Empire State Building

The Empire State Building, located at 350 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City is one of the most famous buildings in the entire world. The 102-story, 1,472 foot high building is primarily an office building with 15,000 office spaces available, but also contains a shopping mall, telecommunications and broadcasting center and serves as a tourist attraction with its two observation decks and New York Skyride tour. When the building was first complete in 1931 it was at the height of the Depression and the owners of the building found it hard to rent out the office space. Some New Yorkers began calling the building the Empty State Building.

Some of the more noteworthy office tenants include: Accessory Network Group, Capital Markets Group, Boy Scouts of America, Coty Inc., Brennan Beer Gorman Architects, Goldin Associates LLC, Garan, Inc, Funaro & Co., P.C., Juicy Couture, Human Rights Watch, Skanska USA , Lufthansa Airlines and Taylor Communications. Retail clients include: AT&T Experience Store, Cafe Europa, Bank of America, Federal Express, Chipotle, Men’s Wearhouse, Heartland Brewery, Walgreen’s and Starbucks.

The Empire State Building is also a major tourist attraction. Over 3.5 million people visit the building each year. The building offers two observatory decks on the 86th floor and 102nd floor that offers breathtaking panoramic views of New York City and the surrounding regions. On clear days one can see up to 80 miles away, and see parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. The building also offers a simulated aerial tour of New York City called the New York Skyride where visitors sit on a platform with an 18-foot high screen and take a virtual tour narrated by Kevin Bacon over New York City.

Many celebrities and dignitaries have also visited the Empire State Building over the years. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip visited the 86th floor observatory deck in 1957. Queen Elizabeth declared the view the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Other notable celebrities to have visited the famous skyscraper include Fidel Castro in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev in 1959, Pele, the soccer star in 1975, the rock band Kiss in 1976, Fay Wray, the actress of King Kong Fame in 2004, as well as Ronald McDonald and Tom Cruise, also both in 2004.

The building has also been made famous by appearing in many movie classics. The building is probably most famous for its appearance in the classic King Kong movie where Kong climbs to the top of the Empire State Building to try to escape his pursuers, only to fall to his death. The skyscraper has also made its appearance in many other movies including An Affair to Remember, Annie Hall, Guys and Dolls, Independence Day, Manhattan, Sleepless in Seattle, and When Harry Met Sally.

The Empire State Building is also famous for its colorful floodlights at the top of the building. There is a yearly lighting schedule that the building follows to commemorate holidays, special events and other occasions. During the Christmas season, green and red lighting are used and orange, blue and white lights are used when the New York Knicks are at home playing at Madison Square Garden.