Empire State Building
Architecture

Facts about Empire State Building

We found 25 facts about Empire State Building

The world's first over 100 floors skyscraper

At the time of its completion, it was the only building in the world with more than 100 floors. It was the tallest building on Earth for 41 years. Construction was record-breaking fast and resource-consuming as 360 thousand tons of materials were needed to finish the work. It is an unquestionable symbol of both New York and the entire USA.

Empire State Building
1
The Empire State Building height is 381 meters to the roof and 443 meters with the antenna.
ESB is so high that it allows observing territory of 5 states from the observation deck.
2
It is located in the Midtown district of Manhattan. It is located at 350 Fifth Avenue.
3
It is the 7th tallest building in New York City and 9th in the United States.
It is also 45th-tallest building in the world.
4
The Empire State Building has 103 floors.
5
The building weighs more than 360 thousand tons.
During its construction, 60 thousand tons of steel, 5663 m³ of limestone and granite, 740 tons of stainless steel and aluminum, 10 million bricks were used.
6
Construction began on March 17, 1930 and 3400 workers were involved.
Five workers were killed during the construction.
7
The cost of erecting the skyscraper is estimated at 24.7 million dollars.
8
Construction of the skyscraper took only 58 weeks.
It was an enormous tempo, erecting of the Eiffel Tower, which was far less demanding task took over 113 weeks.
9
The official opening of the building was conducted by U.S. President Herbert Hoover, who illuminated the skyscraper by pressing a button in his office in Washington.
It took 410 days from the start of construction to the official opening.
10
The Empire State Building's electrical wiring length is 692 km, and the water pipes are 112 km.
11
The building has 6514 windows.
12
There are two open to the public observation decks in the building.
The first is on the 86th floor, the second on the 102nd floor. More than 110 million visitors have visited the observation decks so far.
13
About 15,000 people are working in the building.
14
The 73 elevators installed in the Empire State are capable of transporting 10 thousand people per hour.
15
To get to the top floor (102nd), you have to climb 1860 stairs.
16
In addition to office space, the Empire State Building also houses banks, restaurants and stores.
17
The building uses more than 40 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.
Tower's peak electricity use tops out at about 9.5 megawatts.
18
More than 30 people have committed suicide by jumping from the Empire State Building.
The first who took his life was a worker jumping from the not yet completed building. The last suicidal accident occurred on April 13, 2007.
19
A B-25D Mitchel bomber crashed into the Empire State Building.

July 28, 1945 was a really foggy day. To determine the plane's location pilot lowered the ceiling just to realize he is over Manhattan with a towering skyscraper right in front of him. Unfortunately, he did not manage to correct his flight and plane crashed into the building at the height of 295 meters, between the 78th and 79th floors.

As a result of the crash, 14 people were killed and 26 injured. The damage cost was estimated at one million dollars.

20
By the 1940s, a large part of the office building's space did not find tenants.
Therefore the building was humorously referred to as the Empty State Building.
21
The original spire was 20.5 meters high and was intended for the mooring of airships.
The mooring idea turned out to be unsuccessful due to the wind's gusts at this height.
22
In 1950, the old spire was replaced with a 46-meter mast.
23
The building serves as a lightning rod. About 100 lightning strikes the spire of the skyscraper each year.
24
The record for running up to the top floor of a skyscraper belongs to Paul Crake, who managed to achieve 9 minutes and 33 seconds. He set his record in 2003.
25
The Empire State Building was a scenery for the famous 1933 King Kong movie.
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