Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
An Art Deco tower, a race for height and a place in film offer several ways into the story of the Empire State Building.
On this page
An Art Deco tower
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon designed the building in the Art Deco style, and it was built between 1930 and 1931 on the former site of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Its facade is clad in Indiana limestone, and its spire, first planned as a mooring mast for airships, takes the building to 1,454 feet including the antenna.
A century of views
The 86th-floor observatory has both an enclosed gallery and an open-air deck, so it can open every day of the year. A smaller enclosed observatory is on the 102nd floor, and an indoor observatory opened on the 80th floor in 2019.
The building has appeared in more than 250 films and television series since King Kong in 1933.
A protected landmark
The building and its ground-floor interior were designated New York City landmarks in 1980, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
