NEW YORK | The Empire State Building | 1,472' Pinnacle | 103 FLOORS | 1931

[NYguy]

Catherine0213




rocketdogphoto

[NYguy]

That time of the year again...

PilotGirl

[NYguy]

http://www.northjersey.com/recreatio..._Building.html

High and mighty: The Empire State Building

February 16, 2010
BY JEFFREY PAGE

Even with its 102 stories, 10 million bricks, 120 miles of piping, 6,500 windows and gross weight of 365,000 tons, the Empire State Building was completed in one year and 45 days.

As far as superlatives go, it's been a rough few decades for the Empire State Building. When it opened in 1931, it was the tallest building in the world at 1,250 feet — and it's been shrinking in rank ever since. Yet even during the years of dominance by the World Trade Center, and with the recently opened Burj Khalifa in Dubai (2,717 feet), people still flock to Fifth Avenue and 34th Street for a ride to the top of New York.

For one thing, the view from nearly a quarter mile over midtown remains jaw-droppingly spectacular.

For another, the Empire State Building is where King Kong made his last stand. No other tall structure in Shanghai, Taipei, Dubai or Blanchard, N.D. (home of a 2,063-foot television tower), can make that claim.

You can stand in one spot on the 86th-floor observatory of the Empire State Building and see North Jersey, the Jersey Meadows, the Hudson River, the high-rise condos of Bergen and Hudson counties, the George Washington Bridge, Central Park, the Chrysler Building, the East River, Queens and the Bronx just by turning your head slightly. And that's on an ordinary day. On a really sparkling day in winter, when the air is clean and thin, you can see 80 miles. That would be to Poughkeepsie in the north and Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island in the south.

...The Empire State Building stopped setting height records years ago, but visitors don't care. They still come at the rate of about 2 million a year. After all, that's not Nebraska down there.

It's New York – the one and only.

[NYguy]

traveling peter

102nd Floor deck

[MolsonExport]

Have they gotten rid of the scratchiti on the windows of the 102-floor deck? I remember going there several times in the 1980s-1990s, but all my camera shots sucked due to scratchiti.

[Duffstuff129]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Have they gotten rid of the scratchiti on the windows of the 102-floor deck? I remember going there several times in the 1980s-1990s, but all my camera shots sucked due to scratchiti.

The 102nd floor deck (and some other parts of the building, including the lobby) was restored at the cost of being closed to the public for around a year or so.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Duffstuff129

The 102nd floor deck (and some other parts of the building, including the lobby) was restored at the cost of being closed to the public for around a year or so.

I remember it being closed for over a decade or so.

[NYguy]

Nice to see the ESB play yet another starring role, this time in "Percy Jackson & the Olympians; The Lightning Thief". Somehow I knew the gods were involved with the ESB... Enjoyed the movie.

trailer

• Video Link

[NYguy]

Abrams Books

[NYguy]

M R 75

[hunser]

op_perrin

[NYguy]

Even today, still leaving its mark on the world...

http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-03/508908.html
Beijing advised by expert to build its Empire State Building

Global Times [02:53 March 02 2010]
By Li Yang

An expert has suggested that Beijing should build its own version of the Empire State Building, in order to help its Central Business District (CBD) achieve wider recognition.

Long Yongtu, the secretary general of the Boao Forum for Asia and chief negotiator for China's entry into the WTO, made the comments at the 2010 International Forum on Development of World Cities Monday. He said that world-renowned CBDs, such as the City of London and New York's Wall Street, are the focal point of a city, and he added that a world-class CBD should have a world famous building.

"I hope Beijing will have a world famous landmark, like New York City's Empire State Building, to symbolize its modern business culture," he said.

Some government departments have already had similar visions. Chaoyang district released a plan in January to build a landmark tower reaching up about 400 meters in the CBD, higher than the 381-meter Empire State Building, while the Tongzhou district has plans to build two or three skyscrapers of a similar height. Shijingshan and Fengtai also have their own landmark plans.

But Chen Gang, the vice mayor of Beijing, said that competing to build the "highest tower" would not help Beijing become a world city.

Beijing first made public its goal to become a world city in a government work report in January. The report said such a city is influential in politics, the economy and cultural life worldwide, adding that Beijing plans to overtake New York, London and Tokyo as the best of all world-class cities by 2015.

[NYguy]

There's a website now to follow progress...
http://www.esbsustainability.com/SocMe/?Id=0


• Video Link

[NYguy]

There's a website now to follow progress of the renovation...
http://www.esbsustainability.com/SocMe/?Id=0



• Video Link

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Vanzetti

Imo, the whole building needs a reclad. As it is now, it looks like a dirty cardboard box. It would look much better white, like Aon center.

You got to be kidding me.


And those pyramids would look better with a reclad in pink silk. Let's paint the Eiffel tower orange. The Golden Gate Bridge would be improved with a purple makeover.




is nothing sacred?

[kingkirbythe....]

pyramids were originally white

[NYguy]

http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article...TATE/100309950

Calif. company to retrofit Empire State Building
A California company is preparing to retrofit New York's Empire State building with 6,500 energy saving windows.

March 3, 2010

A California company has been hired to retrofit New York City's Empire State building with 6,500 energy saving windows.

A number of iconic buildings have undertaken major renovations to become more efficient, but even more importantly, to lure new tenants.

The managers of the Empire State Building plan to spend $120 million on environmental improvements and the windows are center stage.

Johnson Controls, Inc. said it has selected Serious Materials for the project. Johnson did not disclose how much the contract for the windows was worth.

Johnson Controls said the windows will save about $400,000 a year in energy costs.

Serious Materials, which has headquarters in Sunnyvale, Calif., will refurbish existing windows so that they insulate better, reducing solar heat gain by 50 percent.

Johnson Controls said that the window project is one of four energy-saving measures that should cut the building's energy use by 38 percent, saving $4.4 million per year in energy costs and reduce 105,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 15 years.

[gramsjdg]

Originally Posted by NYguy

^ That sounds possible.



That sounds like a good idea, but I'm not sure how a taller antenna would fit the tower. The tower used to be 18 ft higher at 1,472 ft. And it would have to look like the Empire State's Antenna, not one of those large antennas on other towers.

Thanks for clearing that up NYguy, since I was a kid I always had the 1472 ft number memorized, and then was thrown for a loop when I started seeing this 1454 ft number (coincidentally the same number originally advertised for the Sears tower roof height)
When did they shorten the antenna?

[canadate]

Took this on wednesday..sorry the antenna is cut off..took this photo pretty quick.

[NYC4Life]

WCBS-TV

Mar 30, 2010 11:55 pm US/Eastern
Man Jumps To His Death From Empire State Building


Empire State Building (file)
Gregg Geller/CBS


NEW YORK (AP) ― A 21-year-old man plunged to his death in an apparent suicide jump off the Empire State Building during the evening rush hour on Tuesday, authorities said.

The man was dead when rescue workers arrived at the 102-story skyscraper shortly before 6:30 p.m., police said. His name wasn't immediately released, and authorities would not say from which floor he had jumped.

Tourists and office workers picked their way around police tape shortly after the man's death, and police temporarily closed a block of West 34th Street, one of the busiest thoroughfares in midtown Manhattan.

The Empire State Building is the third-tallest building in the United States. More than 30 people have committed suicide at the building since it opened in 1931.

Before Tuesday, the most recent was believed to have been in 2006, when a man jumped from a vacant office on the 66th floor.

The skyscraper reaches 1,454 feet to the top of its lightning rod.

A spokeswoman for the building didn't immediately return calls. A management representative at the building said she knew nothing about the incident.




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