Empire State Building – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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