{"id":2419,"date":"2016-05-01T07:06:09","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T11:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drivingfordeco.com\/staging\/3617\/?p=2419"},"modified":"2017-07-05T20:58:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-06T00:58:18","slug":"happy-85th-birthday-empire-state-building","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drivingfordeco.com\/staging\/3617\/happy-85th-birthday-empire-state-building\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy 85th Birthday, Empire State Building!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Empire<\/a>

Empire State Building, 1931<\/p><\/div>\n

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“It’s the nearest thing to Heaven we have in New York.” Irene Dunne says to Charles Boyer in the 1939 film Love Affair. And for many years that was true. The Empire State Building’s place in history is secure, even though it is now the 26th tallest building in the world. It did hold the record for world’s tallest, longer than any building, from 1930 – 1972.\u00a0May 1st marks the 85th anniversary of its\u00a0opening.<\/h4>\n

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For a comprehensive history of the building, here\u00a0are a couple of good links:<\/h4>\n

Click: Here<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

Click: Here<\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

or check out John Tauranac’s excellent book, The Empire State Building the Making of a Legend<\/em>. <\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n

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\"Empire<\/a>

Empire State Building at night, circa 1934. NYPL Digital Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n

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Built on the site of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1893\u00a0&\u00a01897-1929) at 5th Avenue and 34th Street.\u00a0The Waldorf closed in May of 1929 and demolition began on October 3, 1929. By March, 1930 the hotel was completely gone and construction of the Empire State Building began.<\/h4>\n

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\"Waldorf-Astoria

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Fifth Avenue from West 34th Street to West 33rd Street, New York, New York, late 1910s or early 1920s. (Photo by William J. Roege\/The New York Historical Society\/Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\"1929-oct-and-nov-scaffolding-goes-up\"<\/a>

Demolition of the Waldorf-Astoria in October & November, 1929. NYPL Digital Gallery<\/p><\/div>\n

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Designed by William F. Lamb of the firm of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon, the original plan was for a 1000 foot, 80 story building. Soon those plans were changed to 85 stories at 1050 feet. Conceived during the skyscraper race of the 1920’s the architects, the financial backers and former Governor of New York, Al Smith<\/a><\/span> (President of the Empire State Building Company) were aware of the competition between the Chrysler and the Manhattan Company Buildings to construct\u00a0the tallest tower in the world. When the Chrysler Building added its spire and topped out\u00a0at 1,046 feet, the four feet difference between the Chrysler and Empire State didn’t seem so great. John J. Raskob, the main financial backer of the Empire State, held up a pencil and said the building “needed at hat”. The architects dreamed up the idea of constructing\u00a0a mooring mast for zeppelins. This\u00a0added 200 feet to the building and unlike the Chrysler Building’s spire \u00a0was “useable” space. Docking a zeppelin at a mast 100 feet high is challenging, at 1,250 feet it is impossible. The management of the Empire State Building knew this before the building was completed and the necessary winches and counter weights for mooring were never installed. But it did give the building the extra height and a lot of publicity.<\/h4>\n

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\"A<\/a>

A postcard of the Empire State’s mooring mast and how it would work.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Once construction\u00a0started, the Empire State Building shot up into the skyline incredibly fast.<\/h4>\n

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