Empire State Building
350 5th Avenue | also 2 West 34th Street, 1 West 33rd Street, 350B 5th Avenue | Midtown South | built 1931
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1893
The Waldorf Hotel opens on the site, and the Astoria joins it four years later
Before the skyscraper, this block held the homes of the Astor family, whose mansions stood at 33rd and 34th Streets on Fifth Avenue. In 1890 William Waldorf Astor, planning to move to London, tore down his house and filed plans for a 13-story hotel by Henry J. Hardenbergh, finished in 1893. His aunt built the neighboring Astoria Hotel in 1897, and the two were joined as the Waldorf-Astoria, which became a major New York social institution.
- 1929
Workers strip the old Waldorf-Astoria and dump its granite and bronze at sea
The Waldorf-Astoria closed on May 3, 1929, after the Astors sold the dated hotel to developers. Demolition began on October 1 and proved slow, because the hotel had been built more rigidly than earlier buildings. Some wood went to a woodpile on 30th Street or was burned in a swamp, while the granite, bronze and other debris were tipped into the Atlantic off Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The skyscraper's excavation started in January 1930.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1930
Photographer Lewis Hine is swung out on a cage to shoot the construction crews
The building's owners hired photographer Lewis Hine to record the construction, and they used his images in their advertising. The company arranged a special mechanical cage that could swing him out into open air so he could photograph the riskiest work. His pictures ran in ads and also filled the windows of the stores at street level. The campaign stressed the daring of the men who were raising the world's tallest building.
“…arranged for a special mechanical cage that would enable Hine to be swung out into the air to photograph the most difficult feats…”
- 1931
Al Smith plays greeter and publicist for the tower that bears his stamp
Al Smith, four times governor of New York, was president of the company that owned the building, but his biographers describe his role as largely ceremonial: staff handled rentals and upkeep while he served as greeter and publicity man. At the opening ceremonies his grandchildren, standing in for posterity, cut the ribbon at the main entrance. In the years after, he led tours for visiting royalty, politicians, sports heroes and celebrities, and the public thought of the tower as his.
- 1931
Only 23 percent of the offices are rented in year one, earning the 'Empty State' nickname
The tower opened as the Depression deepened, and in its first year only 23 percent of its space was rented, against about 52 percent for a typical new building of the early 1920s. New Yorkers jeered it as the "Empty State Building" and "Smith's Folly." The owners kept lights burning in vacant offices to suggest tenants, while the observation deck earned about $2 million that year, as much as the rents.
“In the first year, only 23 percent of the available space was rented. ... "Empty State Building" or "Smith's Folly…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
Windows set forward of the limestone help the tower go up quickly
Architect Richmond Shreve explained that the designers set the windows out in front of the wall plane, which removed the need to finish every jamb and head and let the limestone piers become simple, repeating pieces that needed little cutting on site. Aluminum spandrels replaced masonry between floors, so the stone piers ran up the facade without cross-bonding. More than 4,000 of the windows are in the tower walls, arranged in vertical strips that break up the mass.
“In all the building there are somewhat more than 6000 windows; over 4000 of them are in the tower walls.”
- 1931
The Empire State Building opens after about 13 months of construction
Backed by John J. Raskob and led by former New York governor Alfred E. Smith, the Art Deco tower was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon. Construction began on March 17, 1930, and the building opened on May 1, 1931, roughly 13 and a half months later. It remained the world's tallest building until the North Tower of the World Trade Center topped out in 1970.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1931
A dirigible tries and fails to dock at the Empire State Building's mast
Planners of the Empire State Building design its spire as a mooring mast for airships, with arriving passengers meant to disembark at the 102nd floor and ride an elevator down to the street. Shortly after the building opens in 1931, a dirigible attempts to dock at the mast to test the idea, but wind proves too dangerous. The airship terminal is quietly abandoned, and the spire is repurposed as a television broadcast tower in 1953.
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 1932
Crowds pack the Empire State Building's deck to watch a solar eclipse
Hundreds of New Yorkers crowd the observation deck on September 1, 1932, to watch a solar eclipse darken the sky over Manhattan. The building becomes one of the city's most popular vantage points that day, alongside tenement fire escapes and penthouse terraces across the boroughs. The near-darkness briefly unsettles animals at the Bronx Zoo as well.
Source: Ephemeral New York
- 1933
King Kong climbs the Empire State Building in the film's climax
The 1933 film King Kong ends with the giant ape atop the Empire State Building, just two years after the tower opened. It was the first of many screen appearances: the building has been featured in more than 250 films and television series since then. The city designated the exterior and ground-floor interior as landmarks in 1980.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1945
A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building, killing 14
At 9:40 a.m. on July 28, 1945, a U.S. Army B-25 flown by Lt. Col. William Franklin Smith Jr. struck the north side of the building between the 78th and 80th floors. Fourteen people died: the three people aboard and eleven people in the building. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a 75-story fall in an elevator car, still the record for a survived elevator fall. Many floors reopened less than 48 hours later.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1961
More than 3,000 investors pay $10,000 each to buy the building
In 1961 Lawrence A. Wien signed a contract to buy the Empire State Building for $65 million, a record for a single structure, with Harry B. Helmsley as a partner in the operating lease. More than 3,000 people paid $10,000 each for a share in Empire State Building Associates, which raised $33 million toward the price. The land beneath the tower was sold separately to Prudential Insurance for $29 million.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1981
The Landmarks Commission designates the tower with no one speaking against
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Empire State Building on May 19, 1981, after hearings held in September and December 1979. Six witnesses spoke in favor of designation and none spoke against. The commission's report called the tower the best-known symbol of New York City and noted that its completion in 1931 on the old Waldorf-Astoria site marked midtown's change from a fashionable residential district into the city's commercial center.
“Six witnesses spoke in favor of designation. There were no speakers in opposition to designation.”
- 1995
Donald Trump sues over the tower, calling it a 'high-rise slum'
In 1994 Donald Trump teamed up with Hideki Yokoi, who held the land under the tower, to break the lease on that land and gain full ownership. Trump sued the lessee, Empire State Building Associates, in February 1995, claiming it had run the tower down into a "high-rise slum," an office building that was "second-rate" and "rodent-infested." He did not win an eviction, Helmsley's companies countersued in May, and the fight dragged on for years. In 2002 Trump and Yokoi sold their claim on the land to a group led by Peter Malkin for $57.5 million.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
A gunman opens fire on the 86th-floor observation deck
On the afternoon of February 23, 1997, a 69-year-old Palestinian teacher named Abu Kamal opened fire on the 86th-floor observation deck and shot seven people. One person died and six were wounded before he killed himself. He reportedly acted in response to events in Palestine and Israel.
“Abu Kamal, a 69-year-old Palestinian teacher, shot seven people on the 86th floor observation deck during the afternoon of February 23, 1997.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2000
An elevator plunges 40 floors and its two passengers are only slightly injured
On January 24, 2000, the cable that limited an elevator's top speed was severed, and the car fell from the 44th floor to the fourth, where a narrowing of the shaft acted as a second safety system. Both passengers suffered only slight injuries. Building inspectors then reviewed all of the tower's elevators.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2008
The Daily News 'steals' the Empire State Building with a forged deed in under 90 minutes
In December 2008 reporters at the New York Daily News filed a bogus deed with the city register to show how easily property records could be hijacked. The forged paperwork named Fay Wray, star of King Kong, as a witness and the bank robber Willie Sutton as the notary, and it handed the tower to "Nelots Properties, LLC," which is stolen spelled backward. The paper returned the building to its true owners nearly 24 hours later.
Source: foxnews.com
- 2026
Two rooftop climbers scale the spire, unfurl a peace banner and appear to get engaged
On July 1, 2026, Ivan Kuznetsov, who climbs as Ivan Beerkus, and Angelina Nikolau, known for rooftopping and for a Netflix documentary, reached the building's transmission tower. CBS cited law enforcement sources as saying the pair apparently entered through a 103rd-floor hatch meant for maintenance of the water tower. They unfurled a black banner with a message of love and peace, and he appeared to propose on a lower platform. Police took them into custody just before 1 p.m., and sources said the charges included burglary and reckless endangerment.
Source: cbsnews.com
Further reading
- Empire State BuildingWikipedia
- THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, 640 BroadwayForgotten New York
- The intrigue and elusiveness of two 1930s photos of New York’s skyscraper skylineEphemeral New York
- Seeing an eclipse from the Empire State BuildingEphemeral New York
- Manhattan’s new skyscrapers flicker in the nightEphemeral New York
- King Kong’s return to the Empire State BuildingEphemeral New York
- Night descends on the Empire State BuildingEphemeral New York
- The Empire State Building’s “beautiful suicide”Ephemeral New York
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