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106-407: Avery Library is named for New York architect Henry Ogden Avery , a friend of William Robert Ware , who was the first professor of architecture at Columbia University in 1881. Soon after Avery's death in 1890, his parents, Samuel Putnam Avery and Mary Ogden Avery , established the library as a memorial to their son. They offered his collection of 2,000 books, mostly in architecture, archaeology, and

212-490: A "backup" since signal transmissions from the building were generally of poorer quality. Following the construction of One World Trade Center in the late 2000s and early 2010s, some TV stations began moving their transmitting facilities there. As of 2021 , the Empire State Building is home to the following stations: The site was previously owned by John Jacob Astor of the prominent Astor family , who had owned

318-419: A "medallion" in the very southeast portion of the outline. A compass is depicted in the bottom right and a plaque to the building's major developers is on the bottom left. A scale model of the building was also placed south of the security desk. The plaque at the western end of the lobby is on the eastern interior wall of a one-story-tall rectangular-shaped corridor that surrounds the banks of escalators, with

424-481: A 25-story office building on the Waldorf–Astoria site. The company's president, Floyd De L. Brown, paid $ 100,000 of the $ 1 million down payment required to start construction on the building, with the promise that the difference would be paid later. Brown borrowed $ 900,000 from a bank but defaulted on the loan. After Brown was unable to secure additional funding, the land was resold to Empire State Inc.,

530-554: A black granite cladding. The second through fourth stories consist of windows alternating with wide stone piers and narrower stone mullions . The fifth story contains windows alternating with wide and narrow mullions, and is topped by a horizontal stone sill. The facade of the tower stories is split into several vertical bays on each side, with windows projecting slightly from the limestone cladding. The bays are arranged into sets of one, two, or three windows on each floor. The bays are separated by alternating narrow and wide piers,

636-541: A combined average of four 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

742-478: A few FM stations were relocated to the nearby Condé Nast Building to reduce the number of broadcast stations using the Empire State Building. Eleven television stations and twenty-two FM stations had signed 15-year leases in the building by May 2003. It was expected that a taller broadcast tower in Bayonne, New Jersey , or Governors Island , would be built in the meantime with the Empire State Building being used as

848-428: A group of wealthy investors that included Louis G. Kaufman , Ellis P. Earle , John J. Raskob , Coleman du Pont, and Pierre S. du Pont . The name came from the state nickname for New York. 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

954-431: A ladder ascend to the spire and are used by maintenance workers. The mast's 480 windows were all replaced in 2015. The mast serves as the base of the building's broadcasting antenna. Inflatable objects have sometimes been mounted to the spire for promotional purposes. For example, a King Kong balloon was attached to the spire in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of the character's introduction, and an inflatable dragon

1060-505: A large body of obituaries of architects. Until July 1, 2009, the Getty Information Institute and later GRI co-produced the index. On that date, GRI transferred the database back to Columbia University , which continues to maintain it. 40°48′29.5″N 73°57′39.5″W  /  40.808194°N 73.960972°W  / 40.808194; -73.960972 Henry Ogden Avery Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1166-419: A mezzanine level. At the west end of the lobby, behind the security desk, is an aluminum relief of the skyscraper as it was originally built (without the antenna). The relief, which was intended to provide a welcoming effect, contains an embossed outline of the building, with rays radiating from the spire and the sun behind it. In the background is a state map of New York with the building's location marked by

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1272-453: 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

1378-514: A storm. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the ride was closed. An updated version debuted in mid-2002, featuring actor Kevin Bacon as the pilot, with the new flight also going haywire. This new version served a more informative goal, as opposed to the old version's main purpose of entertainment, and contained details about the 9/11 attacks. The simulator received mixed reviews, with assessments of

1484-427: A symmetrical massing because of its large lot and relatively short base. Its articulation consists of three horizontal sections—a base, shaft, and capital —similar to the components of a column . The five-story base occupies the entire lot, while the 81-story shaft above it is set back sharply from the base. The setback above the 5th story is 60 feet (18 m) deep on all sides. There are smaller setbacks on

1590-520: A uniform shape. According to architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern , the building's form contrasted with the nearly contemporary, similarly designed 500 Fifth Avenue eight blocks north, which had an asymmetrical massing on a smaller lot. The Empire State Building's Art Deco design is typical of pre–World War II architecture in New York City. The facade is clad in Indiana limestone panels made by

1696-468: A work consisting of 15,000 stars and 5,000 circles, superimposed on a 13-by-5-foot (4.0 by 1.5 m) etched-glass installation, in the lobby. The Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators. Its original 64 elevators, built by the Otis Elevator Company , in a central core and are of varying heights, with the longest of these elevators reaching from the lobby to

1802-442: 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, allowing the windows to be extended from floor to ceiling and widening

1908-417: Is 1,250 ft (381 m) tall to its 102nd floor, or 1,453 feet 8 + 9 ⁄ 16  inches (443.092 m) including its 203-foot (61.9 m) pinnacle. It was the first building in the world to be more than 100 stories tall, though only the lowest 86 stories are usable. The first through 85th floors contain 2.158 million square feet (200,500 m ) of commercial and office space, while

2014-410: 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. The 86th floor observatory contains both an enclosed viewing gallery and an open-air outdoor viewing area, allowing for it to remain open 365 days

2120-632: Is one of the largest collections of catalogs of the American building trades anywhere, and the American View Book Collection, which includes books, pamphlets, and brochures that document cities, towns, and buildings throughout the United States. While an appointment is necessary, Avery Classics is open to the general public for research. Avery's Drawings & Archives department is among the largest and most significant architectural archives in

2226-534: The 1916 Zoning Resolution , which was intended to allow sunlight to reach the streets as well. 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 Street and 34th Street sides, before it would have to utilize setbacks. However, with the largest setback being located above the base, the tower stories could contain

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2332-574: The Art Deco lobby located at 350 Fifth Avenue. Visitors to the observatories use an entrance at 20 West 34th Street; prior to August 2018, visitors entered through the Fifth Avenue lobby. Although physically located in South Midtown, a mixed residential and commercial area, the building is so large that it was assigned its own ZIP Code , 10118; as of 2012 , it is one of 43 buildings in New York City that have their own ZIP codes. The areas surrounding

2438-498: The B. Altman and Company Building , which houses the City University of New York 's Graduate Center . The nearest New York City Subway stations are 34th Street–Herald Square , one block west, and 33rd Street at Park Avenue , two blocks east; there is also a PATH station at 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue . The Empire State Building was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in the Art Deco style. The Empire State Building

2544-673: 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. The Empire State Building is located on the west side of Fifth Avenue , between 33rd Street to the south and 34th Street to the north, in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . Tenants enter the building through

2650-533: The New York Knicks ; red, white, and blue for the New York Rangers . The spire can also be lit to commemorate events including disasters, anniversaries, or deaths, as well as for celebrations such as Pride and Halloween . In 1998, the building was lit in blue after the death of singer Frank Sinatra , who was nicknamed "Ol' Blue Eyes". The structure was lit in red, white, and blue for several months after

2756-576: The Willis Tower 's 33 pounds per square foot (1.6 kPa) and the John Hancock Center 's 26 pounds per square foot (1.2 kPa). 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 50 short tons (45 long tons). Utilities are grouped in a central shaft. On the 6th through 86th stories,

2862-628: The collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 . On January 13, 2012, the building was lit in red, orange, and yellow to honor the 60th anniversary of the NBC program The Today Show . After retired basketball player Kobe Bryant 's January 2020 death , the building was lit in purple and gold, signifying the colors of his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers . The evening after iconic actor James Earl Jones died, September 9, 2024,

2968-410: The $ 550 million renovation of the building. An additional elevator connects the 86th and 102nd floor observatories, which allows visitors access the 102nd floor observatory after having their tickets scanned. It also allows employees to access the mechanical floors located between the 87th and 101st floors. The 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors contain observatories. The latter two observatories saw

3074-512: The 2 acres (1 ha) needed for the base, with the combined plot measuring 425 feet (130 m) wide by 200 feet (61 m) long. The Empire State Inc. consortium was announced to the public in August 1929. Concurrently, Smith announced the construction of an 80-story building on the site, to be taller than any other buildings in existence. Empire State Inc. contracted William F. Lamb , of architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon , to create

3180-421: The 34th Street entrance and south to the 33rd Street entrance. It borders three large storefronts and leads to escalators (originally stairs), which 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 the northern and southern corridors, respectively. The side entrances from 33rd and 34th Street lead to two-story-high corridors around

3286-559: The 72nd floor to illuminate the top of the building at night so that the building could be seen from the World Fair later that year. The lights were shut off from November 1973 to July 1974 because of the energy crisis at the time. In 1976, the businessman Douglas Leigh suggested that Wien and Helmsley install 204 metal-halide lights , which were four times as bright as the 1,000 incandescent lights they were to replace. New red, white, and blue metal-halide lights were installed in time for

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3392-490: 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. 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 1,200 feet per minute (366 m/min). At

3498-517: The 85th floor became home to RCA's New York television operations initially as experimental station W2XBS channel 1 then, from 1941, as commercial station WNBT channel 1 (now WNBC channel 4). NBC's FM station, W2XDG, began transmitting from the antenna in 1940. NBC retained exclusive use of the top of the building until 1950 when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered the exclusive deal be terminated. The FCC directive

3604-424: The 86th floor contains an observatory. The remaining 16 stories are part of the spire, which is capped by an observatory on the 102nd floor; the spire does not contain any intermediate levels and is used mostly for mechanical purposes. Atop the 102nd story is the 203 ft (61.9 m) pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, and surmounted with a lightning rod . The Empire State Building has

3710-638: The Ancient Near East; and hundreds of works on paper (drawings, watercolors, prints) and decorative arts (ceramics, tapestries, furniture) from around the globe. Among the larger collections of works by individual artists are photographs and prints by Andy Warhol and the largest collection of paintings, drawings, and watercolors by Florine Stettheimer (1871–1944). Avery Classics is the rare book department of Avery Library. It contains approximately 40,000 printed volumes published over seven centuries, from Leon Battista Alberti 's De re aedificatoria (1485) to

3816-629: The Bank of Manhattan Building) and the Chrysler Building in Manhattan both vied for this distinction and were already under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities. The race was defined by at least five other proposals, although only

3922-469: 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, 200-foot (61 m) metal "crown" and an additional 222-foot (68 m) mooring mast intended for dirigibles . The roof height was now 1,250 feet (380 m), making it

4028-403: The Empire State Building allows for more space overall, with a 1:200 stone-to-building ratio compared to a 1:50 ratio in similar buildings. The original main lobby is accessed from Fifth Avenue, on the building's east side, and is the only place in the building where the design contains narrative motifs. It contains an entrance with one set of double doors between a pair of revolving doors . At

4134-401: The Empire State Building are home to other major points of interest, including Macy's at Herald Square on Sixth Avenue and 34th Street, and Koreatown on 32nd Street between Madison and Sixth avenues. To the east of the Empire State Building is Murray Hill , a neighborhood with a mix of residential, commercial, and entertainment activity. The block directly to the northeast contains

4240-426: The Empire State Building weighs 365,000 short tons (331,122 t) and has an internal volume of 37 million cubic feet (1,000,000 m ). The interior required 1,172 miles (1,886 km) of elevator cable and 2 million feet (609,600 m) of electrical wires. It has a total floor area of 2,768,591 sq ft (257,211 m ), and each of the floors in the base cover 2 acres (1 ha). This gives

4346-669: The Empire State Building would survive the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . The 40 Wall Street tower was revised, in April 1929, from 840 feet (260 m) to 925 feet (282 m) making it the world's tallest. The Chrysler Building added its 185-foot (56 m) steel tip to its roof in October 1929, thus bringing it to a height of 1,046 feet (319 m) and greatly exceeding the height of 40 Wall Street. The Chrysler Building's developer, Walter Chrysler , realized that his tower's height would exceed

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4452-464: The Empire State Building's as well, having instructed his architect, William Van Alen , to change the Chrysler's original roof from a stubby Romanesque dome to a narrow steel spire. Raskob, wishing to have the Empire State Building be the world's tallest, reviewed the plans and had five floors added as well as a spire; however, the new floors would need to be set back because of projected wind pressure on

4558-473: The Empire State Building, on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets , was developed in 1893 as 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

4664-480: The Indiana Limestone Company and sourced from a quarry in south-central Indiana; the panels give the building its signature blonde color. According to official fact sheets, the facade uses 200,000 cubic feet (5,700 m ) of limestone and granite, ten million bricks, and 730 short tons (650 long tons) of aluminum and stainless steel. The building also contains 6,514 windows. The decorative features on

4770-510: The Twin Towers would reflect radio waves broadcast from the Empire State Building, eventually resulting in some broadcasters relocating to the newer towers instead of suing the developer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Even though the nine stations who were broadcasting from the Empire State Building were leasing their broadcast space until 1984, most of these stations moved to

4876-499: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.132 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 390748352 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Fri, 29 Nov 2024 05:49:01 GMT Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . The building

4982-534: The World Trade Center and the broadcast centers atop it, leaving most of the city's stations without a transmitter for ten days until the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey , was re-activated temporarily. By October 2001, nearly all of the city's commercial broadcast stations (both television and FM radio) were again transmitting from the top of the Empire State Building. In a report that Congress commissioned about

5088-509: The World Trade Center as soon as it was completed in 1971. The broadcasters obtained a court order stipulating that the Port Authority had to build a mast and transmission equipment in the North Tower , as well as pay the broadcasters' leases in the Empire State Building until 1984. Only a few broadcasters renewed their leases in the Empire State Building. The September 11 attacks destroyed

5194-453: The available colors from nine to over 16 million. The computer-controlled system allows the building to be illuminated in ways that were unable to be done previously with plastic gels. For instance, CNN used the top of the Empire State Building as a scoreboard during the 2012 United States presidential election , using red and blue lights to represent Republican and Democratic electoral votes respectively. Also, on November 26, 2012,

5300-415: The building capacity for 20,000 tenants and 15,000 visitors. The riveted steel frame of the building was originally designed to handle all of the building's gravitational stresses and wind loads . 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 42 pounds per square foot (2.0 kPa) versus

5406-574: The building design. Lamb produced the initial building design in just two weeks using the firm's earlier designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina , as the basis. He had also been inspired by Raymond Hood 's design for the Daily News Building , which was being constructed at the same time. Concurrently, Lamb's partner Richmond Shreve created "bug diagrams" of

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5512-411: The building had its first synchronized light show, using music from recording artist Alicia Keys . Artists such as Eminem and OneRepublic have been featured in later shows, including the building's annual Holiday Music-to-Lights Show. The building's owners adhere to strict standards in using the lights; for instance, they do not use the lights to play advertisements. According to official fact sheets,

5618-463: The building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931. 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 four million tourists from around

5724-608: The building was lit up to look like Jones's iconic Darth Vader villain from “ Star Wars .” In addition to lightings, the Empire State Building is able to do immersive visual projections on the building's exterior. It partnered with Netflix in May 2022 to celebrate the return of Stranger Things fourth season by projecting the Upside Down onto the Empire State Building. In 2012, the building's four hundred metal halide lamps and floodlights were replaced with 1,200 LED fixtures, increasing

5830-451: The busiest sections in the world". The Empire State Building was to be a typical office building, but Raskob intended to build it "better and in a bigger way", according to architectural writer Donald J. Reynolds. While plans for the Empire State Building were being finalized, an intense competition in New York for the title of " world's tallest building " was underway. 40 Wall Street (then

5936-464: The central shaft is surrounded by a main corridor on all four sides. Per the final specifications of the building, the corridor is surrounded in turn by office space 28 feet (8.5 m) deep, maximizing office space at a time before air conditioning became commonplace. 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. The relative dearth of stone in

6042-540: 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 Grand Central Terminal nine blocks away at its closest. It also praised the 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m ) of proposed floor space near "one of

6148-595: The collection include: the public outdoor sculpture on all the campuses, including works by Auguste Rodin , Daniel Chester French , Henry Moore , and Clement Meadmore ; nearly 2,000 paintings, including hundreds of portraits of Columbia administrators and faculty since the eighteenth century; about 1,000 works of fine art photography from daguerreotypes to contemporary works; the Sackler Collection of over 2,000 Asian art works, including Buddhist sculpture in stone, bronze, and polychrome wood from India, China, Japan, and

6254-480: The country's bicentennial that July. After the bicentennial, Helmsley retained the new lights due to the reduced maintenance cost, about $ 116 a year. Since October 12, 1977, the spire has been lit in colors chosen to match seasonal events and holidays. Organizations are allowed to make requests through the building's website. The building is also lit in the colors of New York-based sports teams on nights when they host games: for example, orange, blue, and white for

6360-403: The decorative arts, many of his original drawings, as well a $ 30,000 to round out the book collection and to create an endowment. The Library now holds more than 400,000 volumes and receives approximately 900 periodicals, with legacy holdings of approximately 1,900 serial titles. Avery Library's collection in architecture literature is among the largest in the world and includes such highlights as

6466-722: The department holds Antonio Lafreri ’s "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae". Avery Library is also home to the Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals . Begun at Avery in 1934 by Talbot Hamlin , the Index provides citations to articles in approximately 300 current and over 1,000 retrospective architectural and related periodicals, with primary emphasis on architectural design and history as well as archaeology, landscape architecture, interior design, decorative arts, garden history, historic preservation, urban planning and design, real estate development, and environmental studies. The Index also includes

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6572-458: The elevator core, crossed by stainless steel-and-glass-enclosed bridges at the mezzanine floor. 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

6678-447: The entire archive of Frank Lloyd Wright. Art Properties oversees the collection of art and cultural artifacts owned by Columbia University. More than 90% of the collection comes from donations and bequests by alumni, faculty, administrators, and students. Comprising more than 13,000 works of art in all media, displayed in buildings at each campus and held in storage, the art collection reflects all cultures and time periods. Highlights from

6784-482: The extension. On November 18, 1929, Smith acquired a lot at 27–31 West 33rd Street, adding 75 feet (23 m) 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 1,050 feet (320 m), higher than the Chrysler's 71st-floor observation deck. The 1,050-foot Empire State Building would only be 4 feet (1.2 m) taller than

6890-415: The facade are largely geometric, in contrast with earlier buildings, whose decorations often were intended to represent a specific narrative. The main entrance, composed of three sets of metal doors, is at the center of the facade's Fifth Avenue elevation , flanked by molded piers that are topped with eagles. Above the main entrance is a transom , a triple-height transom window with geometric patterns, and

6996-479: The first Western printed book on architecture, De re aedificatoria (1485), by Leone Battista Alberti ; Francesco Colonna 's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499); works by Giovanni Battista Piranesi ; and classics of modernism by Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier , with the rarest materials held in the library's Classics (Rare Book) Department. In 2012, Avery, in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art , acquired

7102-421: The golden letters "Empire State" above the fifth-floor windows. There are two entrances each on 33rd and 34th streets, with modernistic, stainless steel canopies projecting from the entrances on 33rd and 34th streets there. Above the secondary entrances are triple windows, less elaborate in design than those on Fifth Avenue. The storefronts on the first floor contain aluminum-framed doors and windows within

7208-639: The height and length of other structures. A symbol of New York City, the building 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

7314-550: The hotel lease was purchased by Thomas Coleman du Pont . By the 1920s, the old Waldorf–Astoria was becoming dated and the elegant social life of New York had moved much farther north. Additionally, many stores had opened on Fifth Avenue north of 34th Street. The Astor family decided to build a replacement hotel on Park Avenue and sold the hotel to Bethlehem Engineering Corporation in 1928 for $ 14–16 million. The hotel closed shortly thereafter on May 3, 1929. Bethlehem Engineering Corporation originally intended to build

7420-412: The inclusion of which may have been influenced by the design of the contemporary Daily News Building . The windows in each bay are separated by vertical nickel-chrome steel mullions and connected by horizontal aluminum spandrels between each floor. The windows are placed within stainless-steel frames, which saved money by eliminating the need to apply a stone finish around the windows. In addition,

7526-514: 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. The north corridor contained eight illuminated panels created in 1963 by Roy Sparkia and Renée Nemorov, in time for the 1964 World's Fair , depicting the building as the Eighth Wonder of the World alongside

7632-410: The major and sudden Wall Street Crash , marking the beginning of the decade-long Great Depression . Despite the economic downturn, Raskob refused to cancel the project because of the progress that had been made up to that point. Neither Raskob, who had ceased speculation in the stock market the previous year, nor Smith, who had no stock investments, suffered financially in the crash. However, most of

7738-561: The mast contains four rectangular tiers topped by a cylindrical shaft with a conical pinnacle. On the 102nd floor (formerly the 101st floor), there is a door with stairs ascending to the 103rd floor (formerly the 102nd). 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. A set of stairs and

7844-459: The north and south are storefronts, which are flanked by tubes of dark rounded marble and topped by a vertical band of grooves set into the marble. Until the 1960s, there was a Longchamps restaurant next to the lobby, with six oval murals designed by Winold Reiss ; these murals were placed in storage when the Longchamps closed. The western ends of the north and south walls include escalators to

7950-838: The notable architects and designers represented in the collection are: The Archives also holds the records of the Empire State Building , Guastavino Fireproof Construction Company , the New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company , and Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York, as well as papers of artist and writer Kenyon Cox , journalist Douglas Haskell , who was editor of Architectural Forum , and drawings by mural and stained glass artist John LaFarge . The department also has major archives of architectural photography, including works by C. D. Arnold, George Cserna, Samuel H. Gottscho , and Joseph W. Molitor. Lastly,

8056-427: The observation deck. In 2016, New York City's official tourism website 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 10,000-square-foot (930 m ) exhibits on their way up to

8162-408: The observatories. 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. In early 1994, a motion simulator attraction

8268-432: The old Waldorf–Astoria began on October 1, 1929. Stripping the building down was an arduous process, as the hotel had been constructed using more rigid material than earlier buildings had been. Furthermore, the old hotel's granite, wood chips, and "'precious' metals such as lead, brass, and zinc" were not in high demand, resulting in issues with disposal. Most of the wood was deposited into a woodpile on nearby 30th Street or

8374-484: The other specifications he was given for the final, approved plan: The program was short enough—a fixed budget, no space more than 28 feet from window to corridor, as many stories of such space as possible, an exterior of limestone, and completion date of [May 1], 1931, which meant a year and six months from the beginning of sketches. The contractors were Starrett Brothers and Eken , which were composed of Paul and William A. Starrett and Andrew J. Eken . The project

8480-404: 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 building was conceived from the top down, giving it a pencil-like shape. The plans were devised within a budget of $ 50 million and a stipulation that the building be ready for occupancy within 18 months of

8586-522: The recent limited edition volume, Olafur Eliasson ’s Your House (2006). The Classics collection also has important holdings of manuscripts, broadsides, photographs, periodicals, graphic suites—including Giovanni Battista Piranesi 's Carceri (Prisons) and Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome)—and printed ephemera. Notable special collections within Classics include the Trade Catalog Collection, which

8692-431: The ride ranging from "great" to "satisfactory" to "corny". The final stage of the building was the installation of a hollow mast, a 158-foot (48 m) steel shaft fitted with elevators and utilities, above the 86th floor. The spire of the Empire State Building was originally intended to serve as a mooring mast for zeppelins and other airships, although the plan was abandoned after high winds made that impossible. At

8798-558: The site since the mid-1820s. In 1893, John Jacob Astor Sr.'s grandson William Waldorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on the site. Four years later, his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV , opened the 16-story Astoria Hotel on an adjacent site. The two portions of the Waldorf–Astoria hotel had 1,300 bedrooms, making it the largest hotel in the world at the time. After the death of its founding proprietor, George Boldt , in early 1918,

8904-405: The space in the observatory overall. 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 . An interactive multimedia museum, with multiple hands-on exhibitions about the building's history, was added during this project. The design of the 10,000 sq ft (930 m ) Observatory Experience

9010-453: The start of construction. Design drawings and construction were concurrent. Steel drawings were completed in mid-January 1930, when foundations were underway. 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, 1,000-foot-tall (300 m) building would have unobstructed views of

9116-403: The tallest building in the world by far, even without the antenna. The addition of the dirigible station meant that another floor, the 86th, would have to be built below the crown; however, unlike the Chrysler's spire, the Empire State's mast would serve a practical purpose. A revised plan was announced to the public in late December 1929, just before the start of construction. The final plan

9222-459: The time of the skyscraper's construction, their practical speed was limited to 700 feet per minute (213 m/min) 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 automatic elevators during

9328-432: 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 three-story-high space runs parallel to 33rd and 34th Streets. The lobby contains two tiers of marble: a wainscoting of darker marble, topped by lighter marble. There is a pattern of zigzagging terrazzo tiles on the lobby floor, which leads from east to west. To

9434-433: The top would be a conical roof and the 102nd-floor docking station. Inside, the elevators would ascend 167 feet (51 m) from the 86th-floor ticket offices to a 33-foot-wide (10 m) 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. As constructed,

9540-518: The traditional seven. The building's owners installed a series of paintings by the New York artist Kysa Johnson in the concourse level. Johnson later filed a federal lawsuit, in January 2014, under the Visual Artists Rights Act alleging the negligent destruction of the paintings and damage to her reputation as an artist. As part of the building's 2010 renovation, Denise Amses commissioned

9646-448: The transition from analog television to digital television , it was stated that the placement of broadcast stations in the Empire State Building was considered "problematic" due to interference from nearby buildings. In comparison, the congressional report stated that the former Twin Towers had very few buildings of comparable height nearby thus signals suffered little interference. In 2003,

9752-415: The upper stories, allowing sunlight to illuminate the interiors of the top floors while also positioning these floors away from the noisy streets below. The setbacks are located at the 21st, 25th, 30th, 72nd, 81st, and 85th stories. The setbacks correspond to the tops of elevator shafts, allowing interior spaces to be at most 28 feet (8.5 m) deep (see § Interior ). The setbacks were mandated by

9858-509: The use of aluminum spandrels obviated the need for cross- bonding , which would have been required if stone had been used instead. The building was originally equipped with white searchlights at the top. They were first used in November 1932 when they lit up to signal Roosevelt's victory over Hoover in the presidential election of that year . These were later swapped for four "Freedom Lights" in 1956. In February 1964, flood lights were added on

9964-401: 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 international cultural icon : it has been featured in more than 250 television series and films since the film King Kong was released in 1933. The building's size has been used as a standard of reference to describe

10070-460: The world. Its holdings include more than two million architectural drawings , photographs, manuscripts, business records, audio-visual recordings, and other related materials, primarily documenting the architectural history New York City and the surrounding region, with significant and wide-ranging examples of American and international architecture relating to the work of New York-based architects and alumni of Columbia's School of Architecture. Among

10176-458: Was topped out in 1970 ; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was New York City's tallest building until it was surpassed in 2012 by One World Trade Center . As of 2024 , the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City , the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States , and the 57th-tallest completed skyscraper in the world . The site of

10282-553: Was based on consumer complaints that a common location was necessary for the seven extant New York-area television stations to transmit from so that receiving antennas would not have to be constantly adjusted. Other television broadcasters would later join RCA at the building on the 81st through 83rd floors, often along with sister FM stations. Construction of a dedicated broadcast tower began on July 27, 1950, with TV, and FM, transmissions starting in 1951. The 200-foot (61 m) broadcast tower

10388-419: Was built on the 2nd floor, as a complement to the observation deck. The original cinematic presentation lasted approximately 25 minutes, while the simulation was about eight minutes. The ride had two incarnations. The original version, which ran from 1994 until around 2002, featured James Doohan , Star Trek's Scotty , as the airplane's pilot who humorously tried to keep the flight under control during

10494-552: Was burned in a swamp elsewhere. Much of the other materials that made up the old hotel, including the granite and bronze, were dumped into the Atlantic Ocean near Sandy Hook , New Jersey. By the time the hotel's demolition started, Raskob had secured the required funding for the construction of the building. The plan was to start construction later that year but, on October 24, the New York Stock Exchange experienced

10600-452: Was completed in 1953. From 1951, six broadcasters agreed to pay a combined $ 600,000 per year for the use of the antenna. In 1965, a separate set of FM antennae was constructed ringing the 103rd floor observation area to act as a master antenna. The placement of the stations in the Empire State Building became a major issue with the construction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in the late 1960s, and early 1970s. The greater height of

10706-463: 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 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna . The Empire State Building was the world's tallest building until the first tower of the World Trade Center

10812-424: Was financed primarily by Raskob and Pierre du Pont, while James Farley 's General Builders Supply Corporation supplied the building materials. John W. Bowser was the construction superintendent of the project, and the structural engineer of the building was Homer G. Balcom. The tight completion schedule necessitated the commencement of construction even though the design had yet to be finalized. Demolition of

10918-406: Was inspired by the plans and designs of the original Empire State Building. 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 were 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

11024-479: Was joined by Edwin Howard Armstrong in a cooperative venture to test his FM system from the building's antenna. This setup, which entailed the installation of the world's first FM transmitter , continued only until October of the next year due to disputes between RCA and Armstrong. Specifically, NBC wanted to install more TV equipment in the room where Armstrong's transmitter was located. After some time,

11130-447: Was placed on the spire in 2024 to promote the TV series House of Dragon . Broadcasting began at the Empire State Building on December 22, 1931, when NBC and RCA began transmitting experimental television broadcasts from a small antenna erected atop the mast, with two separate transmitters for the visual and audio data. They leased the 85th floor and built a laboratory there. In 1934, RCA

11236-413: Was sketched within two hours, the night before the plan was supposed to be presented to the site's owners in January 1930. The New York Times reported that the spire was facing some "technical problems", but they were "no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan." By this time the blueprints for the building had gone through up to fifteen versions before they were approved. Lamb described

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