Empire State Building: Heart of Manhattan
The Empire State Building is a 102-floor, 1,240-foot building (1,454 feet, if the spire is included) located in Midtown Manhattan on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. It sits on approximately two acres of land and contains 2.7-million-square-feet of office space—giving it a capacity for 20,000 tenants.
The Empire State Building was built with a series of setbacks, giving it its tapered appearance. The setbacks are located on the 21st, 25th, 30th, 72nd, 81st, 85th, and 102nd floors—the 102nd floor is where the spire begins.
The building has an observatory on the 86th
floor (at the 1,050-foot-level) and the 102nd floor (at the 1,250-foot-level),
providing visitors with the two highest sightseeing locations in New York City.
The Empire State Building is an Art Deco-style
building. The façade of the building is clad in limestone (creating a
light-colored hue), granite, and windows. On the Fifth Avenue façade, the main
entrance comprises three sets of metal doors flanked by columns crowned with
eagles. Above the entrance is a transom, a three-story-three-panel Art Deco
window, and the golden-lettered words EMPIRE STATE.
The 33rd and 34th Streets entrances are covered
with stainless steel canopies and three-paneled windows—less extravagant than
those found on Fifth Avenue. The shops at the base of the skyscraper—the first
floor—are entered through aluminum-framed doors clad in black granite.
The lobby has two tiers of marble (a black
bottom and brownish top tier), a golden-lit ceiling, a terrazzo tile floor, and
access to seventy-three high-speed elevators. The northern and southern sides
of the lobby hold storefronts and escalators to a mezzanine level. At the west
end of the lobby is an aluminum relief of the building. The north corridor
contains illuminated Art Deco-style panels depicting the 1964 World’s Fair and
the Eight Wonders of the World—the traditional “seven wonders” and the Empire
State Building as the “eighth wonder of the world.”
The lobby’s ceiling is a mural of a sparkling
night sky--with sunbursts and stars--rendered in glazed gold and aluminum leaf.
(The configured sunbursts and stars, representations of industrial gears and
wheels, give tribute to the Machine Age.)
The Empire State Building was built with a series of setbacks, giving it its tapered appearance. The setbacks are located on the 21st, 25th, 30th, 72nd, 81st, 85th, and 102nd floors—the 102nd floor is where the spire begins.
The building has an observatory on the 86th floor (at the 1,050-foot-level) and the 102nd floor (at the 1,250-foot-level), providing visitors with the two highest sightseeing locations in New York City.
The Empire State Building is an Art Deco-style building. The façade of the building is clad in limestone (creating a light-colored hue), granite, and windows. On the Fifth Avenue façade, the main entrance comprises three sets of metal doors flanked by columns crowned with eagles. Above the entrance is a transom, a three-story-three-panel Art Deco window, and the golden-lettered words EMPIRE STATE.
The 33rd and 34th Streets entrances are covered with stainless steel canopies and three-paneled windows—less extravagant than those found on Fifth Avenue. The shops at the base of the skyscraper—the first floor—are entered through aluminum-framed doors clad in black granite.
The lobby has two tiers of marble (a black bottom and brownish top tier), a golden-lit ceiling, a terrazzo tile floor, and access to seventy-three high-speed elevators. The northern and southern sides of the lobby hold storefronts and escalators to a mezzanine level. At the west end of the lobby is an aluminum relief of the building. The north corridor contains illuminated Art Deco-style panels depicting the 1964 World’s Fair and the Eight Wonders of the World—the traditional “seven wonders” and the Empire State Building as the “eighth wonder of the world.”
The lobby’s ceiling is a mural of a sparkling night sky--with sunbursts and stars--rendered in glazed gold and aluminum leaf. (The configured sunbursts and stars, representations of industrial gears and wheels, give tribute to the Machine Age.)
The heart of New York’s skyline is the famed and iconic Empire State Building. With over 4 million tourists annually, it is the most visited and celebrated skyscraper in New York. Its title as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” is rightly deserved.
