new york city new york november 2019.
after four years of construction the
empire state building's remodeled
a 102nd floor observatory is finally
revealed to the public
costing a staggering 165 million dollars
the renovation also includes a 10 000
square foot museum
and an all new observation deck offering
visitors
a 360 degree view from atop the building
one that has often been called the
eighth
wonder of the world designated
a national historic landmark in 1986
many consider the empire state building
to be not only the most recognizable
building in new york city
but also the entire world
over 20 000 people arrive to work here
every day
taking one of the 73 elevators to
offices located across
103 floors nearly 2.7 million square
feet of office space in all
in fact the 1454 foot building is so
large
it was even given its own zip code
originally designed to be a symbol of
america's indomitable spirit
and ingenuity until 1972 the empire
state building enjoyed its unique
status as the world's tallest building
the empire state building was scheduled
to be a thousand feet
the chrysler building was 1046. so they
determined that
they would ensure that they would be the
world's tallest building
by adding a 200 foot high mast
atop the building you could almost call
it the race of the titans
the idea of the world's tallest tower
always gains attention and there is a
certain kind of
status that's given to any building
that's going to
break a record because it certainly is a
signal achievement
as anticipated when the empire state
building finally opened on may 1st
1931 it's coveted status as the tallest
building in the world
brought it international renown
but why construct a building to tower
more than a thousand feet above the
earth
if monuments like the capitol building
and the washington monument
are meant to symbolize a connection to
something greater than ourselves
could the empire state building be an
attempt to literally
ascend from the earth and touch the
heavens
the thrill of being at the top of the
empire state building
is is really to be above it all
to look out to the harbor and have the
thrill of
nearly infinite vision
there are many historical paradigms to
summarize
the achievements through the ages for
the romans it might be the pantheon
for the greeks it might be the parthenon
but
the empire state building summarizes the
idea
about what america wanted to be in the
20th century according to historians
the romantic notion of being above it
all
was taken to the extreme when the empire
state building first opened
the stock market was going up real
estate investment was rampant
they needed to have some extra measure
of modernity
that signaled that this building not
just stood above the rest but
participated in
this upper stratum of the the world of
business
so they imagined that they would add the
docking station
for dirigibles for the zeppelins
at dirigible docking station is it
possible
that the empire state building hailed as
a symbol of america's can-do attitude
and industrial might was actually
envisioned to be the world's
tallest airport
they said we will drag it into the
building
crank it down the dirigible can be
moored to the top of the mooring mast
a gang plank can be dropped to the 103rd
floor where there was a
platform that ringed the building and
the
passengers can dedical
down a gangplank 1250 feet
in the air it was the looniest building
scheme since the tower of babel
the first test of the empire state
building's docking station was a massive
failure
although workers managed to pass a
mailbag over from the top of the tower
the tethered airship was rocked by high
winds while attempting to dock
after the hindenburg disaster in 1937
the notion of commercial dirigible
travel
was abandoned altogether
you