Museum (floors 1-4), the New York State Archives (floor 9), and the New York State Library (floors 5-8 and 11).
Cultural Education Center | Introduction
The Alfred E. Smith Building, known officially as the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building and sometimes called simply the Smith Building, is a structure located in downtown Albany, New York across the street from the New York State Capitol and One Commerce Plaza. The building's namesake, Alfred Emmanuel Smith, was a four-term governor of New York and the Democratic Party's nomination for the 1928 presidential election. The Art Deco skyscraper has 34 stories and at 388 feet (118 m) is Albany's second tallest structure (after the Erastus Corning Tower). Completed in 1928, it houses offices of the New York State government.
Alfred E. Smith Building | Introduction
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
The scale of the project was massive, with trucks carrying "16,000 partition tiles, 5,000 bags of cement, of sand and 300 bags of lime" arriving at the construction site every day. There were also cafes and concession stands on five of the incomplete floors so workers did not have to descend to the ground level to eat lunch. Temporary water taps were also built so workers did not waste time buying water bottles from the ground level. Additionally, carts running on a small railway system transported materials from the basement storage to elevators that brought the carts to the desired floors where they would then be distributed throughout that level using another set of tracks.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
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
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 building measures approximately on Broadway and on Trinity Place, with a length of between the two streets. The principal facades are located on Broadway and Trinity Place. Nearby buildings include the Empire Building and Trinity Church to the north, 1 Wall Street to the east, and the Adams Express Building to the south. There are entrances to New York City Subway stations right outside both of 65 Broadway's principal facades: two stairs to the Wall Street station on the IRT Lexington Avenue Line () are located within the Empire Building, while an entrance to the Rector Street station on the BMT Broadway Line () is located on Trinity Place just outside the building entrance there.
65 Broadway | Site
The building also sits nearly exactly on a straight line between Center City, Philadelphia and Downtown Manhattan.
New Jersey State House | Introduction
The dome and tower were never completed, as it was found the building's weight was causing stress fractures and making the building shift downhill toward State Street. To stop this movement, a large, long exterior Eastern Staircase was added to support the front facade. The Capitol exterior is made of white granite from Hallowell, Maine, and the building incorporates Westchester marble cut by state prisoners at Sing Sing. The granite structure is 220 feet (67 m) tall at its highest point, and it is one of eleven U.S. state capitols that does not have a domed roof. Tunnels connect it to the Empire State Plaza and Alfred E.
New York State Capitol | History
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
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
An observation deck is located on the Corning Tower's 42nd floor. It offers expansive views of Albany, the Hudson River, and the surrounding area. Panels below the windows give information about the visible landmarks. The observation deck, however, does not feature a 360-degree view because it has no windows on the west side. A nonstop elevator to the 42nd floor reaches a speed of 26 km/h (16 MPH). The deck is open to the public for free Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Visitors can access the observation deck via the plaza or concourse levels. Upon taking office in 2010, Governor Andrew Cuomo eliminated a photo ID requirement.
Erastus Corning Tower | Observation deck
Other foreign entities that have a stake in the ESRT include investors from Norway, Japan, and Australia. A renovation of the Empire State Building was commenced in the 2010s to further improve energy efficiency, public areas, and amenities. In August 2018, to improve the flow of visitor traffic, the main visitor's entrance was shifted to 20 West 34th Street as part of a major renovation of the observatory lobby. The new lobby includes several technological features, including large LED panels, digital ticket kiosks in nine languages, and a two-story architectural model of the building surrounded by two metal staircases. The first phase of the renovation, completed in 2019, features an updated exterior lighting system and digital hosts.
Empire State Building | 2010s
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
SUNY Plaza, formerly the Delaware & Hudson Railroad Company Building, is a public office building located at 353 Broadway at the intersection with State Street in downtown Albany, New York. Locally the building is sometimes referred to as "The Castle" or "D&H Plaza"; prior to the construction of the nearby Empire State Plaza it was simply "The Plaza". The central tower of the building is thirteen stories high and is capped by an working weathervane that is a replica of Henry Hudson's "Half Moon". The State University of New York system is centrally administered from the building. The southern tower's four top floors were once the official residence of the Chancellor of SUNY.
SUNY Plaza | Introduction
A series of relay and erection derricks, placed on platforms erected near the building, lifted the steel from the trucks below and installed the beams at the appropriate locations. The Empire State Building was structurally completed on April 11, 1931, twelve days ahead of schedule and 410 days after construction commenced. Al Smith shot the final rivet, which was made of solid gold. The project involved more than 3,500 workers at its peak, including 3,439 on a single day, August 14, 1930. Many of the workers were Irish and Italian immigrants, with a sizable minority of Mohawk ironworkers from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal.
Empire State Building | Completion and scale
, the building houses around 1,000 businesses. Current tenants include: Former tenants include:
Empire State Building | Notable tenants
Ron Miller, in a 2010 book, also described the Empire State Building as one of the "seven wonders of engineering". It has often been called the Eighth Wonder of the World as well, an appellation that it has held since shortly after opening. The panels installed in the lobby in 1963 reflected this, showing the seven original wonders alongside the Empire State Building.
Empire State Building | Iconic status
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 Epic is a tall skyscraper in New York City. It was constructed from 2005 to 2007, and has 58 floors. It is tied with four other buildings, the New York Life Building, 919 Third Avenue, Tower 49, and 750 7th Avenue in its position as the 118th tallest building in New York, and has 460 rooms.
The Epic (building) | Introduction
A structural steel contract was awarded on January 12, 1930, with excavation of the site beginning ten days later on January 22, before the old hotel had been completely demolished. Two twelve-hour shifts, consisting of 300 men each, worked continuously to dig the foundation. Small pier holes were sunk into the ground to house the concrete footings that would support the steelwork. Excavation was nearly complete by early March, and construction on the building itself started on March 17, with the builders placing the first steel columns on the completed footings before the rest of the footings had been finished.
Empire State Building | Steel structure
The Demarest Building is situated on the northeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street in Midtown Manhattan, just east of the Empire State Building. It was designed by Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell. The building, with the first electric elevator, was on Fifth Avenue directly across the street from William Waldorf Astor’s mansion, where the Waldorf–Astoria hotels (and the Empire State Building) were built later. The Demarest Building housed the high-end carriage manufacturer A. T. Demarest & Company. There were three mansion houses of brownstone construction previously at this location, with the addresses of 335, 337, and 339 Fifth Avenue.
Demarest Building | Description
On January 24, 2000, an elevator in the building suddenly descended 40 stories after a cable that controlled the cabin's maximum speed was severed. The elevator fell from the 44th floor to the fourth floor, where a narrowed elevator shaft provided a second safety system. Despite the 40-floor fall, both of the passengers in the cabin at the time were only slightly injured. Since that elevator had no fourth-floor doors, the passengers were rescued by an adjacent elevator. After the fall, building inspectors reviewed all of the building's elevators.
Empire State Building | 2000 elevator plunge
The Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza Art Collection is located throughout the complex, within the underground Concourse, buildings, and outdoor areas. The Collection includes 92 large-scale paintings, sculptures, and tapestries at various locations. Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, has termed the plaza's display of American art "the most important State collection of modern art in the country". The Collection has also been called "the greatest collection of modern American art in any single public site that is not a museum". The Collection represents a significant attempt to "integrate the fine arts into the lives of those who ordinarily might not be exposed to them".
Empire State Plaza | Art collection
The cover depicts the Empire State Building in New York City.
Saturday Nights &amp; Sunday Mornings | Introduction