Standing tall at the heart of Manhattan, the 102-story Art deco skyscraper known as Empire State Building remains an outstanding landmark in the city that never sleeps and a favorite setting for storytellers and moviemakers.

The Empire State Building has appeared in various movies and television shows and is considered a symbol of romance and danger. One of the most memorable movies featuring the building was “Sleepless in Seattle” starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. Released in 1993, it was inspired by the 1957 film of Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in “An affair to Remember”, where the bird lovers agreed to meet atop of the Empire State Building to fix their love affairs. Thanks to the romantic scene showcased on top of the building, the place went on to inspire more romantic movies and different genres. Since then, the Empire State building has been defined as an American pop-culture icon that instilled numerous groundbreaking ideas.

No longer the tallest building but still stands majestically!

Although the Empire State Building is no longer the world’s tallest building, it has perfectly kept its magnificence thanks to its unique design. The building is a 102-story Art deco – short for Arts Décoratifs, modern styles combined with luxurious materials – skyscraper located in Midtown Manhattan, New York. It stood as the tallest building in the world until 1971, when the World trade Center, also the Twin-towers, was built. Following the September 11th attacks, the two buildings collapsed, and the Empire State Building found again its status as the city’s tallest skyscraper until 2012. As of 2020, the building ranks seventh in the list of the tallest buildings in New York City. It holds the position of the ninth tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, the 49th tallest in the world, and the sixth tallest freestanding structure in the Americas.

Empire State’s symbol.

Classified among the Seven Wonders of the modern world, the 102-story Empire State Building was the product of a fierce competition between Walter Chrysler, of the Chrysler Corporation and John Jacob Raskob, of General Motors. They competed against each other to build the tallest skyscraper in the world. The Chrysler Building was completed first in 1930 and claimed the title until the Empire State Building was completed and seized it in 1931. The Chrysler Building stood 1,046 feet high, whereas the height of the Empire State Building was 1,250 feet. The construction of the Empire State building began on March 17, 1930 and officially opened on May 1, 1931. The entire building only took one year and forty-five days to complete. Its design was changed fifteen times before it was entitled the world’s tallest building.

Regarding the name of the building, it derived from the nickname of the U.S. state of New York “Empire State”. In addition to being an American cultural icon, it is also an enduring symbol of New York. In 1980, the building was designated a “city landmark” by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

The Empire State Building’s Art Deco architecture is what especially made the towering a popular tourist attraction. Between 10,000 and 20,000 people visit it each day.

Sources: The New York State Education Department / Britannica