Imperial State Building. The iconic Empire State Buildings skyscraper and its history

Empire State Building September 23rd, 2012

The Empire State Building is a 102-story skyscraper located in New York on the island of Manhattan. From 1931 to 1972, before the opening of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, it was the tallest building in the world. In 2001, when the World Trade Center towers collapsed, the skyscraper again became the tallest building in New York. The architecture of the building belongs to the Art Deco style.

In 1986, the Empire State Building was included in the list of US National Historic Landmarks. In 2007, the building was number one on the list of the best American architectural designs according to the American Institute of Architects. The owner and manager of the building is W&H Properties. The tower is located on Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets.

At the end of the 18th century, on the site where the ESB is now located, there was a farm of John Thompson. At that time there was a stream that flowed into Sunfish Pond, which is now located a block from the skyscraper. At the end of the 19th century, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was located here, where New York's social elite lived.

The ESB was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which completed the skyscraper's plans in just two weeks, using its previous work, the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, as a basis. Ohio. The building was designed from top to bottom. The main contractors were the Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed by John J. Raskob.

Construction was supervised by Alfred E. Smith, a former New York City superintendent.

Preparations for construction began on January 22, 1930, and construction of the skyscraper itself, thanks to the influence of Alfred Smith as president of Empire State, Inc., began on March 17, St. Patrick's Day. The project employed 3,400 workers, mostly European immigrants, as well as hundreds of Mohawk Indian foundry workers, primarily from the Kahnawake Reservation, near Montreal.

However, initially no one could have imagined that the Empire State Building would become such a famous skyscraper. Thus, architectural historian Carol Willis notes in one of her books that the main task during the construction of a skyscraper was to meet the specified amount, so the least attention was paid to the appearance of the building.

This construction was part of an intense competition for the title of tallest building in the world. The other two buildings vying for the title, 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, were still under construction when work began on the ESB. Each of them held the title for less than a year; the Empire State Building beat them in this competition just 410 days after construction began. The official opening of the ESB, held on May 1, 1931, was very pompous: President Herbert Hoover turned on the lights in the building by pressing a button in Washington. Ironically, the lamps on top of the skyscraper were first used to commemorate Franklin Roosevelt's victory over Hoover in the November 1932 presidential election.

Let's, with the help of bloggers, take a closer look at how such skyscrapers were built at that time.

The main part of the material belongs rudzin , owner of a most interesting diary

"Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper" - photograph from the series "Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam - 1932" by photographer Charles C. Ebbets

Such a miracle as a skyscraper would not have become possible without the invention of the steel frame. Assembling the steel frame of a building is the most dangerous and difficult part of construction. It is the quality and speed of frame assembly that determines whether the project will be implemented on time and within budget.

That is why riveters are the most important profession in the construction of a skyscraper.

Riveters are a caste with their own laws: a riveter’s salary per working day is $15, more than any skilled worker on a construction site; they do not go to work in rain, wind or fog, they are not on the contractor’s staff. They are not alone, they work in teams of four people, and if one of the team does not go to work, no one does. Why, in the midst of the Great Depression, does everyone turn a blind eye to this, from the investor to the foreman?

On a platform made of planks, or simply on steel beams, there is a coal stove. In the furnace, the rivets are 10cm long and 3cm in diameter steel cylinders. The “cook” “cooks” the rivets - using small bellows he blows air into the oven to heat them to the required temperature. The rivet has warmed up (not too much - it will turn in the hole and you will have to drill it out; and not too weakly - it will not rivet), now you need to transfer the rivet to where it will fasten the beams. Which beam will be attached when is only known in advance, and it is impossible to move a hot stove during the working day. Therefore, often the attachment point is located 30 (thirty) meters from the “cook”, sometimes higher, sometimes 2-3 floors lower.

The only way to transfer a rivet is to throw it.

The “cook” turns to the “goalkeeper” and silently, making sure that the goalkeeper is ready to receive, throws a red-hot 600-gram blank in his direction with tongs. Sometimes there are already welded beams on the trajectory; you need to throw them once, accurately and strongly.

The “goalkeeper” stands on a narrow platform or simply on a bare beam next to the riveting area. His goal is to catch a flying piece of iron with an ordinary tin can. He cannot move without falling. But he must catch the rivet, otherwise it will fall on the city like a small bomb.

"Shooter" and "point" are waiting. The “goalkeeper”, having caught the rivet, drives it into the hole. The “stop” on the outside of the building, hanging over the abyss, holds the rivet head with a steel rod and its own weight. The “shooter” uses a 15-kilogram pneumatic hammer to rivet it from the other side within a minute.

The best team performs this trick over 500 times a day, the average - about 250.

The photographs show the best brigade in 1930, from left to right: “cook”, “goalkeeper”, “focus”, and shooter.”

The danger of this work can be illustrated by the following fact: masons at a construction site are insured at a rate of 6% of their salary, carpenters - 4%. The riveter's rate is 25-30%%.

One person died on the Chrysler building.
Four people died on Wall Street 40.
There are five in the Empire State.

The frame of the skyscraper consists of hundreds of steel profiles several meters long and weighing several tons, the so-called beams. There is nowhere to store them during the construction of a skyscraper - no one will allow you to organize a warehouse in the city center, in a densely built environment, on municipal land. Moreover, all structural elements are different, each can be used in one single place, so an attempt to organize even a temporary warehouse, for example, on one of the last completed floors can lead to great confusion and delays in construction.

That is why, when I wrote that the work of riveters is the most important and most difficult, I did not mention that it is also the most dangerous and difficult. The work is harder and more dangerous than theirs - the work of the crane crew.

The order for beams was agreed upon with the metallurgists several weeks ago; trucks deliver them to the construction site minute by minute; regardless of the weather, they must be unloaded immediately.

The derrick crane is a hinged boom, located on the last built floor, the installers are on the floor above. The winch operator can be located on any floor of an already constructed building, because no one is going to stop the lift and distract other cranes to lift the heavy mechanism several floors higher for the convenience of the installers. Therefore, when lifting a multi-ton channel, the operator does not see either the beam itself, or the machine that brought it, or his comrades.

The only reference point for control is the strike of the bell, given by the apprentice at the signal of the foreman, who is located, along with the entire brigade, dozens of floors above. A blow turns on the winch motor, a blow turns it off. Several teams of riveters are working nearby with their hammers (have you ever heard the noise of a jackhammer?), other crane operators are lifting other channels at the commands of their bells. You can’t make a mistake and not hear the impact - the channel will either ram the crane boom, or throw the installers who are preparing to secure it off the installed vertical beam.

The foreman, controlling the derrick through two operators, one of whom he does not see, ensures that the holes for riveting on the installed vertical beams coincide with the holes on the raised channel with an accuracy of 2-3 millimeters. Only then can a pair of installers secure the swaying, often wet channel with huge bolts and nuts.

In New York on 6th Avenue there are monuments to these guys, erected in 2001. The model was the most famous photo, she is the first in the preview here. So, at first they made the monument exactly like in the photo, i.e. 11 dudes are sitting on a beam. And then the one on the far right was removed to the root. And only because he has a bottle of whiskey in his hands!!! I understand if they did this here during Gorbachev’s time, but they did it in 2001!! Apparently they didn’t want to destroy the legend about the brave guys. Now these are 10 quite decent guys sitting on a steel beam. Fine. But it's kind of a shame.

Photography by Samuel H. Gottscho, 1932

In New York on 6th Avenue there are monuments to these guys, erected in 2001. The model was the most famous photo, she is the first in the preview here. So, at first they made the monument exactly like in the photo, i.e. 11 dudes are sitting on a beam. And then the one on the far right was removed to the root. And only because he has a bottle of whiskey in his hands!!! I understand if they had done this here during Gorbachev’s time, but they did it in 2001!! Apparently they didn’t want to destroy the legend about the brave guys. Now these are 10 quite decent guys sitting on a steel beam. Fine. But it's kind of a shame.

The opening of the ESB coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, so at first most of the office space was empty. In the first year of operation, the construction of the observation deck cost the owners of the building approximately $2 million, and they received the same amount for renting out the premises. Due to the lack of tenants, New Yorkers began to call the skyscraper the "Empty State Building." The building did not become profitable until 1950. In 1951, ESB was sold to Roger L. Stevens and his partners for a record $51 million, brokered by the well-known upper Manhattan real estate firm Charles F. Noyes & Company. At the time, it was the highest price for a single building in real estate history.

The skyscraper's Art Deco spire was originally designed as a mooring mast and anchorage for airships. The one hundred and second floor was first a landing platform, with a special ladder located on it. A separate elevator between the 86th and 102nd floors would take passengers upstairs after they checked in at the observation deck on the 86th floor. However, after several attempts to bring the airship to the skyscraper, it turned out that this was difficult and dangerous due to the strong upward air currents arising from the enormous height of the building. In 1952, a large television tower was attached to the skyscraper's spire.

Over the years of its existence, the Empire State Building has proven itself to be an extremely durable structure. So on July 28, 1945, a B-25 bomber literally crashed into a skyscraper. Several people died, and dozens were injured of varying degrees of severity. The bomber's engine flew through the entire building, but the damage to the skyscraper was limited to the destruction of the outer walls and fire in some rooms.

On July 28, 1945, a USAF B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted in thick fog by Lt. Col. William Smith, crashed into the north façade of the building between the 79th and 80th floors. One of the engines pierced the tower and fell onto a neighboring building, the other fell into the elevator shaft. The fire that arose as a result of the collision was extinguished within 40 minutes. 14 people died in the incident, and elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived after falling in an elevator from a height of 75 floors - this achievement was included in the Guinness Book of Records. Despite the incident, the building was not closed, and work in most offices did not stop the next working day.

damage to the Empire State Building after a collision with an airplane

During the entire operation of the building, more than 30 suicides were committed here. The first suicide occurred immediately after construction was completed by a recently laid off worker. In 1947, a fence was erected around the observation deck, as there were 5 suicide attempts there in just three weeks. In 1979, Miss Elvita Adams decided to take her own life and jumped from the 86th floor. But strong winds threw Miss Adams to the 85th floor, and she escaped with only a broken hip. One of the last suicides occurred on April 13, 2007, when a lawyer jumped from the 69th floor.

Clickable, panorama

ESB rises 1,250 feet (381m) above the street at the 102nd floor, and if you count the 203-foot (62m) spire, the skyscraper's total height is 1,453 feet, eight inches (443m). The building has 85 floors of retail and office space (2,158,000 square feet/200,000 m2) and an indoor/outdoor observation deck on the 86th floor. the remaining 16 floors are an Art Deco tower, ending in an observatory on the 102nd floor. At the top of the tower is a 203-foot-tall spire, much of which is covered in television antennas, with a light rod at the very top.

The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than one hundred floors. It has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators, and 1,860 steps lead from the street to the 102nd floor. The total area of all floors is approximately 2,768,591 square feet (257,000 m2); The ESB base is approximately 2 acres (0.8 ha). The building houses more than a thousand organizations, and it also has its own zip code - 10118. As of 2007, approximately 21,000 employees work in the building every day, making the ESB the second largest office complex in the United States, after the Pentagon. Construction of the skyscraper lasted one year and 45 days. It originally had 64 elevators located centrally; At the moment, the ESB has 73 elevators, including service ones. The elevator rises to the 86th floor, where the observation deck is located, in less than a minute. The total length of the skyscraper's pipes is 70 miles (113 km), the length of electrical wires is 2,500,000 feet (760,000 m). The skyscraper is heated with low pressure steam; Despite its enormous height, the building only requires steam pressure of two or three pounds per square inch (0.14 to 0.21 kg per cm2) to heat the building. The skyscraper weighs approximately 336,000 tons.

In 1964, a floodlighting system was installed on the tower in order to illuminate the top in colors corresponding to any events, memorable dates or holidays (St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, etc.). For example, after the eightieth anniversary and subsequent death of Frank Sinatra, the building was illuminated in blue tones, due to the singer’s nickname “Mr. Blue Eyes.” Following the death of actress Fay Wray in late 2004, the tower's lights were turned off completely for 15 minutes.

The cost of constructing the ESB was $40,948,900. Unlike most modern tall buildings, the Empire State Building has a classic facade. Entrances from 33rd and 34th Streets, covered by modernist steel canopies, lead into two-story high corridors crossed by steel or glass walkways at the second floor level, surrounding the elevators. There are 67 elevators in the central part of the building.

The lobby is three stories high and uses the building's aluminum components in place of the antenna, which was not present on the spire until 1952. In the northern corridor are eight illuminated panels created by Roy Sparkia and Renee Nemorov in 1963, making the building an eighth wonder of the world, joining the traditional seven.

During the finishing of the building, long-term projections were made about its functioning to ensure that the use of the building now would not prevent it from serving future generations. This explains the redesign of the power supply system.

Traditionally, in addition to regular lighting, the building is illuminated in the colors of New York sports teams on days when those teams are playing in the city (orange, blue and white for the New York Knicks, red, white and blue for the New York Rangers and etc.). During the US Open tennis tournament, yellow (the color of the tennis ball) dominates the lighting. In June 2002, during the celebration of the jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the illumination was purple and gold (the colors of the House of Windsor).

Very often this building is the hero of feature films. Take King Kong for example.

In 1964, floodlights were installed on top to illuminate the building at night, with colors chosen to match the seasons and other events such as St. Patrick's Day and Christmas. After the skyscraper's eighteenth birthday and the subsequent death of Frank Sinatra, for example, the building was illuminated in blue, hinting at the singer's nickname - "Old Man Blue Eyes" - and after the death of actress Fay Wray (King -Kong") at the end of 2004, the skyscraper stood in complete darkness for 15 minutes.

Floodlights illuminated the ESB in red, white, and blue for several months after the destruction of the World Trade Center, after which it returned to its usual routine. Traditionally, in addition to the regular schedule, the skyscraper is illuminated with the colors of New York sports teams on home game days (orange, blue and white for the New York Knicks; red, white and blue for the New York Rangers Rangers), etc.). The building is illuminated with the yellow color of a tennis ball during the US Open in late August or early September. The skyscraper was even lit up bright scarlet twice for Rutgers University, the first time during the November 9, 2006 football game against the University of Louisville, which produced the brightest whitewash in university history, and the second time 3 April 2007, when the women's basketball team played against Tennessee during the national championship.

In June 2002, during the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, New York lit up the ESB in red and gold (the colors of the monarchs of the Royal House of Windsor). New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was a sign of gratitude to Her Majesty for playing the United States national anthem at Buckingham Palace after September 11, 2001.
In 1995, the skyscraper was lit up in blue, red, green and yellow to celebrate the launch of Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system. It was a breakthrough for home computing, and the launch was met with fanfare.

The building was also painted purple and white to celebrate the graduation of New York University students.
When the New York Mets beat the New York Yankees in the Subway Series in May 2007, the following night the building was lit up in the winning colors, orange and blue.
In October 2007, the skyscraper was painted green for three days in honor of the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Fitr. Such lighting, first used in honor of a Muslim holiday, is planned to be used every year.
On April 25-27, 2008, the skyscraper was painted "lavender" in honor of the release of Mariah Carey's new album "E=MC2.

The Empire State Building is home to one of the most popular outdoor observatories in the world, visited by more than 110 million people. The observation deck on the 86th floor provides an impressive 360-degree view of the city. There is another observation deck open to the public on the 102nd floor. It closed in 1999 but reopened in November 2005. It is completely glazed and much smaller than the first; on days when there is an influx of visitors, it is sometimes closed.

New York is the main media center of the United States. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, nearly all of the city's commercial broadcast stations (both radio and television) have been broadcast from the top of the ESB, although some FM radio stations are located in the nearby Conde Nast Building. Most New York AM stations are broadcast from New Jersey.
Communication facilities for broadcast stations are at the top of the ESB. Broadcasting from the building began on December 22, 1931, when Broadcasting began at Empire on December 22, 1931, when the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) began broadcasting experimental television broadcasts through a small antenna mounted on a spire. They rented the 85th floor and built a laboratory there, and in 1934 RCA was merged into a shady venture by Edwin Howard Armstrong to test his FM system using a skyscraper antenna. When Armstrong and RCA left the building in 1935 and its FM equipment was removed, the 85th floor became the site of RCA's television studio, first as the experimental W2XBS channel 1, which became commercial station WNBT, channel 1 (now WNBC-TV) on July 1, 1941 channel 4). The National Broadcasting Company station (WEAF-FM, now WQHT) began broadcasting via antenna in 1940.

NBC continued to have sole use of the top of the Empire State Building until 1950, when the FCC changed the arrangement based on viewer requests to move the seven main channels to the NBC so that they would not have to constantly adjust the antennas. Construction has begun on a huge television tower. Other television companies then joined RCA on the 83rd, 82nd and 81st floors, some bringing their sister radio stations with them. Massive TV and FM broadcasts began in 1951. In 1965, separate FM antennas were installed around the viewing area on the 102nd floor.

When the World Trade Center was built, it caused major problems for television stations, most of which moved into the World Trade Center immediately after its completion. This allowed the antenna to be upgraded and the broadcast quality of the FM radio stations remaining in the ESB to be improved, which were soon joined by other FM radio stations and television stations that had moved from all other locations in the city center. The destruction of the World Trade Center necessitated changes to broadcast frequencies and redevelopment of studios to accommodate stations that were forced to return.

I suggest you look at this skyscraper from above

You will probably become one of the millions of tourists crowding into huge queues in order to get into Empire State Building. This is not surprising, because King Kong himself tried to get to the top of the building. In every corner of New York you will find souvenirs, postcards, brochures and T-shirts with the image of the Empire State Building.

Empire State Building officially opened on May 1, 1931, and became the tallest building of that time. Its height is 1,250 feet (381 m). This skyscraper has become not only an icon of New York, it has become a symbol of human desire to achieve the impossible.

Built in 1889, the 984-foot (300 m) Eiffel Tower spurred American architects to build something taller. This may have been the reason for the start of the skyscraper race in the twentieth century. So, in 1909, the fifty-story MetLife Tower (Metropolitan Life Tower), whose height is 700 feet (214 m), was built. 4 years later, in 1913. The 57-story Woolworth Building, 792 feet (241 m) high, was built. And in 1929, the tallest building in New York was the 71-story Bank of Manhattan Building - 927 feet (283 m).

When former General Motors vice president John Jakob Raskob decided to join the skyscraper race, Walter Chrysler (founder of Chrysler Corporation) was already building the Chrysler Building. Chrysler kept the height of its building a strict secret, so when construction began, Raskob did not know whose building would be taller, his or Chrysler's.

In 1929, Raskob bought the site for his skyscraper at the intersection of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. The glamorous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was located on this site. The land on which the hotel was located greatly increased in value, so the hotel owners decided to sell it and build a new hotel in another location. Raskob cost this plot of land (including the hotel) approximately $16 million.

To develop the skyscraper project, Raskob hired the company Shreve, Lamb & Harmon.

While discussing a building project with architect William Lamb, Raskob took a long pencil, put it on the table and asked: “Bill, how tall can you build a building without it falling?” Thus began the saga of the construction of one of the most famous buildings in the world.

To complete the project, Raskob needed the best builders. Having invited contractors from Starrett Bros. to an interview. & Eken,” Raskob asked – do they have the necessary construction equipment? To which Poll Starrett, the company foreman, replied that they didn’t even have a pick and shovel. Raskob, of course, was surprised by this answer, since other construction companies with whose representatives he communicated had all the necessary equipment, and rented what was missing. However, Starrett convinced him that a building of this scale required a special approach and conventional construction equipment would not help. For the construction of the skyscraper, Starrett offered to buy new equipment on credit and sell it after completion of the work. Thanks largely to his honesty and openness, Starrett received an eighteen-month construction contract Empire State Building.

The first item on Starrett's schedule was the demolition of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. After people learned of the hotel's demolition, Raskob received thousands of requests for keepsakes of parts of the building. An Iowa resident asked for a piece of metal railing, and several people asked for keys to the room they occupied during their honeymoon. They also asked to send a flagpole, stained glass windows, fireplaces, lamps, bricks, etc. And for some particularly popular items, an auction was held.

The remaining building materials were sold for reuse. The bulk of the debris was hauled to the dock, loaded onto barges, towed fifteen miles offshore and dumped into the Atlantic Ocean.

Even before the hotel was completely demolished, builders had already begun excavating a foundation pit for a new building. Two shifts of 300 people worked day and night, digging into the hard rocky ground.

The building's steel frame was completed on March 17, 1930. Two hundred and ten steel columns made up the vertical frame. Twelve of them stretched the full height of the building, the other parts were from six to eight floors in height.

Passers-by often stopped and raised their heads to look at the workers with admiration. Harold Butcher, a correspondent for the London Daily Herald, described the builders as "casually strolling, crawling, climbing, arm-waving men floating on giant steel frames."

But the most interesting thing was watching the rivet riveters. They worked in groups of four: heater, catcher, thrower and riveter. The heater placed about ten rivets in the fire forge, when they were red hot, he pulled them out with huge tongs and passed them to the thrower, who in turn threw them at a distance of 50 to 75 feet - at the catcher. The catcher caught the rivets using a tin can; they fell into the can while still hot. With his other hand, he used tongs to pull the rivet out of the jar, blow off the ash from it, and then insert it into the hole. The riveter could only hammer it in with a hammer. These people walked in this way all the way from the 1st to the 102nd floor. The last rivet was ceremoniously driven in in the presence of a large number of people - this rivet was cast from pure gold.

Construction frame Empire State Building was a model of efficiency. All work was aimed at saving time, money and human resources. For the prompt delivery of materials to the construction site, a railway was built. Instead of unloading ten million bricks on the construction site, as was usually done, Starrett's workers unloaded them into a special chute that led to a bunker located in the basement. The gutter narrowed at the bottom, which made it possible to control the release of its contents. If necessary, bricks were poured from the bunker directly into carts, which were then lifted to the desired floor. This process eliminated the need to close streets to store bricks, and also eliminated the need to manually load bricks from piles into carts.

Literally simultaneously with the construction of the frame, electricians and plumbers installed the internal communications of the building.

Having built 80 floors, Raskob realized that this was not enough, since the Chrysler Building was becoming even taller. Having added 5 more floors, the Empire State Building became only four feet taller than its competitor. Raskob was worried about the idea that Walter Chrysler was hiding a rod in the building's spire, thanks to which, at the last moment, he could make the skyscraper even taller.

The race of skyscrapers became more and more dramatic. After studying a model of the building, Raskob came up with the idea of building a pier for airships on top of the skyscraper. The new Empire State Building design, which included a pier for landing airships, made the building 1,250 feet (381 m) tall.

Have you ever waited for an elevator in a six or nine story building that seemed to take forever? Or have you ever taken an elevator that stopped at each floor to pick up or drop off a passenger? The Empire State Building had 102 floors, with the capacity to accommodate 15 thousand people. How to get all the people to the right floor without waiting for hours for the elevator or climbing the stairs?

To solve this problem, the architects designed seven categories of elevators, each serving specific floors. For example, group A serves from the third to seventh floor, group B - from the 7th to 18th floor. Thus, if you need to get to the 65th floor, for example, you could take the Group F elevator, which has stops from the 55th to 67th floors, and not from the 1st to 102nd.

Otis Elevator Company installed 58 passenger and 8 freight elevators in the Empire State Building. Although these elevators could travel at speeds of up to 1,200 feet (365 m) per minute, their speed was limited by building codes to 700 feet (213 m) per minute. A month after the Empire State Building opened, this restriction was lifted and the elevators accelerated to 1,200 feet per minute.

Empire State Building was built within the planned time frame of 1 year and 45 days, which was an amazing achievement. Construction of the building came within budget due to the onset of the Great Depression, during which labor costs were reduced. The total cost of construction work was $40,948,900, instead of the planned $50 million.

The Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931. The ribbon was cut by New York City Mayor Jimmy Walker, and President Herbert Hoover, with a symbolic push of a button from Washington, lit up the skyscraper with thousands of lights.

Empire State Building received the status of the tallest building in the world and maintained this level until the construction of the first World Trade Center tower in 1972.

The Empire State Building is, first of all, a huge office center, and also one of the most attractive tourist sites in the city. The skyscraper is considered the second largest office building in the country, second only to the US military department - the Pentagon. 85 floors of the Empire State Building are occupied by offices, where 21 thousand employees work daily, and observation decks are located on two of its floors.

The designers planned to use the long spire of the skyscraper as a mooring mast for mooring airships. But later this idea was abandoned because strong winds almost always blow at the level of the spire. In addition, the architects had little idea of the peculiarities of aeronautics on airships. The drawings depicted passengers emerging onto the Empire State Building spire from the nose of the aircraft, when in reality the loading and unloading would take place in a gondola located under the airship. So the designers’ idea could not be implemented in principle.

Back in December 1931, just six months after construction was completed, an antenna was installed on the spire of the building, with the help of which NBC conducted the first transmission of a television signal as an experiment. And 10 years later, the era of commercial television broadcasting began. These days, the Empire State Building houses transmitters for almost all the city's TV channels and radio stations.

History of construction

The first half of the last century took place in New York under the motto “Who will be able to build the tallest skyscraper?” Since 1913, the palm belonged to the Woolvault Building for 27 years. This building had 57 floors and reached a height of 241 m. Then the 70-story Trump Building, located at 40 Wall Street, became the leader. It rose into the sky at 282.5 m. This record did not last long - only two months. The next favorite was the Chrysler Building. The height of this skyscraper with a long spire already reached 320 m.

Stages of construction of the Empire State Building

The designers of the new high-rise building faced a difficult task. They needed to create more than just a new champion. They wanted to erect a building that would become a real legend.

The design work was led by architect William Lamb, who at that time already had experience in designing the Reynolds Building and the Carew Tower. The famous financier and businessman John Raskob, as well as Pierre DuPont, who was simultaneously one of the leaders of the largest chemical concert in America, DuPont, and the automotive giant General Motors, undertook to invest in large-scale construction.

The location for the new record-breaking skyscraper was chosen at the intersection of West 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. At that time, there was an old Waldorf-Astoria hotel there. It consisted of two buildings, which were connected by a wide hall. Both buildings were erected in the 90s of the 19th century according to the design of New York architect Henry J. Hardenberg. And this hotel was owned by Esther's family.

When the decision was made to build a huge skyscraper, construction began on a new building for the hotel on Fifth Avenue. At the end of autumn 1929, the old hotel began to be demolished, and more than 16 thousand truckloads of broken bricks and stone fragments were removed from here.

Famous footage from the construction of the Empire State Building

Skyscraper in September 1930

The main construction began on March 17, 1930, St. Patrick's Day, and began with excavation work and the laying of a huge foundation. Then, in record time - from the beginning of April to the end of November - a frame was erected from steel beams. The skyscraper was recognized as the tallest building in the world back in September 1930, when builders completed the installation of the 85th floor of the frame.

The construction was huge - 3,439 people took part in it, most of whom were emigrants who had recently arrived on American soil. Mohawk Indians were used in high-altitude work, since these natural climbers were considered excellent installers and were not at all afraid of heights.

This feature has been explained in different ways. Some believed that the Mohawks had a vestibular apparatus developed from birth, because their women constantly carried babies with them, swaddling their children in special cradles. Others argued that when hunting, the Indians were accustomed to placing their feet one after the other on narrow trails, and it was easier for them to stay on narrow metal structures. Another version said that Mohawk warriors perceived heights as a challenge and courageously dealt with the difficulties that arose to achieve victory. In any case, the fact remains that members of this Indian tribe took part in all high-rise construction projects in Canada and the United States and coped with complex high-rise work better than other workers.

During the week, the Empire State Building grew by an average of 4.5 floors. Once a record was set: workers built 14.5 floors in just 10 days. To ensure that construction workers did not stray far from their jobs during lunch breaks, food for them (hot lunches, sandwiches, drinks and ice cream) was served on five levels of the building at once.

View of New York City on the opening day of the Empire State Building (1931)

An unsuccessful attempt to dock an airship with the spire of the Empire State Building in 1952

In addition, quick construction was made possible thanks to the simplicity of the design, the components of which were convenient to deliver and lift to the top. Pittsburgh became the supplier of steel structures for this skyscraper. And the logistics were so streamlined that often the frame was anchored with beams that the steel plant had produced just three days earlier.

However, such a large-scale construction, unfortunately, was not without casualties. According to official statistics, five workers died during the construction of the skyscraper. The duration of construction work and the costs for it broke all records. The high-rise building was built in just one year and 45 days - until May 1, 1931. It cost 24.7 million dollars instead of the planned 43. Such a low cost was due to the fall in prices during the Great Depression.

On the day of the official opening of the Empire State Building, President Herbert Hoover solemnly turned on the lights in the new skyscraper and did it right from the White House. And all the architects who participated in the design were awarded various honorary awards.

However, the Great Depression was still ongoing, and it was only possible to return the funds spent on the construction of a new skyscraper by 1948. All this time, an important source of income was the observation deck on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, which was visited annually by up to 3.5 million people. Most of the office space remained unoccupied for a long time, so the townspeople initially called the new skyscraper Empty.

View of the tower from the street of New York

Architectural features

In the early 30s of the last century, the Empire State Building, built, became not only the tallest building in the world, but also the first skyscraper with over 100 floors. Its wide base is 60 m by 124.5 m. With free ledges, this 102-story building rises to a height of 381 m. And the spire, framed by wing-shaped ribs, increases it to 443 meters.

The Empire State Building's record stood for more than 30 years. It was not until 1972, when the World Trade Center was built in the city, that the Fifth Avenue high-rise took second place. But when the twin towers were destroyed after the terrorist attack in September 2001, the old skyscraper again received the status of the tallest building in the city.

The area of the Empire State Building exceeds 250,000 square meters. m. There are 6.4 thousand windows on the longitudinally striped facades of the skyscraper, and the total area of the glazed surface is close to two hectares.

Like many high-rise buildings of that time, the skyscraper was built in the Art Deco style. This eclectic style, which absorbed the features of neoclassicism and modernism, was born in the 20s of the last century. It was very popular all over the world in the 1930s and 1940s and was reflected not only in architecture, but also in painting, fashion, car design, household items and interiors.

The exterior of the Empire State Building's brick walls are lined with Salem limestone, which was supplied from Indiana. It is good for its monotony and texture resembles the surface of bread. And the recesses in the interfloor spaces were lined with darker-colored finishing stone. The peculiarity of the finishing was that the stone was fixed without additional corners or supports, directly to the beams of the steel frame. And the joints between the stone slabs and the windows were skillfully covered with chrome-plated steel strips.

Interior of the Empire State Building

Entrance lobby to the Empire State Building

The high-rise building's entrance lobby is decorated in rich purple and gray Germanic marble. The large panel installed here features a bas-relief made of aluminum, where you can see the shining sun and the silhouette of the Empire State Building.

Corridor on the 80th floor

The internal layout was determined more by a fixed budget and short construction time than by any architectural delights, therefore, in the created premises, the installations created in the project were strictly maintained - no more than 8.53 m from windows to corridors. These dimensions were necessary to ensure the required level of lighting in all offices.

To ensure that employees and visitors can climb to any floor of the building, it has 73 high-speed elevators, which can take you to the 80th floor within one minute. Those who want to climb to the top floor on foot will have to climb 1,860 steps.

The location of the elevators and the fixed dimensions of the office spaces determined the entire configuration of the Empire State Building and the arrangement of its ledges. The size of floors decreases with height, and the number of elevators also decreases. Thus, the tallest building in the city turned out to be very functional.

tourist attraction

Observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building

The silhouette of the skyscraper is clearly recognizable. It has become a real “crown” and decoration of New York. The designers of the Empire State Building created a structure that, like the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages, dominates the entire city. From Fifth Avenue, the entrance to the building is “guarded” by sculptures of eagles. This skyscraper is so popular in the USA that numerous souvenirs with its image can be bought everywhere.

On the 86th and 102nd floors of the Empire State Building, two large observation decks are specially equipped for tourists. The upper platform is smaller and does not have a full view.

Observation deck on the 102nd floor

The observation deck on the 86th floor is attractive because it has a full 360° panorama. You can climb it on foot, overcoming a staircase of more than 1.5 thousand steps, or by elevator. From here you can see the city streets and skyscrapers of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, green islands of parks and the strait. There is a good view of the city from the site both when the sun is shining and at night. Conveniently, all the sights that can be seen from above are marked on a diagram placed on the observation deck.

In addition, on the second floor of the Empire State Building, a special tourist attraction has been created that simulates a flight over the city - “New York Skyride”. This simulator is very popular among visitors to New York and especially those traveling with children. For a 25-minute “flight” you need to pay $52. The entrance to the attraction is located on 33rd Street and is open from 8.00 to 22.00 all year round.

Views from observation decks

In 1964, during the World's Fair, spotlights were installed on the Empire State Building skyscraper, illuminating its upper part with white light. After 12 years, the decorative lighting was made colored. And today, on major holidays and memorable dates, the building is illuminated in different ways: red, orange and yellow on Thanksgiving Day, white and blue on Presidents’ Day, green on St. Patrick’s Day. On Valentine's Day, the top of the skyscraper turns red, pink and white. And about 50 couples annually get married in the high-rise building.

Empire State Building Tickets

1. Before visiting the famous high-rise building in New York, you should take care of tickets in advance. The easiest way to buy them is on the official website of the Empire State Building: www.esbnyc.com. Tickets to the 86th floor observation deck for adults will cost $32, for those over 62 years old - $29, and for children from 6 to 12 years old - $26. Tickets to both observation decks (86th and 102nd floor) for everyone visitors over 6 years old cost $85. You will have to pay extra for the opportunity to skip the lines. It is noteworthy that tickets are valid for a year from the date of purchase, and they are not difficult to print.

Red illumination of a skyscraper

In addition, you can purchase a City Pass from travel agencies. This is a tour of New York with the right to visit six of the city's main attractions. In this case, a visit to the Empire State Building is possible at a reduced price.

On the Internet you can find many companies offering to visit the famous skyscraper. However, they do not sell tickets, but vouchers. And you will have to spend time to then exchange these vouchers for real tickets.

Empire State Building Observation Deck

2. No need to take anything extra with you. There are no lockers at the entrance to the Empire State Building. And during a mandatory check, security will not allow bulky bags, suitcases, drinks, water, or even large camera tripods to be brought into the building.

3. It would be a good idea to stock up on a few 50-cent coins in advance. They will be needed to use the binoculars located at the observation decks.

Observation deck on the 86th floor

4. The observation deck on the 86th floor is open to all winds, so you should take care of appropriate clothing and hats.

5. The skyscraper opens to visitors at 8 am and closes at 2 am. In the mornings the queue is much shorter. And on holidays and weekends there are so many people that it’s better not to plan a visit here.

Remains of a bomber on the facade of a skyscraper

Americans often call the state of New York the Empire State, which is why the tallest skyscraper in the city is called the “Imperial State Building.”
The Empire State Building is so huge that the country's postal department assigned it its own zip code - 10118.
55,000 tons of steel, 10 million bricks, 200 thousand cubic meters were spent on the construction of the high-rise building. feet of stone, 2 million feet of electrical wire and 1,17 thousand miles of elevator cables. The marble floor in the Empire State Building covers an area of 30,000 square meters. m. The skyscraper itself weighs about 331,000 tons.
The strength of the Empire State Building was tested by tragic events. In late July 1945, a B-25 Mitchell military plane crashed into it between the 79th and 80th floors. This happened because, in conditions of heavy fog and low visibility, the aircraft commander, Lieutenant Colonel William Smith (Jr.), lost control. The impact was so strong that one of the bomber's engines flew right through the entire building. As a result of this tragedy, 14 people died and 26 people were injured in various ways. However, the building itself suffered little damage. The outer walls were damaged and a fire broke out inside, which was extinguished after just 40 minutes. All consequences were eliminated very quickly, and the very next day the offices worked as usual.
The famous high-rise building became famous thanks to the film about King Kong. It was from this Empire State Building that he fell, shot by police helicopters. Many suicides have tried to commit suicide by jumping from a high-rise building, so security guards are now constantly on duty at the observation decks, and a metal canopy has been installed over the sidewalk to protect pedestrians.

King Kong on top of the Empire State Building. Still from the 1933 film

How to get there

The Empire State Building skyscraper stands in the central part of Manhattan. Take the N, Q, P subway lines to the 34th Street/Herald Square station. If you use ground public transport, you can get to the skyscraper by buses M4, M10, M16 and M34.

The building was designed by the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon. The creators of the skyscraper designed it in the Art Deco style. Unlike most modern skyscrapers, the facade of the tower is made in a classical style. The only decorative element of the gray stone facade is vertical strips of stainless steel. The hall inside is 30 meters long and three floors high. It is decorated with panels depicting the seven wonders of the world, and an eighth is added to them - the Empire State Building itself.

The skyscraper was built in a record 410 days, on average 4.5 floors were built per week, and sometimes in 10 days the new building grew by 14 floors. 5,662 cubic meters of limestone and granite were used for the construction of the external walls. In total, the builders used 60 thousand tons of steel structures, 10 million bricks and 700 km of cable. The building has 6,500 windows. Its design is such that the main load is borne by the steel frame, not the walls. It transfers this load directly to the powerful “two-story” foundation. Thanks to the innovation, the weight of the building was significantly reduced and amounted to 365 thousand tons.

By the time construction was completed, the height of the building was 381 m (after the television tower was erected on the roof of the Empire State Building in 1952, its height reached 443 m).

On May 1, 1931, the official opening of the skyscraper took place. The Empire State Building was opened by the then president of the country, Herbert Hoover: with the flick of a switch from Washington, he lit the lights of the tallest man-made structure in the world at that time.

The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for more than 40 years. The skyscraper lost this title only after the construction of the “twin” towers of the World Trade Center in 1972. The tragic death of the “twin” towers during the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, returned the Empire State Building to the status of the tallest building in New York, although the skyscraper could no longer lay claim to world leadership.

The Empire State Building occupies about one hectare of land on the island of Manhattan, at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 34th Street. The building houses the offices of 640 companies employing about 50 thousand people.

The skyscraper is a landmark of Manhattan and New York. Thousands of tourists visit the famous skyscraper every day. In one minute, using a high-speed elevator, they can go up to the observation deck located on the 86th floor and see the panorama of New York: its streets, squares, parks, bridges and even ships at sea. On the 102nd floor there is a glass-enclosed circular observatory. From a height of 381 m, a panorama of five states opens up.

A landmark of New York is considered not only the skyscraper itself, but also its unique lighting system. The tradition of lighting up the Empire State Building in different colors on various holidays has existed for a long time. So, on US Independence Day, the skyscraper turns blue-red-white, and on St. Patrick's Day - green, on Columbus Day - green-white-red. To do this, plastic disks are changed on 200 floodlights illuminating the 30 upper floors.

Even before a television and radio tower was placed on the roof of the skyscraper, it was planned that the upper part of the Empire State Building would serve not only for the festive lighting of the city. The architects designed the roof structure in such a way that it would serve as a pier for passenger airships, which in the 30s. of the last century were a fashionable vehicle and successfully competed with passenger aircraft that were not yet very reliable. The 102nd floor was a berthing platform with a gangway for boarding the airship. A special elevator running between the 86th and 102nd floors could be used to transport passengers whose check-in had to be done on the 86th floor. In reality, not a single airship has ever docked on top of the Empire State Building. The idea of an air terminal turned out to be unsafe - strong and unstable air currents at the top of the 381-meter building made docking very difficult. And soon airships basically ceased to be used as a means of transport.

On the second floor of the building there is an attraction, opened in 1994 for tourists. The attraction is called New York Skyride and is a simulator of air travel over the city. The duration of the attraction is 25 minutes. From 1994 to 2001, an older version of the attraction operated, featuring actor James Doohan, Scotty from Star Trek, as an airplane pilot, humorously trying to maintain control of the plane during a storm. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, this attraction was closed. In the new version, the plot remained the same, but the World Trade Center towers were removed from the scenery, and actor Kevin Bacon became the pilot instead of Doohan. The new version pursued, first of all, educational and informational purposes rather than entertainment. It also included patriotic elements.

In terms of the number of films the Empire State Building has been featured in, the building rivals top movie stars. It all started with King Kong, filmed in 1933, where the final battle of a huge gorilla with American Air Force fighters took place on the roof of this skyscraper. Now the list of films in which the Empire State Building appears, given on the official website of the skyscraper, includes 91 films.

Among other things, the Empire State Building is also the site of some of the most unusual competitions. Every year in early February, skyscraper staircase running competitions are held here. Athletes climb 1,576 steps of the building - from the 1st to the 86th floor - in a few minutes. In 2003, Paul Craik set a record that has not yet been broken - 9 minutes 33 seconds.

Over its almost 80-year history, the Empire State Building has experienced a significant number of different incidents. On July 28, 1945, a USAF B-25 Mitchell bomber, lost in dense fog, crashed into the building between the 79th and 80th floors. One of the engines pierced the skyscraper and fell onto the roof of a neighboring building, the other fell into the elevator shaft. The fire that resulted from the collision was extinguished within 40 minutes. 14 people died in the incident. Elevator Betty Lou Oliver survived a fall from 75 floors in an elevator, an achievement included in the Guinness Book of World Records.

There were fires after that too. So, in August 1988, a fire started on the 86th floor, and the fire reached the very top of the skyscraper. Fortunately, there were no casualties then. In 1990, there was another fire that claimed the lives of 38 people.

There were also incidents of a different kind. In February 1997, 69-year-old Palestinian Ali Hassan Abu Kamal climbed to the observation deck, pulled out a pistol and opened fire on tourists. He killed one person, wounded six, and then shot himself. When the site reopened two days later, visitors were already being probed with magnetometers.

Since its construction, the Empire State Building has attracted people who want to commit suicide. Over the entire period of operation of the building, more than 30 suicides were committed here. The first suicide occurred immediately after construction was completed by a recently laid off worker. As a result, in 1947, a fence had to be erected around the observation site, since in just three weeks there were five suicide attempts there. At the same time, funny things happened: in 1979, Miss Elvita Adams decided to take her own life and jumped from the 86th floor. But a strong wind threw her to the 85th floor, and she escaped with only a broken hip.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

By the time construction was completed, the height of the building was 381 m (after the television tower was erected on the roof of the Empire State Building in 1952, its height reached 443 m).

The material was prepared based on information from open sources