In 1609, when the English explorer Henry Hudson sailed up the river that was to bear his name, he is reputed to have been so impressed with the beauty and majesty of the area that he remarked that "Ths is the new empire". The name stuck and New York state became known as the Empire State.
Holding the crown for the tallest building in the world between 1931 and 1970, it was only fitting that this building should be named the Empire State Building.
Built in the distinctive Art Deco style of the period, the construction of this familiar landmark took a mere 410 days. The 102nd floor is 1,250 feet above the sidewalk and the building measures over 1,450 feet to the top of the antenna. It has over 2,000,000 square feet of rentable space with over 20,000 employees working in the building each day. The outside of the building is clad in Indiana limestone panels.
There are two observation decks. The 82nd floor has an inside and an outside, open air viewing platform. The 102nd floor has a much smaller, enclosed viewing area.
There was originally some suggestion that the 102nd floor was to have been used to board airships tethered to the top of the building. Although a number of attempts were made to dock onto the building this never happened and the famous photo of a naval airship tethered to the mast at the top of the building is a fake.
The building has made countless appearances in film and TV, although the most famous is probably King Kong. Indeed, on the death of the female lead from the original film, Faye Wray, in 2004, the usually brightly lit building stood in complete darkness for 15 minutes as a mark of respect.
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