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Facts About The Empire State Building New York City

Updated on May 8, 2013

The Beautiful Empire State Building

Empire State Building

Street view of the Empire State Building, which is located on 34th Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue, NYC
Street view of the Empire State Building, which is located on 34th Street between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue, NYC | Source

Manhattan, a Big City that is Small in Size

Manhattan, New York, is the biggest city in the world. But not in size.

Manhattan is an island that is 13.4 miles (21.5 km) long. At its widest point, it is 2.3 miles (3.7 km). At its narrowest point, it is 0.8 miles (1.3 km). The total square miles of Manhattan is approximately 23.7 square miles of land and about 10 square miles of water.

Within in this crowded city sits Central Park, which takes up 843 acres.

Is Is it any wonder how skyscrapers came to fill the landscape on this tiny island?

The Empire State Building Marks the Skyline of New York City

From 1889, when the first skyscraper was built at 11 stories high, through today, Manhattan is filled with beautifully designed and massively tall buildings. Structures that denote a rich architectural history of a city that has many stories to tell.

Today, the towering landscapes we see is made up of ordinary apartment buildings, and bustling office buildings. Tall structures that saturate nearly every square foot of land and air to form an amazing and distinctive skyline that offers a scintillating and awe inspiring view to all that behold them.

The Empire State Building is one of these amazing buildings in this amazing city. It stands nearly a quarter of a mile high in the skyline of New York. There are 21,000 employees, with 1,000 businesses in the Empire State Building, making it the 2nd largest office complex in the United States, after the Pentagon.

The Empire State Building has an Art Deco Design

On May 1, 1931, The Empire State Building was completed. It stood 1,250 feet high at 102 stories high. For four decades, this iconic structure held the distinction as the tallest buiding in New York, until the north tower of the World Trade Center was built in 1972.

One of the things that makes this structure so beautiful a building, is its art deco style tower that stands 200 feet tall at the top, It is a statement of the times, by the way it is designed. Looking at the Empire State Building, you can see the aura of its history and the era of the time period in which it was built. To look at the architectural design of this skyscraper, it feels as though history, speaks out to you.

The Empire State Building was conceived out of a competition between two rival companies, Chrysler and General Motors to see who could build a taller building in New York City. At time when the Great Depression gripped this country, the construction of the Empire State Building employed about 3,400 workers a day and instilled a deep sense of pride in New Yorkers. New York was known as the empire state and so the building was named for New York’s nickname.

The building was built on the old, closed Waldorf Astoria Hotel on 5th Ave between 33rd and 34th st. The former hotel was knocked down to make way for the tallest building in the world at that time to be built. To this day, it is one of the best known landmarks in the world.There were 16 versions of the Empire State building design before one was decided upon. A model of the building was constructed out of plaster. It 25 stood 7 ft high and weighed 525 lbs. As a trivia note, Fox Films used this model for their movie Skyline.

Where Is the Empire State Building Located?

A
empire state building:
Empire State Bldg, 350 W 34th St, Manhattan, NY 10001, USA

get directions

The Empire State Building is located in the center of Manhattan.

The Empire State Building is One of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World

The Empire State Building narrows inward to conform to the building codes of 1916.
The Empire State Building narrows inward to conform to the building codes of 1916. | Source

The Empire State Building - One of the Greatest Civil Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century

The Empire State Building was designed with a grand entrance, 4 stories high, and the main lobby to be 3 stories high. From the 80th floor on, the building narrows, which conformed to the building laws of 1916. At the top of the building, a mooring mast was erected, which later was turned into an antenna, making The Empire State Building stand 1,454 feet high.


Steel mills from 310 miles away delivered the steel for its construction, by train, boats, and trucks. Construction started on March 17, 1930 and one year and 45 day later, The Empire State Building was completed at a cost of nearly $41 million. After nearly 7 million man hours, 3,400 workers with 60 different trades, at the rate of 4 ½ stories each week, the famous building was completed. It is made up of 57,000 tons of steel, 6,500 windows to create this 365,000 ton building. There are 1,860 steps to reach the 102nd floor.

It took 1 year and 45 days at a total cost of nearly $41 million during those depression days to build the it. The Empire State Building remains one of the most beautiful structures in the word. It is recognized around the globe, and in 1994 the American Society of Civil Engineers picked the The Empire State Building as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It is recognized as one of the greatest civil engineering achievements of the 20th century

In May 2012, One World Trade Tower, newly constructed on Ground Zero, became the tallest building in New York, taking away that distinction from The Empire State Building.

Building The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a Landmark in NYC

From a bomber plane crashing into it to tips about visiting the observation tower, The Empire State Building, has more stories to tell in More Facts About The Empire State Building.

The Empire State Building symbolizes the hopes and aspirations of a city that rose out of the days of the depression to become an iconic landmark that helps define the beautiful skyline of New York City.

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