Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building, built in 1930-31 and situated on Fifth Avenue in New York city, was the tallest building in the world until 1971, when the first tower of the world Trade Center in New York city was completed.

Originally 381 m (1,250 ft) in height, the Empire State Building was increased to 448.7 m (1,472 ft) by the addition of television antennas in 1950.

The building was opened during the Depression, and much of its 200,485 sq m (2,158,000 sq ft) of rentable space remained vacant for some time; as a result, the owners depended on sightseers (more than 4 million people by April 1940), who paid to visit the observation decks, to pay the building's taxes.

Designed by the firm of Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon and built at a cost of $41 million, the limestone-and-steel building was not structurally innovative.

Its most distinctive architectural characteristics are its shimmering facade, partially composed of a chrome-nickel-steel alloy, and the monumental foyer.J. Meredith NeilBibliography: Burnham, Alan, ed., New York Landmarks (1963); Heller, Stephen, The Empire Stae Building Book (1980); James, Theodore, Jr., The Empire State Building (1975); Low, Francis, "A Chase Up Into the Sky," American Heritage, October 1968; MacKay, Donald, A., The Building of Manhattan (1989).

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