The viewpoint of the quintessence of the skyscrapers is the best place to see the city. Although it lost the title of "tallest building in the world", the Empire State is still the most famous skyscraper in New York and a symbol of the city on the entire planet.
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| Empire State Building |
Its construction began just a few weeks before the "crash" of the United States Stock Exchange in 1929 and when it was inaugurated, in 1931, it was so difficult to rent that it was called "The Empty State Building".
Only the rapid popularity of its viewpoints managed to save it from bankruptcy. So far more than 150 million people have visited it.
Curiosities of the Empire State Building
Its Construction: The building was designed so that it could be constructed easily and quickly. Everything that was possible was prefabricated and the parts put in place at the rate of four floors per week.
The frame is made with 60,000 tons of steel and was built in 23 weeks and has 102 floors, in the latter there is a gazebo.
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| Empire State Building |
Aluminum panels were used, instead of stone, around the 6500 windows. The steel hides the rough edges of the facade.
Ten million bricks were used to line the entire building.
More than 200 concrete and steel pillars support the 365,000 tons of the building.
The Empire State Building was planned with 86 stories, but later a 46-meter mooring mast for zeppelins was added. Today, radio and television are broadcast from the mast to the city and to four states.
History
The site of the Empire State Building was first developed as John Thomson's Farm in the late 18th century. At the time, a stream was running across the site, flowing into Sunfish Pond, located a block away. Later the site was occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in the late 19th century, and was frequented by "The Four Hundred", the social elite of New York.
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| Empire State Building |
Design and build
The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb, partner of the architecture firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, who made the drawings of the building in just two weeks, using previous designs as a basis, such as the Reynolds Building in Winston- Salem, North Carolina and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager. The main builders were Brothers Starrett and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont.
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| Empire State Building |
The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former governor of New York. Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930, and construction of the building itself began symbolically on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). 3,400 workers participated in the project, mostly immigrants from Europe, along with hundreds of Mohawk workers (iron experts), many of them from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal. According to official accounts, five workers died during construction. Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931.
The construction was part of an intense competition in New York for the title of the tallest building in the world. The building was officially inaugurated on May 1, 1931 in a special way, the President of the United States of the time (Herbert Hoover) turned the Empire State Building into the building of lights, with the push of a button from Washington, DC.