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

[The North One]

Originally Posted by NYguy

eww, it looks like it just went through a mud storm.

why is it so dirty around the bottom? its not like that now, did it get cleaned?

[STR]

^Cars polluted a lot more back in the day. Yes, it's been cleaned before. Last time was ~12 years ago when they also replaced all of the windows (and quite a bit of the facade), which during this recent retrofit are being removed, cleaned and inserted into new energy efficient frames.

ARTICLE

[dagobert]

The black staining isn't from car pollution. While car emissions have decreased significantly over the last 50-60 years, most of the particulate matter in city air in the past was soot from burnt coal.

A small amount of soot that was deposited on NYC skyscrapers originated from factories located nearby, steam ships and steam locomotives, but the vast majority of soot came from coal burning boilers and furnaces located in NYC’s high-rises. Buildings had their own coal fired boilers and/or furnaces to heat the water and also to keep the radiators nice & warm in winter.

Originally Posted by STR

^Cars polluted a lot more back in the day. Yes, it's been cleaned before. Last time was ~12 years ago when they also replaced all of the windows (and quite a bit of the facade), which during this recent retrofit are being removed, cleaned and inserted into new energy efficient frames.

ARTICLE

[YSL]

They should relcad the Empire State Building with glass





















Just kidding

[dagobert]

Regarding the coal soot mentioned above.

Here is a picture of the Chicago Loop from 1964. Can you spot the smoke stacks???




or how many smoke stacks can you see in this 1954 picture? Look closely, there are a lot.

[STR]

For those interested, the just today uploaded a buttload of floor plans covering the newly consolidated blocks of space in te building. Pretty much every floor from the 16th to the 29th is available for viewing. Most interesting of those floors, IMO, are 21-24, which show off the false-interiors on the E/W sides as the windows on the outside immediately face an elevator bank.

http://www.esbnycleasing.com/leasing_office.phtml

[NYguy]

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...InoFEUOUiwWW3K

Triumphant Jets got Empire State fly-by




By JEREMY OLSHAN and BILL SANDERSON
January 19, 2011

The Jets were in an Empire State of Mind Sunday night after toppling the New England Patriots.

As the team's charter flight descended toward Newark Airport, the captain called an audible and asked the tower for permission to veer closer to the Empire State Building, which was lit up in the team's colors.

"Well I've had an unusual request," the captain said. "If it's green and white, these guys actually want to get as close as we could to see it."

Like an airborne offensive line, Newark's air-traffic controllers gladly cleared a path for the plane.

"You guys are awesome," the captain said. "And I will tell you later who said that."

According to team sources, he was relaying a message from boisterous head coach Rex Ryan.

Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum said it was a fitting end to a perfect night. "For the Empire State Building to be lit green and white was already special," he said. "Then for everyone involved to allow us to have a view on our way back was a great ending for our trip and something that the team will always remember."

The route change that brought the Boeing 767 within clear view of the building required special permission to stray into La Guardia's airspace, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said, but "no other flights were affected."

The tower later alerted the jet as it neared the city's tallest building.

"Taking you down the west side of the building down the Hudson," the controller said. "Empire State Building should be at 11 o'clock."

"It's beautiful," the flight captain said. "Yeah, we've got 200 people looking at it. A beautiful night for it, too. Really appreciate it, guys."

Controllers then directed Continental charter flight 1915 toward Newark, where the plane landed at 10:53 p.m.

"Glad to do it," the tower said.

Moments later, the tower said, "Clear to land for the champion New York Jets."

Asked if they enjoyed the fly-by, the captain said, "We did, and the team did, too. It was great. I know the coach liked it."

Such a fly-by request is not uncommon, but in this instance was particularly special for the controllers.

"It's kind of cool," said Ray Adams, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association at Newark. "It wasn't a typical flight path, but it does happen," he said.

[STR]

So I found a set of ESB blueprints while make my model of it. Turns out there's 98 floors, including levels DD to F1 in the mast, above ground. 100 if you include the 2 basements. And the two floors currently being advertised as the 102nd and 103rd were, in the original plans, referred to as 101 and 102.

[Coldrsx]

^I once tried to bribe my way up past 102...

[STR]

Level HH is 3'4" wide, with only a parapet roughly as high keeping you from falling over on to the 86th floor (190 feet below you). The only thing you're not missing is your bowels after stepping out there. If I had the chance, sure, I'd take it. It's just not something I'm going to seek to do in this life.

[Upward]

Originally Posted by STR

For those interested, the just today uploaded a buttload of floor plans covering the newly consolidated blocks of space in te building. Pretty much every floor from the 16th to the 29th is available for viewing. Most interesting of those floors, IMO, are 21-24, which show off the false-interiors on the E/W sides as the windows on the outside immediately face an elevator bank.

http://www.esbnycleasing.com/leasing_office.phtml

Fascinating.

Great find.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by STR

Level HH is 3'4" wide, with only a parapet roughly as high keeping you from falling over on to the 86th floor (190 feet below you). The only thing you're not missing is your bowels after stepping out there. If I had the chance, sure, I'd take it. It's just not something I'm going to seek to do in this life.

I've noticed for the second time in as many months, a photo in the Daily News today of someone on that upper level. It's not generally open to the public - at least to my knowledge - but it's at least open to some people, some of the time. (The other person was actor Ian McKellen). Athletes and actors?

[STR]

This came out of a convo at WiredNY, after I mentioned offhand that I might recreate this as an alternate crown for my ESB model. I had lost the original NYTimes article, but DMAG over there found a scan online.

113 floors, 1,494 feet to roof:



It was more of a study by SL&H than anything else, but if the 1975 proposal had been picked up by the building owners, top out probably would have been in the early 80's.

[OneWorldTradeCenter]

Lovely photo:



http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:R...2f4453cf04.jpg

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by STR

This came out of a convo at WiredNY, after I mentioned offhand that I might recreate this as an alternate crown for my ESB model. I had lost the original NYTimes article, but DMAG over there found a scan online.

113 floors, 1,494 feet to roof:



It was more of a study by SL&H than anything else, but if the 1975 proposal had been picked up by the building owners, top out probably would have been in the early 80's.

hideous extensions.

[STR]

Did I mention they were going to be all glass? Reflective, 80's style, mirror-finish glass.

[uaarkson]

Jesus. What the hell was wrong with people back then.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by STR

I had lost the original NYTimes article, but DMAG over there found a scan online.

113 floors, 1,494 feet to roof:



It was more of a study by SL&H than anything else, but if the 1975 proposal had been picked up by the building owners, top out probably would have been in the early 80's.

I also have that image somewhere, but I'm glad that idea never went anywhere. It's not that I don't like it, but we would have lost the connection to the classic mast.


_________________________________________


http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/..._building.html
Hundreds of runners race up 86 floors to the top of the Empire State building



Race to the top - all 86 floors! The winner finished in just over 10 minutes.

BY Christina Boyle
February 2nd 2011

Hundreds of runners felt on top of the world after racing to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building Tuesday.

German engineering student Thomas Dold was the fastest person to climb the 1,576 steps, in a speedy 10 minutes, 10 seconds.

Australian medical student Alice McNamara won the women's event in 13 minutes, 3 seconds.

"To climb to the top of New York - the greatest city in the world - is just fantastic," she said.

"It's definitely one of the toughest things I've ever done," added the 24-year-old, who has four world championship rowing titles to her name and is vying for a spot on her country's Olympic team.

McNamara set foot in New York for the first time last week and joined hundreds of running fanatics battling their way up the iconic Fifth Ave. building.

"I thought this might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but after today I think I'm back next year," she said.

Dold, 26, became the first man to win the race six years in a row.

"It's a long way up, but this year I felt good," he said. "To have more wins than every other person is unbelievable."

At 77, Ginette Bedard, from Howard Beach, Queens, was the oldest competitor in the race and crossed the line in 22 minutes, 15 seconds.

"I ran this race because I knew I could do it," she said. "Life is too short to waste."

Tuesday was the first Empire State Building Run-Up for Brooklyn resident Sandi Rowe, 40, and she trained in her girlfriend's six-story apartment building.

"It's been a dream, and I finally got to do it," she said. "I worked my quads off for this."

Video
http://www.nydailynews.com/video/ind...mKJlVAkqtKOU6N

[NYguy]

asterix611

[MolsonExport]

New windows on the 102? When I visited the 102 floor obs, the windows were completely caked with scratchiti.