EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

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Title	EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
View	View of summit, looking up, from open observation deck level, depicting glass enclosed circular observation deck at the 102nd floor
Notes	administrative
Work Type	skyscraper office building
Style/Period	Art Deco
Creator Name	Shreve, Lamb & Harmon
Creator Nationality	American firm
Major Design Aspects	set-backs free-standing structure monumental prominence through height
Elements & Spatial Types	observation deck television transmission antenna Art Deco summit
Climate Type	cold temperate
Country	United States of America
City	New York
State/Province	NY
Alternate Place Names	New York City, Manhattan
Architectural Material	steel, stone, marble
Structural System	steel frame curtain wall
Dates	1931
Century	20C
Designation/Awards/Inscriptions	city landmark, city icon, state icon, country icon
Photographer	Scott Gilchrist, Archivision
Date Photographed	5/31/1990
Subject Information	Standing in lonely dignity in the midriff of Manhattan, a sentinel by land, a reassuring landmark by air, the Empire State Building is the quadri-faced pharos of the city. And until outstripped by the twin towers of the World Trade Center (1975), its 102 floors were the highest in New York. Though designed at the end of the so-called Art Deco period in the 1920s, when zigzagged appliqu?s were prominent, its exterior shows little of the frippery characteristic of that 'decorated' period. It is, moreover, one of the very few skyscrapers with four facades, not just one facing the avenue. Zoning required several setbacks, but these were given a skillful buildup of scale at the lower levels, while the tower itself rises unflinchingly. Indented setbacks in the center of each of the long sides help lateral scale. An observation platform and a pylon topped by a television transmission antenna crown allƒThe architectural, commercial, and popular success of the Empire State Building depended on a highly rationalized process, and equally efficient advertising and construction campaigns. Skillful designers of Manhattan office buildings, architects Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon were familiar with the imperatives of design and construction efficiency that maximized investors' returns by filling the building with tenants as soon as possible. ... The Empire State Building, like most Art Deco skyscrapers, was modernistic, not modernist. It was deliberately less pure, more flamboyant and populist than European theory allowed. It appeared to be a sculpted or modeled mass, giving to business imagery a substantial character...' Source: www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Empire_State_Building.html / 'Construction of the Empire State Building began in March of 1930 on the site of the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at 350 Fifth Avenue at 34th Street. It was completed 14 months later in May, 1931. Designed by the architectural firm of Shreve, Lamb, & Harmon Associates, the Empire State Building, at 102 stories, was the tallest building in the world until the completion of the first tower of the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan in 1972.' Source: www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/about.html
Credit Line	Archivision Inc. (all images copyright Scott Gilchrist / Archivision.com)
Collection Title	Archivision (architecture, urban design, gardens, landscapes and public art)
Collection information	Collection administered by the Visual Resources manager, Architecture Library, (402) 472-1193

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EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

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