Originally the building was designed to be 50 stories; then this slowly increased to stories. In fact, The Empire State Building was the first building in the world to contain over floors.
One of the issues with having a vast number of floors was the waiting times for the lifts. Therefore, the building was designed to have different banks of lifts, which reduced the waiting times.
Despite the size of the project, from start to finish, including design, planning and constructing, the Empire State Building only took 20 months to complete. The build began in , and the grand opening took place on the 31st of May For the build, it took construction workers a year and 45 days, which was a record-breaking time.
The Empire State came in under budget, due to the Great Depression. In fact, the design of the monument changed sixteen times during the process and was built by 3, workers over a year and 45 days. When the Empire State Building was completed in , it became the tallest skyscraper in the world, a title it held until the first tower of the World Trade Center reached its full height in While the ESB may no longer be the tallest, this massive but graceful Art Deco masterpiece remains unsurpassed as an icon of New York, its prominence in the sky forever a symbol of the city's greater striving.
It measures 1, feet from the street to the antenna's tip, has its own zip code , and is served by 73 elevators. The colored floodlights that illuminate the top of the building were added in , when the much-loved tradition of changing the colors for holidays and other special events began.
It used to take six hours for a crew to switch the gels on the lights for a new look, but a computerized, energy-efficient LED system was installed in , giving lighting designers a range of 16 million color combinations to choose from. There's always some significance to the color scheme, whether it's to support a local sports team, to memorialize a famous individual on Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday, the building was blue in honor of his nickname, Ol' Blue Eyes , or to mark a special occasion.
When Fay Wray, who played King Kong's love interest, died in , the building went dark for 15 minutes. On the foggy Saturday morning of July 28, , a disoriented pilot flying a B bomber crashed into the Empire State between the 78th and 80th floors. Remarkably, the resulting fire was contained in just 40 minutes, and only 14 people were killed -- three on the plane and 11 in the building.
An elevator operator survived a foot plunge when the elevator's cables failed after the crash. First, you can buy entry tickets in person on-site. In addition, current rules state that tickets must be purchased in advance. We recommend instead that you buy your tickets from GetYourGuide here.
They are an authorised ticket seller, and tickets are the same price or actually slightly cheaper than the official site once the taxes and convenience fees are taken into account. Tickets are sent to your e-mail and you can either display them on your phone for scanning, or print them out. If you want to visit the nd floor, you will either need to upgrade your ticket on site, or buy the nd ticket from the official site here.
As with many cities around the world, there are a number of attraction passes for New York City which include free or discounted admission to some of the top attractions in the city. Note that generally these passes just include standard entry to the Main Deck, so whilst they let you skip the ticket line, they are not express passes and they do not allow access to the nd floor observatory.
You can however pay for an upgrade on site for access to the the nd floor observatory if you wish. Note that you do not need to reserve a timeslot with these passes, however at busier times it can be a good idea to do so.
Information on how to do so is provided with each pass. Basically you will visit this page on the official website , choose your date and time, and enter the details of your party. This service is free for pass holders. If you purchase your entry ticket in advance, then you can skip the lines for the ticket machines, which are found on the 2nd floor.
This will let you take advantage of VIP entry, and go to the front of the security and elevator lines by using the express lanes. Of course, if lots of people have these tickets there is the potential to be a bit of a wait, but for the most part these tickets will offer a faster experience than the standard ticket that most visitors buy.
The Empire State Building is normally open days of the year from 8am until 2am. The last elevators typically ascend at am. In exceptional circumstances these opening times may change — check the official website in advance of your visit to be sure it is open when you visit.
Note: currently the opening times are changed. Check the official website for the latest information. You can also visit the Empire State Building for sunrise, with the exclusive sunrise access ticket.
Times will vary depending on the time of the sunrise. There are a number ways to experience the Empire State Building. As well as the official tours mentioned earlier in this guide, there are a number of other options you have, both for visiting, and for getting a unique view of the building.
The majority of visitors who come to the Empire State Building are primarily interested in visiting the world famous outdoor observation deck and taking in the views of the city. However, there is more to do on site than enjoying the view, and the entire experience has been significantly improved in recent years. As a result, a visit to the Empire State Building is definitely no longer just about standing in line for an elevator and taking in that view.
Obviously the main reason for your visit is to go up towards the top of the tower and experience the views. There are three floors with observatories in the Empire State Building as follows:. The Empire State Building has a number of exhibits where you can learn about all sorts of things related to the building.
This includes information about the construction of the Empire State Buildings, its architecture, its history, and its appearances in popular culture. Here are all the exhibits you will see when you visit, as well as where they are located so you know what to expect at which part of your visit. The first nine exhibits are located on the 2nd floor after the ticket check. These flow one after another in progressive order, and are as follows:. Following these 2nd floor exhibits, you will ride the elevator to the 80th floor.
This elevator ride is also an experience, with the whole ceiling of the elevator displaying a fun video that shows the building being built around the elevator shaft as you ascend. This is also an observatory deck with windows offering views over the city, so you will likely want to pause at a window and enjoy the view. From the 80th floor there is another elevator to the 86th floor which is just a standard elevator.
The 86th floor is all about the view, with both an indoor and outdoor viewing experience. There are some plaques and signs, but no major exhibits on this floor. From the 86th floor you can also ride up to the nd floor observation deck via another elevator if you have the correct ticket.
This glass elevator has a light show and offers view of the inside of the tower as you ascend. The top floor also has no exhibits, but the stunning views through the floor to ceiling windows more than make up for that. One thing to bear in mind when visiting is that the exhibits, particularly on the second floor, are designed with a one-way flow in mind. Basically a visit to the Empire State Building used to involve a lot of lines, and the idea was to replace this rather boring line experience with something a lot more fun and interactive.
So make sure you take your time and see everything on your way — the view will be waiting for you at the top when you are done! The exception to this rule is for the sunrise ticket , where you visit the exhibits after the sunrise. You can dine at the Empire State Building, and there are a number of options for doing so, including both table service options and fast-casual self-service dining options.
All the dining options are on the ground floor, and can be visited without a ticket. For a sit down meal, you have two main options. They also have a full drinks menu of soft and alcoholic beverages.
The other main sit-down dining option is Tacombi. This offers Mexican food including Tacos made from scratch.