Located in midtown of New York City, this skyscraper has 102 stories. The empire state building is a cultural icon of USA. It is built on a design known as Art Deco style. On 1 May, 1931, the button for the lights of the empire state building was pressed by US President Herbert Hoover. It used to be the only skyscraper that had more than one hundred floors. The outdoor observatory of this building is one of the most famous in the world. It is one of the tallest freestanding structures in Americas. Let’s explore more about this wonderful architecture!
Date of Start: March 17, 1930
Date of Completion: April 11, 1931
Height of building: 381 m (1,250 feet)
Height of building (including pinnacle): 1,453 feet
Height of pinnacle: 62 m (203 feet)
Number of windows: 6,500
Number of elevators: 73
Total number of steps: 1,860
Area (base of the building): 2 acres
Stories: 102
Number of businesses: 1,000
Number of employees: 21,000
Completion time: 1 year and 45 days
Total cost: $40,948,900
Design: Art Deco
Interesting Facts about Empire State Building
- The New York State is sometimes known by its nickname i.e. the Empire State. This building is named after it.
- The empire state building was the tallest skyscraper in the world until 1954 when it was outshined by Griffin Television Tower Oklahoma.
- In 1970, the north tower of the original World Trade Center surpassed this building as the world’s tallest.
- The completion of One World Trade Center building in 2013 makes it the tallest in New York by surpassing Empire State building.
- It ranks fifth among the tallest buildings of USA.
- In terms of pinnacle height, the building is ranked 4th among the country’s tallest skyscrapers.
- It is among one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.
- In 1986, the building was named as the National Historic Landmark.
- It ranks at the top of America’s Favorite Architecture.
- It ranks 29th among the tallest buildings of the world.
More Facts
- The repair of the empire state building in 2010 cost $550 million.
- About 3,400 European workers were engaged in the construction. Five workers lost their lives during the construction.
- The building did not start making profits until 1950.
- In 1951, Roger L. Stevens along with his partners purchased this building at $51 million, which was the highest amount paid at that time in the history of the real-estate business.
- On 28 July, 1945, a plane was crashed into the empire state building. In this accident, 14 people lost their lives.
- When the plane crashed, Betty Lou Oliver was inside the elevator and had a freefall of 75 stories. As luck would have it, he was survived. It is a world record and designated in the Guinness World Record as longest survived in the dive of elevator.
- In 1946, another incident of plane crash into the Empire State building was about to happen but this time missed it.
- About 30 people have attempted suicide from the upper parts of this building.
- The first man to commit suicide from this building was the worker who was engaged in its construction. At the time, the construction was not completed as yet but the man was laid off from the work, so he committed suicide.
- The building houses just about 21,000 workers which ranks it at the second position of single office complex in USA. The office having maximum number of employees working every day in USA is Pentagon.
- From first floor to the 80th floor, the elevator takes less than one minute.
- The floodlights at the top of the empire state building were installed in 1964.
Learn: New York Facts
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