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| Empire State Building |
Empire State Building was the world's tallest building from 1931 to 1972.* |
| Preceded by |
Chrysler Building |
| Surpassed by |
World Trade Center (1972) |
| Information |
| Location |
350 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10118
USA[1] |
| Coordinates |
40°44′54.36″N 73°59′08.50″W / 40.7484333, -73.985694 (Empire State Building)Coordinates: 40°44′54.36″N 73°59′08.50″W / 40.7484333, -73.985694 (Empire State Building) |
| Status |
Complete |
| Constructed |
1929–1931[2] |
| Height |
| Antenna/Spire |
1,472 ft (448.7 m)[3] |
| Roof |
1,250 ft (381.0 m) |
| Top floor |
1,224 ft (373.2 m)[3] |
| Technical details |
| Floor count |
102 |
| Floor area |
2,768,591 sq ft (257,000 m²) rentable (2007)
External: 2 acres (0.8 ha)[2] |
| Cost |
$40,948,900 |
| Companies |
| Architect |
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon |
| Contractor |
Starrett Brothers and Eken |
| Management |
W&H Properties |
*Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to highest structural or architectural top; see the list of tallest buildings in the world for other listings. |
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York. It stood as the world's tallest building for more than forty years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972.[citation needed] Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City.
The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. 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.[6] It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[4][7][8] In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America's Favorite Architecture according to the AIA. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.[9]
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[edit] History of the building
The present site of the Empire State Building was first developed as the John Thomson Farm in the late 18th century. At the time, a stream ran across the site, emptying into Sunfish Pond, located a block away. The block was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the late 19th century, and was frequented by The Four Hundred, the social elite of New York.
[edit] Design and Construction
The Empire State Building was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier design for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as a basis.[10] The building was actually designed from the top down.[11] The general contractors were Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed by John J. Raskob. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former Governor of New York.[2]
Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction on the building itself started symbolically on March 17—St.Patrick's Day—per 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, mainly from the Kahnawake reserve near Montreal. According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction.[12] Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931.
The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of the 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 would hold the title for less than a year, as the Empire State Building would surpass them upon its completion, just 410 days after construction commenced. 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. Ironically, the first use of tower lights atop the Empire State Building, the following year, was for the purpose of signalling the victory of Franklin D. Roosevelt over Hoover in the presidential election of November 1932.[13]
[edit] Tallest skyscraper for 41 years
The Empire State Building remained the tallest skyscraper in the world for 41 years, and stood as the world's tallest man-made structure for 23 years. It was surpassed as tallest building by the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1972. With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, and the second-tallest building in the United States.
[edit] Features
[edit] Architectural
The Empire State Building rises to 1,250 feet (381.0 m) at the 102nd floor, and including the 203-foot (62 m) pinnacle, its full height reaches 1453 feet and 8 9/16th inches (443 m). The building has 85 stories of commercial and office space (2,158,000 sq ft/200,000 m) and an indoor and outdoor observation deck on the 86th floor. The remaining 16 stories represent the Art Deco tower, which is capped by a 102nd-floor observatory. Atop the tower is the 203-foot (62 m) pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, with a lightning rod at the very top.
The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors. It has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators, and there are 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. It has a total floor area of approximately 2,768,591 square feet (257,000 m²); the base of the Empire State Building is about 2 acres (0.8 ha). The building houses 1,000 businesses, and has its own zip code, 10118. As of 2007, approximately 21,000 employees work in the building each day, making the Empire State Building the second-largest single office complex in America, after the Pentagon. The building was completed in one year and 45 days. Its original 64 elevators are located in a central core; today, the Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators. It takes less than one minute by elevator to get to the 86th floor, where an observation deck is located. The building has 70 miles (113 km) of pipe and 2,500,000 feet (760,000 m) of electrical wire.[23] It is heated by low-pressure steam; despite its height, the building only requires between two and three pounds per square inch (0.14 to 0.21 kg. per cm²) of steam pressure for heating. It weighs approximately 370,000 short tons (336,000 M/T).
The Empire State Building cost $40,948,900 to build.
A series of
setbacks causes the building to taper with height.
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