Empire State Building Facts

Empire State Building Facts

Address Location: The Empire State Building is located in New York City at 350 Fifth Av. (between 33rd street and 34th Street).

Height: Total height, including the lightning rod, is 1,454 feet and 1,250 feet, not including the lightning rod. The 102nd floor observatory is 1,224 feet above ground and 86th floor observatory is 1,050 feet above ground.

Building Architects: Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates.

Builders: The construction firm Starrett Bros. & Eken were contracted to build it.

Duration of Contruction: The building was completed ahead of schedule, requiring a mer one year and 45 days to finish.

Building Cost: $24,718,000 to build. Including real estate on which the building sits, the entire cost of the Empire State Building was $41 million.

Number of floors in the Empire State Building: 102 floors.

Number of steps to the top of the building: 1,860 steps from ground level to 102nd floor.

Number of windows in the building: 6,500 windows.

Man-Hours required to contruct: 7 million man-hours.

Excavation Initiation: January 22, 1930.

Construction Commencement: March 17, 1930.

Date of Cornerstone Ceremony: Cornerstone laid by Alfred Smith on September 17, 1930.

Area of Site: 79,288 square feet ( or 7,240 meters), which is about two acres. north to south, about 187 feet (56.9 meters.). East to west, about 424 feet (129 meters).

Foundation Depth: 55 feet (16.7 meters) below ground level.

Weight: 365,000 tons.

Volume: 37 million cubic feet.

Completion of Masonry: November 13, 1930.

Official Opening Date: May 1, 1931. President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C., to turn on the building's lights.

Work Force: 3,400 at peak construction periods.

Visitation: 3.5 million people visit each year.

Total Visitation: Since 1931, an estimated 110 million visitors have visited the building.

Famous Visitors to the ESB: Nikita Krushchev, Fidel Castro, Queen Elizabeth, Pele, Prince Andrew, KISS, Ronald McDonald, Tom Cruise.

Movies Featuring the ESB: "Affair to Remember", "Sleepless in Seattle", "Annie Hall", "King Kong" and many more.

Exterior Building Materials: Indiana limestone and granite, which has aluminum and chrome-nickel steel trim from the 6th floor to the structure's top.

Interior lobby Building Materials: Marble, imported from France, German, Belgium, and Italy.

Empire State Building Quotes

"Eddie Fisher married to Elizabeth Taylor is like me trying to wash the Empire State Building with a bar of soap." -Don Rickles

“The Eiffel Tower is the Empire State Building after taxes." -Anonymous

"An optimist is someone who falls off the Empire State Building, and after 50 floors says, 'So far so good!'" -Anonymous