“We thought we would be the tallest at 80 stories. Hamilton Weber, the first rental manager for the Empire State Building, was quoted stating: This back and forth between the two buildings continued even during construction. It was risky of Raskob and Smith to take on constructing a building that would outdo even the secret Chrysler Building.
The planned height of the Chrysler Building was kept a secret until it was finished because of this sky race. Chrysler - American automotive executive and industrial pioneer - for three reasons: He wanted to add to the landscape of New York, to build the tallest building in the world and to create a sort of monument to himself and his family. The Chrysler Building was also built as a part of this sky race. The Empire State Building VS The Chrysler BuildingĬonstruction of the Chrysler Building, another famous skyscraper in New York City, had begun a few years earlier on September 19, 1928. The story goes that during a meeting with the architects, he pulled out a pencil, held it straight up in the air and asked, “How high can you build it so that it won’t fall down?”. He paired up with former New York Governor Al Smith and they began to plan. John Jakob Raskob, former financial executive and businessman for both General Motors and DuPont, was the man behind the Empire State Building. The “why” behind the Empire State Building was simple: it was built to beat out all other skyscrapers and to claim the title as the tallest building in the world. At the turn of the century, skyscrapers were popping up all over the world with the goal of being the tallest and most impressive building in the world. Whether you’re looking up at the building from the streets or out at New York from the 102nd-floor observation deck, the view is impressive.Ī “race to the sky” took off in 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built. Although it lost that title in 1971, the Empire State Building is still a landmark on the New York City skyline. 28, 1956.One of the most famous and recognizable buildings in the United States, the Empire State Building used to be the tallest building in the world. Combined, the four beacons will generate almost two billion candle power of light and will be the brightest continuous source of man-made light in the world. Workmen placing one of the four far-reaching night beacon lights in position on the 90th floor of the building. Here, workmen erect scaffolding as reconstruction work on the skyscraper begins. 29, 1930.Ī B-25 crashed between the 78th and 79th stories, but two days after the tragic after, the building opened to the public on July 30, 1945.
19, 1930.Ī zeppelin mooring mast will cap this engineering feat. The flag is at the highest point in the city, higher than the Crystler Building. Workmen at the new Empire State building raised a flag on the 88th floor 1,048 feet above the street. 2, 1932.Ī picture of one of the bold window washers, as he pauses in his task to draw a lung-full of clean air. The Empire State Building rises dramatically in the background. This striking silhouette was taken atop the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center, New York, as workers light their cigarettes at the end of a working day. This shot was taken by the photographer looking down upon the window washers on the 34th street side of the building. A day's work for these smiling window washers as they go about their work cleaning up the Empire State Building at dizzying heights of hundreds of feet above the street.
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