The Empire State Building
Originally designed with a mooring mast for airships at its peak, the Empire State building has been iconic since before it was completed. It has appeared in television and movies throughout its lifetime, beginning with King Kong in 1933. It was built in the early and darkest days of the Great Depression, with construction beginning in the spring of 1930, and it opened in May of the following year, completed in just over 13 months. It has two observatories, on the 86th floor and on the 102nd, and over 4 million visitors use them every year.
Its construction was a masterwork of coordination and planning, with materials delivered on time and on demand, and its workers accommodated in ways calculated to minimize work time lost on site. As the building rose cafeterias and snack bars were installed on the uncompleted floors so that workers did not have to descend several stories to avail themselves of their services during breaks. Temporary water lines rose with the floors, providing drinking water to the workers. Building materials came from across the United States and Europe. As the supporting steel structure rose skyward, the façade was applied beneath it, and workers within the building finished out successive floors.
There were impressive firsts as the building was under construction. The steel structure resulted in the largest single purchase of steel ever up to the time of construction. When Otis Elevator received the order for the 66 elevator cars to be installed in the building it was the single largest order they had ever received, and a welcome one as the growing depression threw more and more out of work. More than 3,500 men worked on the building itself, supported by the daily delivery of materials and supplies. The building was completed under budget by almost $20 million, and twelve days ahead of schedule, an event celebrated by the last rivet in the steel frame being a ceremonial one of solid gold.
Although its construction was a resounding success the building was slow to gain popularity in terms of occupation. There was little demand for office space in the early 1930s. The mooring mast for dirigibles was revealed to be impractical and dangerous due to the vagaries of wind and updrafts, and the idea was abandoned after the US Navy made one failed attempt to tie up to the mast. In 1945 a US Army Air Force B-25 crashed into the building, an accident in which 14 people were killed. The building was slightly damaged and was open for business two days later.
It was not until the 1950s that the building began to be profitable and though no longer the tallest building in the world it remains one of the most prestigious addresses in Manhattan. Today it is considered an art-deco masterpiece and its public areas have undergone numerous renovations and improvements. In some years the sale of tickets to the observation decks have exceeded the income to the building derived from rents, an indication of the Empire State Building’s approval from the public. About 1,000 businesses have offices in the building, including several television and radio stations, which broadcast from its premises.