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Empire State Building Record height Tallest in the world from 1931 to 1970[I] Preceded by Chrysler Building Surpassed by One World Trade Center (1970) General information Type Office, observation Architectural style Art Deco Location 350 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10118[1] Construction started 1929[2] Completed 1931 Cost $40,948,900[3] ($629million in 2013 dollars[4]) Height Architectural 1,250ft (381.0m)[5][6] Tip 1,454ft (443.2m)[6] Roof 1,250ft (381.0m) Top floor 1,224ft (373.1m)[6] Observatory 1,224ft (373.1m)[6] Technical details Floor count 103[6] Floor area 2,248,355 sqft (208,879m2)[6] Lifts/elevators 73[6] Design and construction Architect Shreve, Lamb and Harmon Developer John J. Raskob Structural engineer Homer Gage Balcom[7] Main contractor Starrett Brothers and Eken

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 103-story skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250feet (381meters), and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454ft (443.2m) high.[6] Its name is derived from the nickname for New York, the Empire State. It stood as the world's tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the topping out of the World Trade Center's North Tower in late 1970.[11] Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was again the tallest building in New York (although it was no longer the tallest in the US or the world), until One World Trade Center reached a greater height on April 30, 2012.[12] The Empire State Building is currently the fourth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States (after the One World Trade Center, the Willis Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower, both in Chicago), and the 23rd-tallest in the world (the tallest now is Burj Khalifa, located in Dubai). It is also the fourth-tallest freestanding structure in the Americas.

The Empire State Building is generally thought of as an American cultural icon. It is designed in the distinctive Art Deco style and 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.[13] It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[9][14][15] In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.

The building is owned by the 2800 investors in Empire State Building Associates L.L.C.[16] In 2010, the Empire State Building underwent a $550million renovation, with $120million spent to transform the building into a more energy efficient and eco-friendly structure.[17] Receiving a gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating in September 2011, the Empire State Building is the tallest LEED certified building in the United States.[18]

The site of the Empire State Building was first developed as the John Thompson Farm in the late 18th century.[19] At the time, a stream ran across the site, emptying into Sunfish Pond, located a block away. Beginning in the late 19th century, the block was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, frequented by The Four Hundred, the social elite of New York.

The limestone for the Empire State Building came from the Empire Mill in Sanders, Indiana which is an unincorporated town adjacent to Bloomington, Indiana. The Empire Mill Land office is near State Road 37 and Old State Road 37 just south of Bloomington. Bloomington, Bedford and Oolitic area are known as the limestone capital of the world. It is a point of local pride that the stone for the Empire State building came from there.

The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb from the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio (designed by the architectural firm W. W. Ahlschlager & Associates) as a basis.[20][21] Every year the staff of the Empire State Building sends a Father's Day card to the staff at the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem to pay homage to its role as predecessor to the Empire State Building.[22] The building was designed from the top down.[23] The general contractors were The Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York and James Farley's General Builders Supply Corporation supplied the building materials.[2]John W. Bowser was project construction superintendent.[24][25][26]

Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction on the building itself started symbolically on March 17St. Patrick's Dayper Al Smith's influence as Empire State, Inc. president. The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk iron workers, many from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction.[27] Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931. Lewis Wickes Hine's photography of the construction provides not only invaluable documentation of the construction, but also a glimpse into common day life of workers in that era.[28]

The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of "world's tallest building". Two other projects fighting for the title, 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, were still under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. Each held the title for less than a year, as the Empire State Building surpassed them upon its completion, just 410days after construction commenced. Instead of taking 18 months as anticipated, the construction took just under fifteen. The building was officially opened on May 1, 1931 in dramatic fashion, when United States President Herbert Hoover turned on the building's lights with the push of a button from Washington, D.C. Coincidentally, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signaling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932.[29]

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Empire State Building - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Northwestern mutual
Northwestern mutual commissions this remarkable set of images during the South office building #39;s construction from September 4, 1912 through January 27 think...

By: John Nuck

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Northwestern mutual - Video

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many storeys, usually designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper. One common feature of skyscrapers is having a steel framework that supports curtain walls. These curtain walls either bear on the framework below or are possibly suspended from the framework above, rather than load-bearing walls of conventional construction. Some early skyscrapers have a steel frame that enables the construction of load-bearing walls taller than of those made of reinforced concrete. Modern skyscrapers' walls are not load-bearing, and most skyscrapers are characterized by large surface areas of windows made possible by the concept of steel frame and curtain walls. However, skyscrapers can have curtain walls that mimic conventional walls and a small surface area of windows.

Skyscrapers since the 1960s use the tubular designs, innovated by Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan. This engineering principle makes the buildings structurally more efficient and stronger. It reduces the usage of material (economically much more efficient), while simultaneously allows the buildings to reach greater heights. It allows fewer interior columns, and so creates more usable floor space. It further enables buildings to take on various shapes. There are several variations of the tubular design; these structural systems are fundamental to tall building design today.[1][2][3][4] Other pioneers include Hal Iyengar, William LeMessurier, etc. Cities have experienced a huge surge in skyscraper construction.

Today, skyscrapers are an increasingly common sight where land is expensive, as in the centres of big cities, because they provide such a high ratio of rentable floor space per unit area of land. They are built not just for economy of space; like temples and palaces of the past, skyscrapers are considered symbols of a city's economic power. Not only do they define the skyline, they help to define the city's identity. In some cases, exceptionally tall skyscrapers have been built not out of necessity, but to help define the city's identity and presence or power as a city.[citation needed]

A relatively small building may be considered a skyscraper if it protrudes well above its built environment and changes the overall skyline. The maximum height of structures has progressed historically with building methods and technologies and thus what is today considered a skyscraper is taller than before. Lately, the term 'supertall' has arisen for the current generation of tall buildings with a structural height of 300m and more.[5] The CTBUH has now added the term 'megatall', for buildings with a height of 600m and more.[6]

High-rise buildings are considered shorter than skyscrapers. The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, United States was considered a skyscraper when it was built in 1884, but it had only ten storeys. Today such a building would not be considered a skyscraper. There is no clear definition of any difference between a tower block and a skyscraper though a building lower than about thirty storeys is not likely to be a skyscraper and a building with fifty or more storeys is certainly a skyscraper.[7]

The term "skyscraper" was first applied to buildings of steel framed construction of at least 10 storeys in the late 19th century, a result of public amazement at the tall buildings being built in major cities like Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, Detroit, and St. Louis.[8] The first steel frame skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building (originally 10 storeys with a height of 42 m or 138ft) in Chicago, Illinois in 1885. Some point to Philadelphia's 10-storey Jayne Building (184950) as a proto-skyscraper, or to New York's seven-floor Equitable Life Assurance Building, built in 1870, for its innovative use of a kind of skeletal frame, but such designation depends largely on what factors are chosen. Even the scholars making the argument find it to be purely academic.[9][10]

The structural definition of the word skyscraper was refined later by architectural historians, based on engineering developments of the 1880s that had enabled construction of tall multi-storey buildings. This definition was based on the steel skeletonas opposed to constructions of load-bearing masonry, which passed their practical limit in 1891 with Chicago's Monadnock Building.

The steel frame developed in stages of increasing self-sufficiency, with several buildings in Chicago and New York advancing the technology that allowed the steel frame to carry a building on its own. Today, however, many of the tallest skyscrapers are built almost entirely with reinforced concrete.[11]

The Emporis Standards Committee defines a high-rise building as "a multi-storey structure between 35100 meters tall, or a building of unknown height from 1239 floors"[12] and a skyscraper as "a multi-storey building whose architectural height is at least 100 m or 330ft."[13] Some structural engineers define a highrise as any vertical construction for which wind is a more significant load factor than earthquake or weight. Note that this criterion fits not only high-rises but some other tall structures, such as towers.

The word skyscraper often carries a connotation of pride and achievement. The skyscraper, in name and social function, is a modern expression of the age-old symbol of the world center or axis mundi: a pillar that connects earth to heaven and the four compass directions to one another.[14]

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Skyscraper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Eisenhower Executive Office Building is located next to the West Wing, and houses a majority of offices for White House staff. Originally built for the State, War and Navy Departments between 1871 and 1888, the EEOB is an impressive building that commands a unique position in both our national history and architectural heritage.

Designed by Supervising Architect of the Treasury Alfred Mullett, the granite, slate and cast iron exterior makes the EEOB one of America's best examples of the French Second Empire style of architecture. It took 17 years for Mullett's masterpiece to finally be completed.

Next door to the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) commands a unique position in both our national history and architectural heritage. Designed by Supervising Architect of the Treasury, Alfred B. Mullett, it was built from 1871 to 1888 to house the growing staffs of the State, War, and Navy Departments, and is considered one of the best examples of French Second Empire architecture in the country. In bold contrast to many of the somber classical revival buildings in Washington, the EEOB's flamboyant style epitomizes the optimism and exuberance of the post-Civil War period.

The State, War, and Navy Building, as it was originally known, housed the three Executive Branch Departments most intimately associated with formulating and conducting the nation's foreign policy in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century -- the period when the United States emerged as an international power. The building has housed some of the nation's most significant diplomats and politicians and has been the scene of many historic events.

The history of the EEOB began long before its foundations were laid. The first executive offices were constructed on sites flanking the White House between 1799 and 1820. A series of fires (including those set by the British in 1814) and overcrowded conditions led to the construction of the existing Treasury Building. In 1866, the construction of the North Wing of the Treasury Building necessitated the demolition of the State Department building to the northeast of the White House. The State Department then moved to the D.C. Orphan Asylum Building while the War and Navy Departments continued to make do with their cramped quarters to the west of the White House.

In December of 1869, Congress appointed a commission to select a site and prepare plans and cost estimates for a new State Department Building. The commission was also to consider possible arrangements for the War and Navy Departments. To the horror of some who expected a Greek Revival twin of the Treasury Building to be erected on the other side of the White House, the elaborate French Second Empire style design by Alfred Mullett was selected, and construction of a building to house all three departments began in June of 1871.

Construction took 17 years as the building slowly rose wing by wing. When the EEOB was finished in 1888, it was the largest office building in Washington, with nearly 2 miles of black and white tiled corridors. Almost all of the interior detail is of cast iron or plaster; the use of wood was minimized to insure fire safety. Eight monumental curving staircases of granite with over 4,000 individually cast bronze balusters are capped by four skylight domes and two stained glass rotundas.

Completed in 1875, the State Department's south wing was the first to be occupied, with its elegant four-story library (completed in 1876), Diplomatic Reception Room, and Secretary's office decorated with carved wood, Oriental rugs, and stenciled wall patterns. The Navy Department moved into the east wing in 1879, where elaborate wall and ceiling stenciling and marqetry floors decorated the office of the Secretary. The Indian Treaty Room, originally the Navy's library and reception room, cost more per square foot than any other room in the building because of its rich marble wall panels, tiled floors, 800-pound bronze sconces, and gold leaf ornamentation. This room has been the scene of many Presidential news conferences and continues to be used for conferences and receptions attended by the President. The remaining north, west, and center wings were constructed for the War Department and took an additional 10 years to build. Notable interiors include an ornate cast-iron library, the Secretary's suite, and the stained glass skylight over the west wing's double staircase.

Many of our most celebrated national figures have participated in historical events that have taken place within the EEOB's granite walls. Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lyndon B. Johnson, Gerald Ford, and George H. W. Bush all had offices in this building before becoming President. It has housed 16 Secretaries of the Navy, 21 Secretaries of War, and 24 Secretaries of State. Winston Churchill once walked its corridors and Japanese emissaries met here with Secretary of State Cordell Hull after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. President Herbert Hoover occupied the Secretary of Navy's office for a few months following a fire in the Oval Office on Christmas Eve 1929. In recent history, President Richard Nixon had a private office here. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was the first in a succession of Vice Presidents to the present day that have had offices in the building.

Gradually, the original tenants of the EEOB vacated the building - the Navy Department left in 1918 (except for the Secretary who stayed until 1921), followed by the War Department in 1938, and finally by the State Department in 1947. The White House began to move some of its offices across West Executive Avenue in 1939, and in 1949 the building was turned over to the Executive Office of the President and renamed the Executive Office Building. The building continues to house various agencies that comprise the Executive Office of the President, such as the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council.

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Eisenhower Executive Office Building | The White House

Office building construction
10-11-2013.

By: redhotlavatx

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Medical Office Building Construction (Part 5) [8-18-2013]
The building is almost complete.

By: Arvell Dorsey

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Medical Office Building Construction (Part 5) [8-18-2013] - Video

Job site theft avoided at office building construction site in Shavano Park, TX
13-Jul-2013 08:04:23 AM - Virtual guards called police to this office building under construction where a white van entered during monitoring hours. Police a...

By: VirtualGuardStation

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Job site theft avoided at office building construction site in Shavano Park, TX - Video

Unum Office Building construction time-lapse

By: ArrowstreetLive

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VIENTIANE CENTER
Vientiane Center : North Nong Chan Complex Development Co., Ltd Jointly funded by Yunnan Provincial overseas Investment Co.,Ltd and Krittaphong Group Co.,Ltd. For the Shopping mall and the office building construction is the phase 1 plan, duration of construction is only 18 months finish. 1. The construction started 0n 12/11/ 2012 2. Booking on January 2013 3. March 2013 Investment invitation convention 4. Start Decorate on April 2014 5. Finish construction on May 2014 6. Openning Business on July 2014 If Interest to book the Retails, Restaurants, Spa, Bar, Night Clup, KTV, Game and Cinema and Apartment please contact ; email: vilaikone@gmail.com Mr. Vilaykone PHIANESINH, Mobile: 85620 5555 8518 Tel: 85621 212333 Office Address: 4th floor building, Samsenthai road, Kaoyord village, Sisattanak district, Vientiane capital, Lao PDRFrom:Vilaykone PHIANESINHViews:2 0ratingsTime:04:17More inPeople Blogs

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