The Empire State Building is a skyscraper located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street "34th Street (Manhattan)"), in New York City (United States). Its name derives from the nickname of the State of New York. It was the tallest building in the world for forty years, from its completion in 1931 until 1971, the year in which construction of the north tower of the World Trade Center was completed "World Trade Center (1973-2001)"). After the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City and the State of New York, until it was again surpassed by One World Trade Center on April 30, 2012, leaving the Empire State in second place.[2] Currently, the Empire State is one of the most emblematic and iconic skyscrapers in the world due to its history and its remarkable height in the century. past. Including the antenna, its height is 443 meters (1,453.4 feet), making it the third tallest building in New York City behind One World Trade Center and Central Park Tower.[3].
The building's Art Deco architecture, height, and observation platforms have made it a popular attraction. Around four million tourists from all over the world annually visit the observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors of the building; an additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019. The Empire State Building is an international cultural icon: it has appeared in more than 250 television series and films since the film King Kong "King Kong (1933 film)") was released in 1933. The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.[4] The building and its interior are listed as a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the Board of Estimate of the City of New York"). It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.
History
Contenido
El lugar que ocupa el Empire State Building se desarrolló por primera vez como la Granja de John Thomson, a finales de siglo . En ese momento, corría un arroyo en todo el sitio, desembocando en Sunfish Pond, ubicado a una manzana de distancia. Más tarde el lugar fue ocupado por el Waldorf-Astoria Hotel a finales del siglo , y fue frecuentado por "Los Cuatrocientos", la élite social de Nueva York.
Emblematic infrastructures
Introduction
The Empire State Building is a skyscraper located at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street "34th Street (Manhattan)"), in New York City (United States). Its name derives from the nickname of the State of New York. It was the tallest building in the world for forty years, from its completion in 1931 until 1971, the year in which construction of the north tower of the World Trade Center was completed "World Trade Center (1973-2001)"). After the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Empire State Building once again became the tallest building in New York City and the State of New York, until it was again surpassed by One World Trade Center on April 30, 2012, leaving the Empire State in second place.[2] Currently, the Empire State is one of the most emblematic and iconic skyscrapers in the world due to its history and its remarkable height in the century. past. Including the antenna, its height is 443 meters (1,453.4 feet), making it the third tallest building in New York City behind One World Trade Center and Central Park Tower.[3].
The building's Art Deco architecture, height, and observation platforms have made it a popular attraction. Around four million tourists from all over the world annually visit the observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors of the building; an additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019. The Empire State Building is an international cultural icon: it has appeared in more than 250 television series and films since the film King Kong "King Kong (1933 film)") was released in 1933. The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.[4] The building and its interior are listed as a landmark by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the Board of Estimate of the City of New York"). It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The building is owned and managed by W&H Properties.
History
Contenido
Design and construction
The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb, a partner in the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, who completed drawings for the building in just two weeks, using previous designs as a basis, such as the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager.
The principal builders were Brothers Starrett and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former governor of New York.
Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930 and construction of the building itself began symbolically on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly European immigrants, along with hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers, many of them from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal. According to official figures, five workers died during construction, although media outlets such as the New York Daily News raised that number to 14. Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931.
The construction was part of a competition in New York for the title of the tallest building in the world. The building was officially inaugurated on May 1, 1931 in a special way: the president of the United States, (Herbert Hoover), converted the Empire State Building into the building of lights, with the push of a button from Washington D.C.
First plans
Bethlehem Engineering Corporation was the engineering company responsible for the construction of a 25-story office building where the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel once stood. The president of the company, Floyd De L. Brown, paid $100,000 in advance of the million required to begin construction of the building, with the promise that the difference would be paid after the fact.[6] Brown obtained a loan from a bank, but was unable to repay it.[7].
The land was sold to Empire State Inc., a group of wealthy investors including Louis G. Kaufman, Ellis P. Earle, John J. Raskob, Coleman du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont. had been managed by Raskob, he was appointed manager of the company.[7] The group acquired the surrounding land so that it could have the 2 acres necessary to make the base of the tower, along with the 130 by 61 meter measurement necessary for the tower itself. Empire State Inc. went public in August 1929.
Empire State Inc. hired William F. Lamb of the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon to do the design. Lamb completed the designs in just 2 weeks using previous designs that had been used for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A posteriori his partner Richmond Shreve made the diagrams with the project requirements. The urban planning act of 1916 forced Lamb to design the structure with setbacks, making the lower floors larger than the upper ones. In this way, the tower was designed from top to bottom, ultimately having a pencil shape.
Design changes
The original plan was to build a 50-story building,[9] later increasing to 60 and then 80.[10] Height restrictions were placed on nearby buildings, to ensure that the top 50 floors of the 300-meter-high building had views of the entire city, unobstructed by any other buildings. The New York Times praised the site's proximity to stations such as the Brooklyn-Manhattan 34th Street Transit Station and the 33rd Street Railroad Terminal, one block away, as well as Penn Station "Pennsylvania Station (New York)" and Grand Central Terminal Station, which is 9 blocks away. The provision of 280,000 square meters of office space, in one of the busiest areas in the world, was also praised.
At the same time that the project to build the Empire State Building was entering its final phase, a contest was taking place in New York City to see which was the tallest building. Both 40 Wall Street, then the headquarters of the Bank of Manhattan, and the Chrysler Building were competing for this distinction and were already under construction when work on the Empire State Building began. The "race to the sky", as it was known at the time, represented the optimism prevailing in the 1920s, stimulated by the real estate boom in the big cities. The revision of number 40 Wall Street took it from 260 meters to 282, in April 1929, being considered the highest. The Chrysler building added 56 meters with the antenna, reaching 319 meters and therefore being considered the tallest. The building's developer, Walter Chrysler, realized that his building would be taller than the Empire State itself, ordering the architect, William Van Alen, to change the building's roof from a dome to a spire shape. Raskob, with the idea that the Empire would be the tallest building in the world, revised the plans and added five extra floors as well as a spire; However, the new floors would have to be set back due to wind pressure in this new area.[12] On November 18, 1929, Smith purchased a lot at 27-31 West 33rd Street, adding 23 meters to the width of the building.[13] Two days later, Smith announced new plans for the skyscraper that included the observatory on the 86th floor at a height of 320 meters, higher than the Chrysler Building observatory, located on the 71st floor.
With these data, the Empire State would be only 1.2 meters higher than the Chrysler Building[12] and Raskob, fearing some last-minute trickery at Chrysler, had the plans revised for the last time, in December 1929, including a 61-meter "crown" and a 68-meter mast for anchoring airships. The roof height was ultimately 380 meters, making it the tallest building in the world by far, even without the antenna. The addition of the airship station meant that another floor, number 86, would have to be built below the coronation; However, unlike the Chrysler Building's antenna, the Empire's mast would have practical meaning.[14] The final plan was announced to the public on January 8, 1930, before construction began. The New York Times announced that the antenna had some technical problems, but it was not a big deal considering the modification carried out.[15] At this time, the building plans had undergone about 15 changes before being approved. Lamb described the rest of the specifications given to him in the final plan:
The schedule was short: a fixed budget, no more than 28 feet from window to hallway, as many floors in such a space as possible, a limestone exterior, and a completion date of May 1, 1931, which meant one year and six months from the start of sketches.
The contractors were Starrett Brothers (*later known as Starrett Corporation) and Eken, that is, Paul and William A. Starrett and Andrew J. Eken, who would later construct other buildings in New York City, such as the Stuyvesant residential complex, Starrett City or Trump Tower.[16] The project was financed primarily by Raskob and Pierre du Pont, while James Farley's supply company provided the construction materials. John W. Bowser took the role of construction manager "Jefe de trabajo (Spain)"), with the engineer responsible for the structure being Homer G. Balcom. The tight construction deadlines meant that construction began even when the design had not been completely completed.
Construction details
Construction began after the demolition of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which began on October 1, 1929.[17] Most of the materials resulting from the demolition were dumped into the Atlantic Ocean, near Sandy Hook, New Jersey.[18] Although the 1929 crash occurred before construction began, it is also true that both Raskob and Smith emerged unscathed from it, subsequently obtaining a loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance. Company for $29 million to begin construction.
Excavation work began on January 22, 1930, even before the total demolition of the hotel. The excavation, in which men participated in twelve-hour shifts 24 hours a day, was almost completely completed in March.[19] The steel for the structure had been manufactured with the modification of the legislation in mind, which would increase the allowable load from 18,000 pounds per square inch to 16,000, that is, reducing the requirements, thereby achieving a lower thickness and a smaller amount of steel. The size of the construction was enormous, which can be attested to by data such as the fact that 16,000 tiles, 340 cubic meters of sand, 300 bags of lime or 5,000 bags of cement arrived at the site every day.[20] So that the workers did not go down to ground level to eat, food stalls were set up in the plants and temporary water fountains were set up so that the workers did not go down to buy bottles.
On June 20, the structure had reached the 26th floor. The idea at that time was to build one floor a day to speed up construction. On September 10, the foundation stone was laid, once the steel work was almost finished, in a ceremony officiated by Smith and attended by thousands of people.
The anchor mast for airships was put up on November 21. At that time most of the façade was already finished. It was then that the installation of the elevators was contracted to the Otis company. Due to the deadlines, there were serious space limitations for the collection of materials, having to place the supplies on the first floor and base floor. At the time of greatest influx of supplies there were about 200 trucks unloading material each day. Likewise at its peak the number of workers amounted to 3,500, many of them being of Irish or Italian origin.[21] The structure was completed on April 11, 1931, 12 days before the deadline and 410 days after the start of construction, with Smith placing a solid gold trim in commemoration.[22]
Opening
The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space was unoccupied. In its first year of operation, the observation deck cost approximately two million dollars, as much money as its owners received for that year's rent. The lack of tenants led the people of New York to mock the construction by calling it the "Empty State Building." At the time that was the highest price ever paid for a single structure in real estate in history.
In the first year, only 23% of the space intended for rental was occupied,[26] compared to the 54% average occupancy rate of the other buildings on the opening date and 90% after 5 years.[27].
Jack Brod, one of the longest-serving occupants,[28] founded the Empire Diamond Corporation with his father in mid-1931 and rented space in the building until his death in 2008.[29] Brod recalled how there were only 20 occupants at the opening date, including himself, and that Al Smith was the only occupant above the 17th floor. In the early 1930s, it was unusual for more of office space was rented in the building, despite the publicity efforts of Smith and Raskob both in newspapers and with their acquaintances. The lights in the building were always on, even in those non-rented areas, to give an impression of occupancy, a fact exacerbated by competition with the Rockefeller Center and other buildings on 42nd Street, which, along with the Empire State Building, represented an excess supply of office space, in a market that was then declining during the 1930s.[30]
Advertising efforts reinforced the Empire State's status as the tallest building.[31] The observatory was advertised in local newspapers as well as on train tickets. The building was a tourist attraction, with one million visitors paying one dollar to take the elevators to the observation decks in 1931. In its first year, revenue from these observation decks was $2 million. In 1936, the decks were full of people every day, and food and drink could be purchased there, and in 1944 the tower received its 5 millionth visitor. In 1931, NBC became an occupant of the tower, renting space on the 85th floor for radio broadcasts.[32] From the beginning the tower was in losses, losing $1 million each year by 1935. Real estate developer Seymour Durst recalled that the building was underused in 1936 with no elevator service above the 45th floor, since from the 41st floor the building was empty except for the NBC offices. NBC and the Raskob/Du Pont offices on the 81st floor.[33].
Other facts
According to the original plans, the Empire State spire was supposed to be an anchor point for airships. Raskob and Smith had proposed creating ticket sales and passenger waiting areas on the 86th floor, with the airship remaining attached to the spire on what would be a hypothetical 106th floor. airship.[34] The idea, however, was impractical due to the updrafts of air caused by the structure of the building itself, the air currents on the island of Manhattan[34] and the spiers of the skyscrapers closest to the Empire State Building. Furthermore, even if the airship could pass through all these obstacles, its crew would have to release ballast, releasing water into the streets to maintain stability and tethering the nose of the airship to the spire without there being any mooring line to the stern of the airship at that time. 72 km/h.[35] The airship tried to moor, spilling the ballast and the aircraft being dragged by the turbulence caused by the wind. This fact caused plans to convert the building into an anchor point for airships to be suspended.
On July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the north face of the building, between the 79th and 80th floors.[36]
At 9:40 on Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted through thick fog by Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith Jr., crashed on the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 79th and 80th floors. attic. The other engine and part of the landing gear fell down an elevator shaft. The fire caused was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people died in the incident.[38][39] Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a 75-story fall inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for surviving the biggest elevator fall.[40] Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was opened to many of the office floors the following Tuesday.
Suicides
Over the years, more than thirty people have committed suicide from the top of the building.[41] The first suicide occurred even before its completion, by a worker who had been fired. The fence around the observatory terrace was completed in 1947, after five people tried to jump over a three-week period. One of the most famous suicides was that of the young Evelyn McHale, whose photo was used by Andy Warhol in his 1962 work Suicide (Fallen Body). of the building on the 85th floor, surviving with only a broken hip. The building was also the scene of suicides in 2004 and 2006.
Profitability
The Empire State Building became profitable during the 1950s, when it broke even between revenues and expenses for the first time.[44] At that time, public transportation options in the vicinity were nothing like today. Despite this challenge, the Empire State Building began to attract occupants thanks to its reputation.[45] The 200-foot radio antenna was erected on the roof in the early 1950s, allowing radio and television stations to broadcast from the building.
However, despite this turn of events, Raskob put the tower up for sale in 1951,[46] for $50 million. The property was acquired by partners Roger L. Stevens, Henry Crown, Alfred R. Glancy and Ben Tobin.[47] The sale was negotiated by the prestigious firm Charles F. Noyes in Manhattan, for $51 million, the highest price paid for a building at that time.[48] At that time, the Empire State Building had been fully leased for several years, even having a waiting list of companies looking for space in the building, according to the Cortland Standard newspaper. That year, six new companies formed a partnership to pay an annual fee of $600,000 to use the antenna,[49] which was completed in 1953. Crown bought out the rest of its partners in 1954, becoming the sole owner. The following year, the American Society of Civil Engineers named the building "one of the 7 wonders of civil engineering".[50]
In 1961, Lawrence A. Wien signed a contract to purchase the Empire State Building for $65 million, with Harry B. Helmsley as a partner.[47] This set a new record paid for a building.[51] More than 3,000 people paid $10,000 each for a share in the company called Empire State Building Associates. The company subleased the building to another company headed by Helmsley and Wien, raising $33 million of the funds needed to pay the acquisition price. 1964[52] and replacement of the manual elevators with automatic ones in 1966. The west wing of the second floor, which was practically unused, was used as a storage space until 1964, when escalators were installed as part of its conversion to a commercial area.[53].
Architecture
El Empire State Building se eleva hasta los 381 metros (1250 pies) a nivel del piso 102, e incluyendo los 62 metros (203 pies) del pináculo, su altura total llega a los 443 metros o 1453 pies y 8 pulgadas. Dispone de 85 vías de comunicaciones y el espacio de oficinas supone una superficie de 200 500 m². Tiene una cubierta al aire libre y cubierta de observación en el piso 86.
Fue el primer edificio en tener más de 100 pisos. Tiene 6500 ventanas y 73 ascensores, y hay 1860 pasos desde el nivel de la calle hasta el piso 102. Tiene una superficie total de 257 211 m²; la base del Empire State tiene unos 8094 m². Aloja 1000 negocios y tiene su propio código postal. Desde 2007, trabajan aproximadamente 21 000 empleados en él diariamente, con lo que es el segundo mayor complejo de oficinas del continente americano, después de El Pentágono. Originalmente el edificio contaba con 64 ascensores que se encuentran en un núcleo central "Núcleo (arquitectura)"); hoy, el Empire State cuenta con 73 ascensores en total, incluidos los de servicio. Se tarda menos de un minuto por ascensor en llegar al piso 80, donde se encuentra una plataforma de observación y una tienda de recuerdos. Tiene 113 km de tuberías, 760 km de cable eléctrico, y cerca de 9000 grifos. Se calienta por vapor a baja presión, a pesar de su altura, el edificio solo requiere entre 2 y 3 libras por pulgada cuadrada (14 y 21 kPa) de presión de vapor para la calefacción. Pesa aproximadamente 370 000 toneladas. Su exterior se construyó con paneles de piedra caliza de Indiana.
A diferencia de la mayoría de los actuales rascacielos, el Empire State cuenta con un diseño art decó, típico de la arquitectura de pre Segunda Guerra Mundial en Nueva York. Las modernistas marquesinas de las entradas de los pisos 33 y 34 conducen a dos pisos de altos corredores de todo el núcleo de ascensores, atravesado por puentes cerrados de acero inoxidable y vidrio en el segundo piso.
El vestíbulo es de tres pisos de altura. El corredor norte contiene ocho paneles de iluminación, creados por Roy Sparkia y Renée Nemorov en 1963, que representa el edificio como la octava maravilla del mundo, junto a las tradicionales siete.
A largo plazo, durante la fase de diseño se tuvieron en cuenta las posibles demandas futuras para garantizar que la construcción pudiera ser usada según las nuevas necesidades. Esto es particularmente evidente en el exceso de diseño de la construcción del sistema eléctrico. La construcción del Empire State Building costó 40 948 900 dólares de la época (equivalentes a aproximadamente 500 millones de dólares en 2010).[54].
Inside
The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors.[55] It has 6,514 windows[56] and 73 elevators with a total area of 257,211 square meters, its base covering 2 acres (1 hectare).[57] Its original elevators, 64 in total, were built by the Otis company,[57] being located in the central core of the building, reaching different heights; The one that covers the longest distance goes from the lobby to the 80th floor. According to the original construction, there were 4 express elevators that went from the lobby to the 80th floor, with landings in between. The other 60 elevators connected these landings with the floors above. Of the total of 64 elevators, 58 were intended for public use (4 express elevators and 54 local type) and 8 could be used as freight elevators for transferring material. The elevators were designed to move at 366 meters per minute. During the construction of the building the speed was limited to 213 meters per minute by law, this limit being eliminated shortly after the building opened.[57] Other elevators connect the 80th floor with the 6 floors above, as these 6 extra floors were built when the original plan with the 80 floors was already approved.[58] The elevators worked mechanically until 2011, when they were replaced by digital elevators during a costly restoration of the building. 550 million dollars. The Empire State Building has 73 in total, including service elevators.[59].
The services use the central opening of the building. On each floor between level 6 and 86, the central shaft is surrounded by a hallway on all 4 sides.[60] According to the building's specifications, the hallway is surrounded by office space with a width of 8.5 meters. Each of the floors has 210 pillars crossing it, providing stability, which, however, greatly limit the space available on the floors.[60] However, the relative little use of ceramic materials and stone in the building allows for better use of space, with a ratio of 1:200 in the use of stone compared to 1:50 used in other buildings.[61].
Lobby
The main lobby is accessed via Fifth Avenue, on the east side of the building, with the double-door entrance situated between a pair of revolving doors. At the top of each entrance there is a bronze motif that represents one of the three trades used in the construction of the building - electricity, masonry and heating. [62] The lobby has 2 levels of marble, a lighter marble at the top up to the height of the shop windows and a darker one for the lower part. There is a terrazzo-type tile pattern on the floor, which runs from the entrance on the east to the aluminum relief on the west.[63] The lobby, in the shape of a chapel with three floors, which runs parallel to 33rd and 34th Streets, contains storefronts on both the north and south faces.[64] These storefronts have frames, the sides being of dark marble, according to the New York Architectural Preservation Commission, and therefore Above it is a band of grooves engraved in marble.[63] Once you enter the lobby there is a security filter similar to that at airports.
The walls of the north and south sides of the lobby house shop windows and escalators to the mezzanine level, also known as the mezzanine.[63][notes 2] On the west side of the lobby is an aluminum relief "Relief (art)") of the skyscraper as it was originally built (without the antenna). The relief, constructed as a welcome,[65] contains an image of the building's outline, accompanied by what the Landmarks Preservation Commission describes as "rays of an aluminum sun shining from behind and mixing with the aluminum rays emanating from the tower of the Empire State Building." In the background is a state map of New York with the building's location marked with a "medallion" in the southeasternmost part of the outline. A compass is located at the bottom right and a plaque for the main promoters of the tower is located at the bottom left.[66].
The plaque at the western end of the lobby is located on the interior east wall of a one-story-high rectangular hallway that runs around the sides of the escalators, similar in design to the lobby. The rectangular hallway is composed of two long hallways on the north and south sides of the rectangle, as well as a smaller hallway on the east side and a longer hallway on the west side. At each end of the hallways, there is a dam to take 4 elevators that only go up one level to connect passageways. The west side of each levee extends north to the 34th Street entrance and south to the 33rd Street entrance.
Until the 1960s, an art deco mural, inspired by both the sky and the machine age, was installed on the ceilings.[69] Damage to these murals, designed by artist Leif Neandross, resulted in copies being mounted in their place. The renovation of the lobby in 2009, during which the clock above the information desk in the Fifth Avenue area was replaced with an anemometer or the installation of two chandeliers that must have already been installed at the opening of the building, allowed some of the grandeur of its early days to be revived. The north passage contained 8 illuminated panels created in 1963 by Roy Sparkia and Renée Nemorov, in time for the World's Fair of 1964, representing the building as the eighth wonder of the world along with the traditional 7.[71] The building's owners installed a series of paintings by New York artist Kysa Johnson on the lobby level. Johnson filed a complaint, in January 2014, under the Visual Artists Rights Protection Act alleging the destruction of his paintings and his reputation as an artist.[72] As part of the renovation of the building in 2010, Denise Amses commissioned a work consisting of 15,000 stars and 5,000 circles, water etched on glass, measuring 4.0 by 1.5 m for the lobby.[73]
Remarkable features
Broadcasts began at the Empire State Building on December 22, 1931, when NBC and RCA began their experimental television broadcasts using a small antenna raised atop a spire, with two separate transmitters for audio and video. They rented the 85th floor and built a laboratory.[74] In 1934, Edwin Howard Armstrong joined RCA through a cooperative to test the FM system of the antenna built. This setup, which involved the installation of the first FM transmitter,[75] continued until October of the following year due to disputes between RCA and Armstrong.[74] More specifically, NBC wanted to install more television equipment at the location where Armstrong's transmitter was installed.
After some time, the 85th floor became the operations center of the RCA network, designated as station W2XBS channel 1, and from 1941 as commercial station WNBT (today WNBC-TV channel 4). NBC's FM station, W2XDG, began broadcasting from the antenna in 1940.[74][76] NBC retained exclusive use of the top of the building until 1950 when the FCC ordered the exclusive agreement to end. The FCC directive was based on consumer complaints that a common location was necessary to avoid having to continually adjust the antennas of television receivers. Other television networks would later join RCA in the building on floors 81 through 83, along with FM stations. Construction of a dedicated broadcast tower began on July 27, 1950,[77] beginning television and FM radio broadcasts in 1951. The tower was completed in 1953.[78] Since 1951, six stations agreed to pay $600,000 per year for use of the antenna. In 1965, a separate set of FM antennas was built surrounding the 103rd floor viewing area thereby acting as a master antenna.
Siting broadcast stations in the Empire State Building became a major issue with the construction of the World Trade Center's twin towers (1973-2001) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The increased height of the twin towers would reflect radio waves from the Empire State Building, resulting in broadcasters having to leave the building. Although 9 stations that were broadcasting from the building were under lease until 1984, many of them ended up moving to the World Trade Center when it was completed. The stations obtained a court ruling that stipulated that the Port Authority had to build a mast and broadcast equipment on the north tower, as well as pay the lease fee for stations in the Empire State until 1984.[79] Only a few stations renewed their leases with the Empire State.[80]
The September 2001 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and its broadcast sites, leaving most stations without a station for ten days until a temporary tower was built in Alpine, New Jersey. In October 2001, almost all of the city's commercial stations (both television and radio) were again broadcasting from the top of the Empire State Building. A congressionally commissioned report on the transition from analog to digital television stated that locating stations in the Empire State was considered problematic due to interference with other nearby towers. In comparison, the report said that the twin towers had few buildings that could compare in height, so they did not suffer appreciable signal loss.[81] In 2003, a few FM stations moved to the Condé Nast building to reduce the number of stations using the Empire State Building. 11 television and 22 FM radio stations had signed 15-year leases with the building as of May 2003. A taller tower was expected to be built in Bayonne, New Jersey, or on Governor's Island, with the Empire State Building used as a backup, as broadcast signals from the building were of poorer quality.
Gallery
• - Empire State in September 2012.
• - Aerial view.
• - Transition of the building from day to night.
• - Art deco elevators in the lobby.
• - Empire State, 2013.
• - Empire State, 2013.
• - Interior lobby with mural.
• - The Empire State through the pillars of the Manhattan Bridge.
• - With Christmas lights.
• - Yellow for the premiere of The Simpsons Movie.
• - Blue after Barack Obama's victory in 2012.
• - Illuminated in red, white and green.
• - History of New York (1898-1945) "History of New York (1898-1945)").
• - Annex: Tallest buildings in New York.
• - Annex: Tallest buildings in the United States.
• - Annex: Tallest skyscrapers in the world.
• - First skyscrapers.
• - Portal:New York. Content related to New York.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Empire State Building.
• - Articles in Wikinews: The Empire State Building turns 80 years old.
• - Official site (in English).
• - Fly over the Empire State Building using images and the GoogleMaps API.
• - Information and photographs of the Empire State Building and its city observatory.
• - Three-dimensional representation of the Empire State Building (without plugin; in Spanish, English, German).
• - Empire State webcam in real time.
References
[1] ↑ El piso 101 se renombró a piso 102 y está situado 101 pisos por encima del nivel del suelo. El antiguo piso 102 es ahora el 103 y es un balcón al que no pueden acceder los visitantes, estando situado 102 pisos por encima del nivel del suelo.
[12] ↑ «Smith ayudará a construir el rascacielos más alto: el exgobernador encabezará el grupo que construirá el edificio de oficinas de 80 plantas en el emplazamiento del Waldorf Astoria». The New York Times. 22 de octubre de 2017.: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/08/30/94177281.pdf
[15] ↑ Bascomb (2004), Neal (2004). Más alto: carrera hacia el cielo y construcción de una ciudad. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-7679-1268-6.: https://archive.org/details/higher00neal
[16] ↑ Bascomb (2004), Neal (2004). Más alto: carrera hacia el cielo y construcción de una ciudad. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7679-1268-6.: https://archive.org/details/higher00neal
[31] ↑ Martin, Douglas (13 de enero de 2008). «Jack Brod, uno de los primeros ocupantes del Empire State, muere a los 98 años». The New York Times. Consultado el 31 de octubre de 2017.: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13brod.html
[36] ↑ a b c d Langmead, Donald(2009). iconos americanos de la arquitectura. Greenwood icons. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-313-34207-3. Consultado el 22 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=OTh8b2cyGBcC&pg=PA72
[37] ↑ «Fuerte tensión en el amarre cuando el dirigible intentaba besar el mástil del Empire State». Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 15 de septiembre de 1931. Consultado el 26 de octubre de 2017.: https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/57565568/
[46] ↑ Young, William H; Young, Nancy K. La Gran Depresión en América: Enciclopedia Cultural. Greenwood press. p. 144-145. ISBN 978-0-313-33522-8. Consultado el 25 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=VBljswTLaIEC&pg=PA144
[53] ↑ «El Empire State vendido, el precio es de 65 millones; el Empire State comprado por un sindicato por 65 millones de dólares». The New York Times. 23 de agosto de 1961. Consultado el 21 de septiembre de 2017.: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/08/23/118923240.pdf
[61] ↑ Taranath, B.S. (2016). Análisis estructural y diseño de edificios altos: construcción de acero y material compuesto. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-5090-9. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=PXnRBQAAQBAJ
[72] ↑ Barron, James (22 de septiembre de 2009). «Por encima de la cabeza, un edificio es restaurado a su antigua grandeza». The New York Times. Consultado el 24 de enero de 2020.: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/nyregion/23empire.html
[77] ↑ Lessing, L. (1956). Hombre de alta fidelidad: Edwin Howard Armstrong, una biografía. Lippincott. p. 20. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=rYAeAAAAIAAJ
[80] ↑ Dupre, Judith (2013) (23 de octubre de 2017). Rascacielos: historia de los edificios más extraordinarios del mundo. p. 38-39. ISBN 978-1-57912-942-2.: https://books.google.com/books?id=xcLwAAAAQBAJ
[83] ↑ Guerrero, PF. Telecomunicaciones: muchas emisoras no satisfarán la fecha límite de 2002 para el cambio digital. Diane Publishing company. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-7567-2547-1. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=gz33H2E5z1EC&pg=PA37
El lugar que ocupa el Empire State Building se desarrolló por primera vez como la Granja de John Thomson, a finales de siglo . En ese momento, corría un arroyo en todo el sitio, desembocando en Sunfish Pond, ubicado a una manzana de distancia. Más tarde el lugar fue ocupado por el Waldorf-Astoria Hotel a finales del siglo , y fue frecuentado por "Los Cuatrocientos", la élite social de Nueva York.
Design and construction
The Empire State Building was designed by William F. Lamb, a partner in the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, who completed drawings for the building in just two weeks, using previous designs as a basis, such as the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed by architect Walter W. Ahlschlager.
The principal builders were Brothers Starrett and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont. The construction company was chaired by Alfred E. Smith, a former governor of New York.
Excavation of the site began on January 22, 1930 and construction of the building itself began symbolically on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). The project involved 3,400 workers, mostly European immigrants, along with hundreds of Mohawk ironworkers, many of them from the Kahnawake reservation near Montreal. According to official figures, five workers died during construction, although media outlets such as the New York Daily News raised that number to 14. Governor Smith's grandchildren cut the ribbon on May 1, 1931.
The construction was part of a competition in New York for the title of the tallest building in the world. The building was officially inaugurated on May 1, 1931 in a special way: the president of the United States, (Herbert Hoover), converted the Empire State Building into the building of lights, with the push of a button from Washington D.C.
First plans
Bethlehem Engineering Corporation was the engineering company responsible for the construction of a 25-story office building where the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel once stood. The president of the company, Floyd De L. Brown, paid $100,000 in advance of the million required to begin construction of the building, with the promise that the difference would be paid after the fact.[6] Brown obtained a loan from a bank, but was unable to repay it.[7].
The land was sold to Empire State Inc., a group of wealthy investors including Louis G. Kaufman, Ellis P. Earle, John J. Raskob, Coleman du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont. had been managed by Raskob, he was appointed manager of the company.[7] The group acquired the surrounding land so that it could have the 2 acres necessary to make the base of the tower, along with the 130 by 61 meter measurement necessary for the tower itself. Empire State Inc. went public in August 1929.
Empire State Inc. hired William F. Lamb of the architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon to do the design. Lamb completed the designs in just 2 weeks using previous designs that had been used for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A posteriori his partner Richmond Shreve made the diagrams with the project requirements. The urban planning act of 1916 forced Lamb to design the structure with setbacks, making the lower floors larger than the upper ones. In this way, the tower was designed from top to bottom, ultimately having a pencil shape.
Design changes
The original plan was to build a 50-story building,[9] later increasing to 60 and then 80.[10] Height restrictions were placed on nearby buildings, to ensure that the top 50 floors of the 300-meter-high building had views of the entire city, unobstructed by any other buildings. The New York Times praised the site's proximity to stations such as the Brooklyn-Manhattan 34th Street Transit Station and the 33rd Street Railroad Terminal, one block away, as well as Penn Station "Pennsylvania Station (New York)" and Grand Central Terminal Station, which is 9 blocks away. The provision of 280,000 square meters of office space, in one of the busiest areas in the world, was also praised.
At the same time that the project to build the Empire State Building was entering its final phase, a contest was taking place in New York City to see which was the tallest building. Both 40 Wall Street, then the headquarters of the Bank of Manhattan, and the Chrysler Building were competing for this distinction and were already under construction when work on the Empire State Building began. The "race to the sky", as it was known at the time, represented the optimism prevailing in the 1920s, stimulated by the real estate boom in the big cities. The revision of number 40 Wall Street took it from 260 meters to 282, in April 1929, being considered the highest. The Chrysler building added 56 meters with the antenna, reaching 319 meters and therefore being considered the tallest. The building's developer, Walter Chrysler, realized that his building would be taller than the Empire State itself, ordering the architect, William Van Alen, to change the building's roof from a dome to a spire shape. Raskob, with the idea that the Empire would be the tallest building in the world, revised the plans and added five extra floors as well as a spire; However, the new floors would have to be set back due to wind pressure in this new area.[12] On November 18, 1929, Smith purchased a lot at 27-31 West 33rd Street, adding 23 meters to the width of the building.[13] Two days later, Smith announced new plans for the skyscraper that included the observatory on the 86th floor at a height of 320 meters, higher than the Chrysler Building observatory, located on the 71st floor.
With these data, the Empire State would be only 1.2 meters higher than the Chrysler Building[12] and Raskob, fearing some last-minute trickery at Chrysler, had the plans revised for the last time, in December 1929, including a 61-meter "crown" and a 68-meter mast for anchoring airships. The roof height was ultimately 380 meters, making it the tallest building in the world by far, even without the antenna. The addition of the airship station meant that another floor, number 86, would have to be built below the coronation; However, unlike the Chrysler Building's antenna, the Empire's mast would have practical meaning.[14] The final plan was announced to the public on January 8, 1930, before construction began. The New York Times announced that the antenna had some technical problems, but it was not a big deal considering the modification carried out.[15] At this time, the building plans had undergone about 15 changes before being approved. Lamb described the rest of the specifications given to him in the final plan:
The schedule was short: a fixed budget, no more than 28 feet from window to hallway, as many floors in such a space as possible, a limestone exterior, and a completion date of May 1, 1931, which meant one year and six months from the start of sketches.
The contractors were Starrett Brothers (*later known as Starrett Corporation) and Eken, that is, Paul and William A. Starrett and Andrew J. Eken, who would later construct other buildings in New York City, such as the Stuyvesant residential complex, Starrett City or Trump Tower.[16] The project was financed primarily by Raskob and Pierre du Pont, while James Farley's supply company provided the construction materials. John W. Bowser took the role of construction manager "Jefe de trabajo (Spain)"), with the engineer responsible for the structure being Homer G. Balcom. The tight construction deadlines meant that construction began even when the design had not been completely completed.
Construction details
Construction began after the demolition of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, which began on October 1, 1929.[17] Most of the materials resulting from the demolition were dumped into the Atlantic Ocean, near Sandy Hook, New Jersey.[18] Although the 1929 crash occurred before construction began, it is also true that both Raskob and Smith emerged unscathed from it, subsequently obtaining a loan from Metropolitan Life Insurance. Company for $29 million to begin construction.
Excavation work began on January 22, 1930, even before the total demolition of the hotel. The excavation, in which men participated in twelve-hour shifts 24 hours a day, was almost completely completed in March.[19] The steel for the structure had been manufactured with the modification of the legislation in mind, which would increase the allowable load from 18,000 pounds per square inch to 16,000, that is, reducing the requirements, thereby achieving a lower thickness and a smaller amount of steel. The size of the construction was enormous, which can be attested to by data such as the fact that 16,000 tiles, 340 cubic meters of sand, 300 bags of lime or 5,000 bags of cement arrived at the site every day.[20] So that the workers did not go down to ground level to eat, food stalls were set up in the plants and temporary water fountains were set up so that the workers did not go down to buy bottles.
On June 20, the structure had reached the 26th floor. The idea at that time was to build one floor a day to speed up construction. On September 10, the foundation stone was laid, once the steel work was almost finished, in a ceremony officiated by Smith and attended by thousands of people.
The anchor mast for airships was put up on November 21. At that time most of the façade was already finished. It was then that the installation of the elevators was contracted to the Otis company. Due to the deadlines, there were serious space limitations for the collection of materials, having to place the supplies on the first floor and base floor. At the time of greatest influx of supplies there were about 200 trucks unloading material each day. Likewise at its peak the number of workers amounted to 3,500, many of them being of Irish or Italian origin.[21] The structure was completed on April 11, 1931, 12 days before the deadline and 410 days after the start of construction, with Smith placing a solid gold trim in commemoration.[22]
Opening
The building's opening coincided with the Great Depression in the United States, and as a result much of its office space was unoccupied. In its first year of operation, the observation deck cost approximately two million dollars, as much money as its owners received for that year's rent. The lack of tenants led the people of New York to mock the construction by calling it the "Empty State Building." At the time that was the highest price ever paid for a single structure in real estate in history.
In the first year, only 23% of the space intended for rental was occupied,[26] compared to the 54% average occupancy rate of the other buildings on the opening date and 90% after 5 years.[27].
Jack Brod, one of the longest-serving occupants,[28] founded the Empire Diamond Corporation with his father in mid-1931 and rented space in the building until his death in 2008.[29] Brod recalled how there were only 20 occupants at the opening date, including himself, and that Al Smith was the only occupant above the 17th floor. In the early 1930s, it was unusual for more of office space was rented in the building, despite the publicity efforts of Smith and Raskob both in newspapers and with their acquaintances. The lights in the building were always on, even in those non-rented areas, to give an impression of occupancy, a fact exacerbated by competition with the Rockefeller Center and other buildings on 42nd Street, which, along with the Empire State Building, represented an excess supply of office space, in a market that was then declining during the 1930s.[30]
Advertising efforts reinforced the Empire State's status as the tallest building.[31] The observatory was advertised in local newspapers as well as on train tickets. The building was a tourist attraction, with one million visitors paying one dollar to take the elevators to the observation decks in 1931. In its first year, revenue from these observation decks was $2 million. In 1936, the decks were full of people every day, and food and drink could be purchased there, and in 1944 the tower received its 5 millionth visitor. In 1931, NBC became an occupant of the tower, renting space on the 85th floor for radio broadcasts.[32] From the beginning the tower was in losses, losing $1 million each year by 1935. Real estate developer Seymour Durst recalled that the building was underused in 1936 with no elevator service above the 45th floor, since from the 41st floor the building was empty except for the NBC offices. NBC and the Raskob/Du Pont offices on the 81st floor.[33].
Other facts
According to the original plans, the Empire State spire was supposed to be an anchor point for airships. Raskob and Smith had proposed creating ticket sales and passenger waiting areas on the 86th floor, with the airship remaining attached to the spire on what would be a hypothetical 106th floor. airship.[34] The idea, however, was impractical due to the updrafts of air caused by the structure of the building itself, the air currents on the island of Manhattan[34] and the spiers of the skyscrapers closest to the Empire State Building. Furthermore, even if the airship could pass through all these obstacles, its crew would have to release ballast, releasing water into the streets to maintain stability and tethering the nose of the airship to the spire without there being any mooring line to the stern of the airship at that time. 72 km/h.[35] The airship tried to moor, spilling the ballast and the aircraft being dragged by the turbulence caused by the wind. This fact caused plans to convert the building into an anchor point for airships to be suspended.
On July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the north face of the building, between the 79th and 80th floors.[36]
At 9:40 on Saturday, July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber, piloted through thick fog by Lieutenant Colonel William F. Smith Jr., crashed on the north side of the Empire State Building, between the 79th and 80th floors. attic. The other engine and part of the landing gear fell down an elevator shaft. The fire caused was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people died in the incident.[38][39] Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a 75-story fall inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for surviving the biggest elevator fall.[40] Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was opened to many of the office floors the following Tuesday.
Suicides
Over the years, more than thirty people have committed suicide from the top of the building.[41] The first suicide occurred even before its completion, by a worker who had been fired. The fence around the observatory terrace was completed in 1947, after five people tried to jump over a three-week period. One of the most famous suicides was that of the young Evelyn McHale, whose photo was used by Andy Warhol in his 1962 work Suicide (Fallen Body). of the building on the 85th floor, surviving with only a broken hip. The building was also the scene of suicides in 2004 and 2006.
Profitability
The Empire State Building became profitable during the 1950s, when it broke even between revenues and expenses for the first time.[44] At that time, public transportation options in the vicinity were nothing like today. Despite this challenge, the Empire State Building began to attract occupants thanks to its reputation.[45] The 200-foot radio antenna was erected on the roof in the early 1950s, allowing radio and television stations to broadcast from the building.
However, despite this turn of events, Raskob put the tower up for sale in 1951,[46] for $50 million. The property was acquired by partners Roger L. Stevens, Henry Crown, Alfred R. Glancy and Ben Tobin.[47] The sale was negotiated by the prestigious firm Charles F. Noyes in Manhattan, for $51 million, the highest price paid for a building at that time.[48] At that time, the Empire State Building had been fully leased for several years, even having a waiting list of companies looking for space in the building, according to the Cortland Standard newspaper. That year, six new companies formed a partnership to pay an annual fee of $600,000 to use the antenna,[49] which was completed in 1953. Crown bought out the rest of its partners in 1954, becoming the sole owner. The following year, the American Society of Civil Engineers named the building "one of the 7 wonders of civil engineering".[50]
In 1961, Lawrence A. Wien signed a contract to purchase the Empire State Building for $65 million, with Harry B. Helmsley as a partner.[47] This set a new record paid for a building.[51] More than 3,000 people paid $10,000 each for a share in the company called Empire State Building Associates. The company subleased the building to another company headed by Helmsley and Wien, raising $33 million of the funds needed to pay the acquisition price. 1964[52] and replacement of the manual elevators with automatic ones in 1966. The west wing of the second floor, which was practically unused, was used as a storage space until 1964, when escalators were installed as part of its conversion to a commercial area.[53].
Architecture
El Empire State Building se eleva hasta los 381 metros (1250 pies) a nivel del piso 102, e incluyendo los 62 metros (203 pies) del pináculo, su altura total llega a los 443 metros o 1453 pies y 8 pulgadas. Dispone de 85 vías de comunicaciones y el espacio de oficinas supone una superficie de 200 500 m². Tiene una cubierta al aire libre y cubierta de observación en el piso 86.
Fue el primer edificio en tener más de 100 pisos. Tiene 6500 ventanas y 73 ascensores, y hay 1860 pasos desde el nivel de la calle hasta el piso 102. Tiene una superficie total de 257 211 m²; la base del Empire State tiene unos 8094 m². Aloja 1000 negocios y tiene su propio código postal. Desde 2007, trabajan aproximadamente 21 000 empleados en él diariamente, con lo que es el segundo mayor complejo de oficinas del continente americano, después de El Pentágono. Originalmente el edificio contaba con 64 ascensores que se encuentran en un núcleo central "Núcleo (arquitectura)"); hoy, el Empire State cuenta con 73 ascensores en total, incluidos los de servicio. Se tarda menos de un minuto por ascensor en llegar al piso 80, donde se encuentra una plataforma de observación y una tienda de recuerdos. Tiene 113 km de tuberías, 760 km de cable eléctrico, y cerca de 9000 grifos. Se calienta por vapor a baja presión, a pesar de su altura, el edificio solo requiere entre 2 y 3 libras por pulgada cuadrada (14 y 21 kPa) de presión de vapor para la calefacción. Pesa aproximadamente 370 000 toneladas. Su exterior se construyó con paneles de piedra caliza de Indiana.
A diferencia de la mayoría de los actuales rascacielos, el Empire State cuenta con un diseño art decó, típico de la arquitectura de pre Segunda Guerra Mundial en Nueva York. Las modernistas marquesinas de las entradas de los pisos 33 y 34 conducen a dos pisos de altos corredores de todo el núcleo de ascensores, atravesado por puentes cerrados de acero inoxidable y vidrio en el segundo piso.
El vestíbulo es de tres pisos de altura. El corredor norte contiene ocho paneles de iluminación, creados por Roy Sparkia y Renée Nemorov en 1963, que representa el edificio como la octava maravilla del mundo, junto a las tradicionales siete.
A largo plazo, durante la fase de diseño se tuvieron en cuenta las posibles demandas futuras para garantizar que la construcción pudiera ser usada según las nuevas necesidades. Esto es particularmente evidente en el exceso de diseño de la construcción del sistema eléctrico. La construcción del Empire State Building costó 40 948 900 dólares de la época (equivalentes a aproximadamente 500 millones de dólares en 2010).[54].
Inside
The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors.[55] It has 6,514 windows[56] and 73 elevators with a total area of 257,211 square meters, its base covering 2 acres (1 hectare).[57] Its original elevators, 64 in total, were built by the Otis company,[57] being located in the central core of the building, reaching different heights; The one that covers the longest distance goes from the lobby to the 80th floor. According to the original construction, there were 4 express elevators that went from the lobby to the 80th floor, with landings in between. The other 60 elevators connected these landings with the floors above. Of the total of 64 elevators, 58 were intended for public use (4 express elevators and 54 local type) and 8 could be used as freight elevators for transferring material. The elevators were designed to move at 366 meters per minute. During the construction of the building the speed was limited to 213 meters per minute by law, this limit being eliminated shortly after the building opened.[57] Other elevators connect the 80th floor with the 6 floors above, as these 6 extra floors were built when the original plan with the 80 floors was already approved.[58] The elevators worked mechanically until 2011, when they were replaced by digital elevators during a costly restoration of the building. 550 million dollars. The Empire State Building has 73 in total, including service elevators.[59].
The services use the central opening of the building. On each floor between level 6 and 86, the central shaft is surrounded by a hallway on all 4 sides.[60] According to the building's specifications, the hallway is surrounded by office space with a width of 8.5 meters. Each of the floors has 210 pillars crossing it, providing stability, which, however, greatly limit the space available on the floors.[60] However, the relative little use of ceramic materials and stone in the building allows for better use of space, with a ratio of 1:200 in the use of stone compared to 1:50 used in other buildings.[61].
Lobby
The main lobby is accessed via Fifth Avenue, on the east side of the building, with the double-door entrance situated between a pair of revolving doors. At the top of each entrance there is a bronze motif that represents one of the three trades used in the construction of the building - electricity, masonry and heating. [62] The lobby has 2 levels of marble, a lighter marble at the top up to the height of the shop windows and a darker one for the lower part. There is a terrazzo-type tile pattern on the floor, which runs from the entrance on the east to the aluminum relief on the west.[63] The lobby, in the shape of a chapel with three floors, which runs parallel to 33rd and 34th Streets, contains storefronts on both the north and south faces.[64] These storefronts have frames, the sides being of dark marble, according to the New York Architectural Preservation Commission, and therefore Above it is a band of grooves engraved in marble.[63] Once you enter the lobby there is a security filter similar to that at airports.
The walls of the north and south sides of the lobby house shop windows and escalators to the mezzanine level, also known as the mezzanine.[63][notes 2] On the west side of the lobby is an aluminum relief "Relief (art)") of the skyscraper as it was originally built (without the antenna). The relief, constructed as a welcome,[65] contains an image of the building's outline, accompanied by what the Landmarks Preservation Commission describes as "rays of an aluminum sun shining from behind and mixing with the aluminum rays emanating from the tower of the Empire State Building." In the background is a state map of New York with the building's location marked with a "medallion" in the southeasternmost part of the outline. A compass is located at the bottom right and a plaque for the main promoters of the tower is located at the bottom left.[66].
The plaque at the western end of the lobby is located on the interior east wall of a one-story-high rectangular hallway that runs around the sides of the escalators, similar in design to the lobby. The rectangular hallway is composed of two long hallways on the north and south sides of the rectangle, as well as a smaller hallway on the east side and a longer hallway on the west side. At each end of the hallways, there is a dam to take 4 elevators that only go up one level to connect passageways. The west side of each levee extends north to the 34th Street entrance and south to the 33rd Street entrance.
Until the 1960s, an art deco mural, inspired by both the sky and the machine age, was installed on the ceilings.[69] Damage to these murals, designed by artist Leif Neandross, resulted in copies being mounted in their place. The renovation of the lobby in 2009, during which the clock above the information desk in the Fifth Avenue area was replaced with an anemometer or the installation of two chandeliers that must have already been installed at the opening of the building, allowed some of the grandeur of its early days to be revived. The north passage contained 8 illuminated panels created in 1963 by Roy Sparkia and Renée Nemorov, in time for the World's Fair of 1964, representing the building as the eighth wonder of the world along with the traditional 7.[71] The building's owners installed a series of paintings by New York artist Kysa Johnson on the lobby level. Johnson filed a complaint, in January 2014, under the Visual Artists Rights Protection Act alleging the destruction of his paintings and his reputation as an artist.[72] As part of the renovation of the building in 2010, Denise Amses commissioned a work consisting of 15,000 stars and 5,000 circles, water etched on glass, measuring 4.0 by 1.5 m for the lobby.[73]
Remarkable features
Broadcasts began at the Empire State Building on December 22, 1931, when NBC and RCA began their experimental television broadcasts using a small antenna raised atop a spire, with two separate transmitters for audio and video. They rented the 85th floor and built a laboratory.[74] In 1934, Edwin Howard Armstrong joined RCA through a cooperative to test the FM system of the antenna built. This setup, which involved the installation of the first FM transmitter,[75] continued until October of the following year due to disputes between RCA and Armstrong.[74] More specifically, NBC wanted to install more television equipment at the location where Armstrong's transmitter was installed.
After some time, the 85th floor became the operations center of the RCA network, designated as station W2XBS channel 1, and from 1941 as commercial station WNBT (today WNBC-TV channel 4). NBC's FM station, W2XDG, began broadcasting from the antenna in 1940.[74][76] NBC retained exclusive use of the top of the building until 1950 when the FCC ordered the exclusive agreement to end. The FCC directive was based on consumer complaints that a common location was necessary to avoid having to continually adjust the antennas of television receivers. Other television networks would later join RCA in the building on floors 81 through 83, along with FM stations. Construction of a dedicated broadcast tower began on July 27, 1950,[77] beginning television and FM radio broadcasts in 1951. The tower was completed in 1953.[78] Since 1951, six stations agreed to pay $600,000 per year for use of the antenna. In 1965, a separate set of FM antennas was built surrounding the 103rd floor viewing area thereby acting as a master antenna.
Siting broadcast stations in the Empire State Building became a major issue with the construction of the World Trade Center's twin towers (1973-2001) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The increased height of the twin towers would reflect radio waves from the Empire State Building, resulting in broadcasters having to leave the building. Although 9 stations that were broadcasting from the building were under lease until 1984, many of them ended up moving to the World Trade Center when it was completed. The stations obtained a court ruling that stipulated that the Port Authority had to build a mast and broadcast equipment on the north tower, as well as pay the lease fee for stations in the Empire State until 1984.[79] Only a few stations renewed their leases with the Empire State.[80]
The September 2001 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and its broadcast sites, leaving most stations without a station for ten days until a temporary tower was built in Alpine, New Jersey. In October 2001, almost all of the city's commercial stations (both television and radio) were again broadcasting from the top of the Empire State Building. A congressionally commissioned report on the transition from analog to digital television stated that locating stations in the Empire State was considered problematic due to interference with other nearby towers. In comparison, the report said that the twin towers had few buildings that could compare in height, so they did not suffer appreciable signal loss.[81] In 2003, a few FM stations moved to the Condé Nast building to reduce the number of stations using the Empire State Building. 11 television and 22 FM radio stations had signed 15-year leases with the building as of May 2003. A taller tower was expected to be built in Bayonne, New Jersey, or on Governor's Island, with the Empire State Building used as a backup, as broadcast signals from the building were of poorer quality.
Gallery
• - Empire State in September 2012.
• - Aerial view.
• - Transition of the building from day to night.
• - Art deco elevators in the lobby.
• - Empire State, 2013.
• - Empire State, 2013.
• - Interior lobby with mural.
• - The Empire State through the pillars of the Manhattan Bridge.
• - With Christmas lights.
• - Yellow for the premiere of The Simpsons Movie.
• - Blue after Barack Obama's victory in 2012.
• - Illuminated in red, white and green.
• - History of New York (1898-1945) "History of New York (1898-1945)").
• - Annex: Tallest buildings in New York.
• - Annex: Tallest buildings in the United States.
• - Annex: Tallest skyscrapers in the world.
• - First skyscrapers.
• - Portal:New York. Content related to New York.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Empire State Building.
• - Articles in Wikinews: The Empire State Building turns 80 years old.
• - Official site (in English).
• - Fly over the Empire State Building using images and the GoogleMaps API.
• - Information and photographs of the Empire State Building and its city observatory.
• - Three-dimensional representation of the Empire State Building (without plugin; in Spanish, English, German).
• - Empire State webcam in real time.
References
[1] ↑ El piso 101 se renombró a piso 102 y está situado 101 pisos por encima del nivel del suelo. El antiguo piso 102 es ahora el 103 y es un balcón al que no pueden acceder los visitantes, estando situado 102 pisos por encima del nivel del suelo.
[12] ↑ «Smith ayudará a construir el rascacielos más alto: el exgobernador encabezará el grupo que construirá el edificio de oficinas de 80 plantas en el emplazamiento del Waldorf Astoria». The New York Times. 22 de octubre de 2017.: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/08/30/94177281.pdf
[15] ↑ Bascomb (2004), Neal (2004). Más alto: carrera hacia el cielo y construcción de una ciudad. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-7679-1268-6.: https://archive.org/details/higher00neal
[16] ↑ Bascomb (2004), Neal (2004). Más alto: carrera hacia el cielo y construcción de una ciudad. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-7679-1268-6.: https://archive.org/details/higher00neal
[31] ↑ Martin, Douglas (13 de enero de 2008). «Jack Brod, uno de los primeros ocupantes del Empire State, muere a los 98 años». The New York Times. Consultado el 31 de octubre de 2017.: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/nyregion/13brod.html
[36] ↑ a b c d Langmead, Donald(2009). iconos americanos de la arquitectura. Greenwood icons. p. 82. ISBN 978-0-313-34207-3. Consultado el 22 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=OTh8b2cyGBcC&pg=PA72
[37] ↑ «Fuerte tensión en el amarre cuando el dirigible intentaba besar el mástil del Empire State». Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 15 de septiembre de 1931. Consultado el 26 de octubre de 2017.: https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/57565568/
[46] ↑ Young, William H; Young, Nancy K. La Gran Depresión en América: Enciclopedia Cultural. Greenwood press. p. 144-145. ISBN 978-0-313-33522-8. Consultado el 25 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=VBljswTLaIEC&pg=PA144
[53] ↑ «El Empire State vendido, el precio es de 65 millones; el Empire State comprado por un sindicato por 65 millones de dólares». The New York Times. 23 de agosto de 1961. Consultado el 21 de septiembre de 2017.: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1961/08/23/118923240.pdf
[61] ↑ Taranath, B.S. (2016). Análisis estructural y diseño de edificios altos: construcción de acero y material compuesto. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-5090-9. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=PXnRBQAAQBAJ
[72] ↑ Barron, James (22 de septiembre de 2009). «Por encima de la cabeza, un edificio es restaurado a su antigua grandeza». The New York Times. Consultado el 24 de enero de 2020.: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/nyregion/23empire.html
[77] ↑ Lessing, L. (1956). Hombre de alta fidelidad: Edwin Howard Armstrong, una biografía. Lippincott. p. 20. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=rYAeAAAAIAAJ
[80] ↑ Dupre, Judith (2013) (23 de octubre de 2017). Rascacielos: historia de los edificios más extraordinarios del mundo. p. 38-39. ISBN 978-1-57912-942-2.: https://books.google.com/books?id=xcLwAAAAQBAJ
[83] ↑ Guerrero, PF. Telecomunicaciones: muchas emisoras no satisfarán la fecha límite de 2002 para el cambio digital. Diane Publishing company. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-7567-2547-1. Consultado el 23 de octubre de 2017.: https://books.google.com/books?id=gz33H2E5z1EC&pg=PA37
Once the new World Trade Center was completed, some television stations began broadcasting from the World Trade Center, while others, including WABC-T, remained in the Empire State Building, with no plans to leave.
In 2018, the Empire State was the base for the following stations:[82].
• - Television: WABC-7, WPIX-11, WXTV-41 Paterson, and WFUT-68 Newark.
The building was initially equipped with overhead projectors. They were first used in November 1932 during Roosevelt's victory over Hoover in that year's presidential election.[83] These floodlights were replaced in 1956 with 4 spotlights, and in 1964 exterior floodlights were added on the 72nd floor to illuminate the top of the building at night so that it could be visible for that year's World's Fair. The lights were turned off from November 1973 to July 1974 due to the energy crisis of that year.[84] In 1976, businessman Douglas Leigh suggested that Wien and Helmsley install 204 metal halide lights, 4 times brighter than the 1,000 incandescents they were to replace. New red, white and blue lights were installed in time to celebrate the country's bicentennial. After that, Helmsley left the new lights installed due to the low maintenance cost, $116 per year.[85]
Since 1976, the spire has been illuminated in colors reminiscent of the seasons and holidays. Any organization can make requests through the building's website.[86] It has been illuminated in the colors of sports teams during nights in which they serve as hosts, in the case of the New York Knicks with the colors orange, blue or white, or red, white or blue for the New York Rangers. It was lit scarlet for Rutgers University in New Jersey and on November 9, 2006 for a University of Louisville football game.
During 2012, the 4 metal halide lamps and projectors were replaced with 1,200 LED lights, increasing the range of colors available from 9 to more than 16 million.[87].
On July 9, 2006, it was illuminated for the first time with the colors of the Argentine flag, in honor of its independence in 1816,[88] as well as on August 17, 2008, in which tributes were paid to all the countries that participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a date that also coincided with the death of General José de San Martín.[89].
On the night of July 11, 2010, he used the colors corresponding to the flag of Spain as lights, to mark the victory of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[90].
On the night of September 15, 2010, its lights turned on in green, white and red, on the occasion of the celebration of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico.[91].
The night of September 8, 2016 was colored with the colors of FC Barcelona in recognition of the Club and its Foundation for its alliance with Unicef in the year of its tenth anniversary.
After the death of basketball player Kobe Bryant at the end of January 2020 and as a posthumous recognition, the building was illuminated with the colors purple and gold, corresponding to the team in which Kobe Bryant played for most of his sporting career and with which he obtained his greatest sporting successes, the Los Angeles Lakers.[92][93].
The Empire State Building also has a motion simulator attraction, located on the second floor. Opened in 1994 as an addition to the observation deck, the New York Skyride (or Skyride NY) is a simulation of air travel through the city. The presentation lasts approximately twenty-five minutes.
Once the new World Trade Center was completed, some television stations began broadcasting from the World Trade Center, while others, including WABC-T, remained in the Empire State Building, with no plans to leave.
In 2018, the Empire State was the base for the following stations:[82].
• - Television: WABC-7, WPIX-11, WXTV-41 Paterson, and WFUT-68 Newark.
The building was initially equipped with overhead projectors. They were first used in November 1932 during Roosevelt's victory over Hoover in that year's presidential election.[83] These floodlights were replaced in 1956 with 4 spotlights, and in 1964 exterior floodlights were added on the 72nd floor to illuminate the top of the building at night so that it could be visible for that year's World's Fair. The lights were turned off from November 1973 to July 1974 due to the energy crisis of that year.[84] In 1976, businessman Douglas Leigh suggested that Wien and Helmsley install 204 metal halide lights, 4 times brighter than the 1,000 incandescents they were to replace. New red, white and blue lights were installed in time to celebrate the country's bicentennial. After that, Helmsley left the new lights installed due to the low maintenance cost, $116 per year.[85]
Since 1976, the spire has been illuminated in colors reminiscent of the seasons and holidays. Any organization can make requests through the building's website.[86] It has been illuminated in the colors of sports teams during nights in which they serve as hosts, in the case of the New York Knicks with the colors orange, blue or white, or red, white or blue for the New York Rangers. It was lit scarlet for Rutgers University in New Jersey and on November 9, 2006 for a University of Louisville football game.
During 2012, the 4 metal halide lamps and projectors were replaced with 1,200 LED lights, increasing the range of colors available from 9 to more than 16 million.[87].
On July 9, 2006, it was illuminated for the first time with the colors of the Argentine flag, in honor of its independence in 1816,[88] as well as on August 17, 2008, in which tributes were paid to all the countries that participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a date that also coincided with the death of General José de San Martín.[89].
On the night of July 11, 2010, he used the colors corresponding to the flag of Spain as lights, to mark the victory of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[90].
On the night of September 15, 2010, its lights turned on in green, white and red, on the occasion of the celebration of the Bicentennial of the Independence of Mexico.[91].
The night of September 8, 2016 was colored with the colors of FC Barcelona in recognition of the Club and its Foundation for its alliance with Unicef in the year of its tenth anniversary.
After the death of basketball player Kobe Bryant at the end of January 2020 and as a posthumous recognition, the building was illuminated with the colors purple and gold, corresponding to the team in which Kobe Bryant played for most of his sporting career and with which he obtained his greatest sporting successes, the Los Angeles Lakers.[92][93].
The Empire State Building also has a motion simulator attraction, located on the second floor. Opened in 1994 as an addition to the observation deck, the New York Skyride (or Skyride NY) is a simulation of air travel through the city. The presentation lasts approximately twenty-five minutes.