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Empire State Building

A skyscraper built in 410 days that was the world’s tallest for forty years

Local name: Empire State Building

Collection: New York · USA · Open in OpenStreetMap

The story

Before you is the Empire State Building. Construction began on the seventeenth of March 1930, in the depths of the Great Depression. The 102-story tower went up in just one year and forty-five days, 410 days in all. It was designed by the architects Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. On the first of May 1931, President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, and the building’s lights came on for the first time. It became the tallest building in the world and stayed so for about forty years. With its antenna it stands 1,454 feet tall. The building has seventy-three elevators, and the stairs to the 102nd floor have 1,860 steps. On the second of March 1933, the film King Kong opened in New York. In the finale the giant ape climbs the spire of this very building. In 1976, for the Bicentennial, the top of the building was lit in red, white and blue for the first time. Since 2012 its LED lights can turn it any of sixteen million colors. Two observation decks are open to visitors, on the 86th and 102nd floors.

Visiting

The observatory entrance is at 20 West 34th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Open daily until late in the evening; hours change with the season. Admission is paid, with timed tickets; buy in advance on esbnyc.com.

Photos

Sources

• Empire State Building — History
• Empire State Building — Facts & Figures
• Empire State Building — Hours & Directions

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