25 Places to visit before you die: No. 4 The Empire State Building

New York, New York so good they named it twice! - A world city; a financial, cultural and, after 911, the emotional hub of the States. And at the heart of the city of cities, the iconic 1,454 feet skyscraper the Empire State Building, few Modern buildings are so emblematic of a not just a city but of a country. The Empire State Building is no longer the tallest structure in the world, but stands tall on afterabc's list of, 25 Places to visit before you die. 

As a child I was fascinated by the "Guinness book of world records"; who was the tallest shortest, fastest. It seemed entirely logical that the tallest buildings in the world were not just located in America, but in the home of all that is 'big', New York; and that the tallest of them all was the 102-story, Art Deco, Empire State Building.  Indeed, the Empire State building was the tallest building in the world from its completion in 1931 to the toping out of the North Tower of the New York, World Trade Center in 1972.

After the tragic events of 911, the Empire State building is once again the tallest building in New York, and the third tallest in America.  [The Willis Tower, (formerly known as Sears Tower) and Trump International Hotel and Tower, both in Chicago are taller]. 

The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb, excavation of the site began in January 1930, and construction commenced on St Patrick's Day, March 17th 1930. Incredibly the 3,400 workers completed the project in just 410 days, and the Empire State building officially opened on May 1st 1931. Many of the workers were Native American Mohawks, who had no fear of walking alone the steel girders hundreds of feet up.

The building's distinctive Art Deco spire was originally designed to be a mooring mast and depot for airships, but the idea did not work because of updrafts from the building. A large broadcast tower was added to the top of the spire in the early 1950s. The building is not as beautiful as the Chrysler building on 42 street, but it is the most iconic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The 1930s was the era of the Great Depression and the Empire State Building struggled to find tenants for all its office space. Remarkably the building did not become profitable until 1950. In 1951 the building was sold to Roger L. Stevens for a record $51 Million. (The Empire State Building cost $40,948,900 to build).

The building houses 1,000 businesses, and has its own zip code, 10118. As of 2007, approximately 21,000 employees work in the building each day, making the Empire State Building the second-largest single office complex in America, after the Pentagon. Today, the Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators. It takes less than one minute by elevator to get to the 86th floor, where an observation deck is located.

The lobby is three stories high and features an aluminum relief of the skyscraper. The north corridor contains eight illuminated panels, created by Roy Sparkia and Renée Nemorov in 1963, depicting the building as the Eighth Wonder of the World, alongside the traditional seven.

In 1964, floodlights were added to illuminate the top of the building at night, in colors chosen to match seasonal and other events, such as St. Patrick's Day, Christmas, Independence Day or Bastille Day. The building will be lit in the colors of New York's sports teams on the nights they have home games (orange, blue and white for the New York Knicks, red, white and blue for the New York Rangers.

The Empire State Building has one of the most popular outdoor observatories in the world, having been visited by over 110 million people. (In its first year of operation, the observation deck took in approximately 2 million dollars). The 86th-floor observation deck offers impressive 360-degree views of the city. There is a second observation deck on the 102nd floor that is open to the public. It was closed in 1999, but reopened in November 2005. It is completely enclosed and much smaller than the first one. Tourists must pay to visit the observation deck on the 86th floor and an additional amount for the 102nd floor.

Normally there is wait to visit the observation floors, take the time, the views are incredible and the each time you see New York from this perspective will make you fall in love with the Big Apple all over again.

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