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From hotel to skyscraper
The site on Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th Streets was developed in 1893 as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. In 1929 Empire State Inc. acquired it, and the design for a skyscraper was changed fifteen times until it was sure to be the world’s tallest building.


Built in thirteen and a half months
Shreve, Lamb and Harmon designed the building in the Art Deco style, faced in Indiana limestone. Construction started on 17 March 1930, and the building opened on 1 May 1931. It rises 1,250 feet to its 102nd floor and 1,454 feet including its antenna.
A symbol of the city
The Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building until 1970. It has appeared in more than 250 films and television series since King Kong in 1933, and it was designated a New York City landmark in 1980 and a National Historic Landmark in 1986.



