Let’s Know – The Empire State Building

New York City is undoubtedly one of the biggest cities in the world. The Empire State Building is one of the famous attractions in the Big Apple City. This vintage skyscraper has been named as one of the seven wonders of the modern world by the American Society of Civil Engineers. This attractive business building was constructed on the account of Franklin D. Roosevelts victory over Hoover in the US Presidential elections of 1932.

The height of this 103 storeys building is 1250 feet or 381 metres tall. The height when including the antenna tower is 1454 feet or 443.2 metres. The Gross Floor Area of this skyscraper is 2,768,591 square feet. The skyscraper was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates and the contracting construction company was Starrett Brothers and Eken. Construction began on 17th March 1930 with 3,400 workers building 4.5 floors per week. It became the tallest building in the world at the completion in April 1931.

The skyscraper is owned by the Empire State Realty Trust. The building draws its influence from the Art Deco architectural style. The Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for 41 years between 1931 and 1972. The tall skyscraper has 6,514 windows and there are 1,872 steps from the street level to the 103rd floor of the building with 73 elevators, including 6 freight elevators.

The cost of the Empire State Building totals to a grand sum of 40,948,900 USD. On average, the tower of the building is struck by lightning atleast 100 times per year. The total weight of this humongous skyscraper is 365,000 tons

The prime tourist attractions of this skyscraper are the observation decks on the 86th and 102nd floors.

This Empire State building holds the following records:

• National Historic Landmark, 1986 ? National Parks Service.
• Americas Favourite Architecture, 2007 ? American Institute of Architects.
• Tallest LEED-certified building in the United States, 2011 ? Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).
• The Landmark of New York City, 1981 ? The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.