The Empire State Building in New York City is one of the recognizable landmarks in the world. One of the things that makes the building distinct is its extensive exterior lighting system which helps to draw attention to the building and shine brightly colored light into the night sky. The Empire State Building operates off an annual lighting schedule, which helps to highlight certain holidays, events and promotions. For example, red and green lights are used during the Christmas season and blue, orange and while when the New York Knicks are home playing at Madison Square Garden. On the death of Frank Sinatra the lights were blue in his honor. During the fall and spring when birds are migrating, and especially on foggy or cloudy nights, the tower lights have to be turned off to prevent the birds from flying into the building who are attracted to the lights.
The Empire State Building’s tower lights have changed over the years. The first time there was light at the top of the building was in 1932, a year after the skyscraper had been opened in 1931, when a search light beacon shone to signal that Franklin Roosevelt had been elected as president of the U.S.
In 1956, Freedom Lights, which were four revolving beacons, were installed at the top of the Empire State Building. The five-foot, one ton beacons were installed to welcome people into the country and to symbolize the limitless opportunities available in the United States of America, as well as symbolize American’s prayers and hopes for peace. The beacons revolved in perfect synchronization at the rate of one revolution per minute. They could be seen from as far away as 80 miles from the ground and 300 miles from the air.
In April 1964, at the beginning of the New York World’s fair, floodlights were installed on the upper 30 floors of the Empire State Building. This transformed the skyscraper into an impressive landmark on the nighttime sky.
In 1976 Douglas Leigh introduced colored lights to the Empire State Building. Red, white and blue lights lit up the building’s tower to commemorate the nation’s Bicentennial.
In 1977, a new lighting system that incorporated a broader array of colors was introduced. It was first used on October 12, 1977 when white and blue lights flashed to celebrate the New York Yankees winning the World Series.
The building lit up from the 72nd floor up to the base of the television antenna by 310 fluorescent lamps and 204 metal halide lamp fixtures. The different color combinations were produced by manually placing plastic gels over the floodlights and colored plastic sleeves for the fluorescent tubes.
In 1984 the changing of the colors was automated in the upper mooring mast. Douglas Leigh designed a system where the fluorescent tubes in the mast can be changed by flipping a switch. There are 4 vertical banks with 176 panels containing 5 tubes each. Each tube contains the color of red, blue, green, yellow or white.
The Empire State building maintains a regular lighting schedule and also celebrates special occasions such as one of the New York sports teams winning a championship or one-time events like troops coming home from Operation Desert Storm.