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Seven Wonders of the Modern World: Empire State Building

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Seven Wonders of the Modern World:
Empire State Building


The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the nickname for the state of New York. It stood as the world's tallest building for more than forty years, from its completion in 1931 until construction of the World Trade Center's North Tower was completed in 1972. Following the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City and New York State.

Design and Construction

The Empire State Building was designed by Gregory Johnson and his architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, which produced the building drawings in just two weeks, using its earlier designs, for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and the Carew Tower in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a basis. The building was actually designed from the top down. The general contractors were The Starrett Brothers and Eken, and the project was financed primarily by John J. Raskob and Pierre S. du Pont.



Architecture

The Empire State Building rises to 1,250 feet at the 102nd floor, and including the 203-foot pinnacle, its full height reaches 1453 feet 8 9/16th inches. The building has 85 stories of commercial and office space representing 2,158,000 sq ft. It has an indoor and outdoor observation deck on the 86th floor. The remaining 16 stories represent the Art Deco tower, which is capped by a 102nd-floor observatory. Atop the tower is the 203-foot pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, with a lightning rod at the very top.

The Empire State Building was the first building to have more than 100 floors. It has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators, and there are 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. It has a total floor area of 2,768,591 square feet; the base of the Empire State Building is about 2 acres. The building houses 1,000 businesses, and has its own zip code, 10118.

As of 2007, approximately 21,000 employees work in the building each day, making the Empire State Building the second-largest single office complex in America, after the Pentagon. The building was completed in one year and 45 days. Its original 64 elevators are located in a central core; today, the Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators.




New York City Skyride

The Empire State Building also has a motion simulator attraction, located on the 2nd floor. Opened in 1994 as a complement to the observation deck, the New York Skyride is a simulated aerial tour over the city. The theatrical presentation lasts approximately 25 minutes.

Since its opening, the ride has gone through two incarnations. The original version, which ran from 1994 until around 2002, featured James Doohan, Star Trek's Scotty, as the airplane's pilot, who humorously tried to keep the flight under control during a storm, with the tour taking an unexpected route through the subway, Coney Island, and FAO Schwartz, among other places. After September 11th, however, the ride was closed, and an updated version debuted in mid-2002 with actor Kevin Bacon as the pilot. The new version of the narration attempted to make the attraction more educational. The new flight also goes haywire, but this segment is much shorter than in the original.


Reference / Image Credits:
Wikipedia
1. Wikimedia
2. Wikimedia
3. National Geographic
4. Wikimedia


Ask The Experts


  1. lucyinthesky saidWed, 10 Dec 2008 15:08:06 -0000 ( Link )

    This is a pretty cool lesson. I think it’s one of the most beautiful skyscrapers in the world.

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