Empire State Building is one of the main attractions of the New York City and was called "the eighth wonder of the world" because of its height. The Empire State Building is a skyscraper with 102 floors, having the fabulous height of 443 m. Its name comes from the one of the city, New York also being called "The Empire State". Perhaps more than any other building in the world, the Empire State Building proves people's desire and ability to build impressive buildings, able to reach heights hard to imagine. After the collapse of the Twin Towers it became again the tallest building in New York, and is on the 9th place in the world.
The history of Empire State Building
Since the completion of the Eiffel Tower from Paris, France, in 1889, which has a height of 324 m, the American architects had in mind to design a skyscraper that could surpass the height of the famous tower. Although New York had already become famous for the existence of several impressive buildings in 1929, John Jakob Raskob (former vice-president of General Motors) and its partners, decided to buy a land on the Fifth Avenue Street in order to build a new skyscraper. The land became famous because there is the famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, fact for which Raskob bought the land for an amount of $ 16 million.
After they have settled on the location, Raskob, along with his associates, needed a plan for the new skyscraper that would revolutionize the whole world. The plan was, therefore, created by the architect William F. Lamb, from the "Shreve, Lamb & Harmon" company. Plans were completed in just two weeks because they had at the base the initial plans of the Reynolds Building and Carew Tower. Legend says Raskob asked Lamb how high he can make the building so that it will not collapse. The building construction was financed by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont.
The actual construction of the building began, symbolically, on March 17, on St. Patrick's Day. Workers were generally immigrants and according to official information, five of them died during the construction of the Empire State Building. The building was built very quickly, so it was inaugurated on May 1, 1931 by the President of the United States, Herbert Hoover, and in the presence of the Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt. An interesting fact is that the building inauguration coincided with the "Great Depression", a period of extreme economic uncertainty which meant the descent of all activities on a global scale. How influenced this crisis period the Empire State Building? Many of the apartments allocated to offices, but also the habitable ones, were not rented until 1950.
The Empire State Building Design
At that time, the Empire State Building was the only skyscrapers that had more than 100 floors, namely 102, the last 12 ones representing the tower. The tower was built only in 1953, by then on the top floor being just an observation platform. It has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators, and for those who want to climb up to the 102 floor without elevator, they must consider that they have to climb no more and no less than 1860 steps. The building doesnt have an impressive architecture, but its simplicity and greatness make it so stately and elegant. In 1964 were added colored spotlights, which illuminate the building in different colors depending on the season or other important events, such as St. Patrick's Day, Christmas or Independence Day. Long after the demolition of the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building was illuminated in white, red and blue.
The Empire State Building today
Nowadays, the Empire State Building is one of the main attractions of the United States and of New York. Those who visit the grand building, also have the possibility of admiring the whole city from the top floor of the building, from a platform that offers a great view of New York, with all its buildings and parks. Those who wish to visit the Empire State Building and climb to the top floor to admire the scenery should take into account the weather because if there are clouds, you cant see anything. Time does not matter, because the building can be visited both during day and night, the images that you can see always being beautiful. Before getting on top of the building, tourists can visit the entire building.
During the visit to the Empire State Building, visitors can listen to the history of the building, and are guided by a guide. Moreover, they can admire an exhibition of images dating from the time of the construction, as well as documents, plans and other drawings. The impressive building was also "present" in numerous film achievements cinematographic achievements, such as "KingKong", "Kramer vs. Kramer" or "Independence Day ". In conclusion, the Empire State Building is a national monument.