skyscrapers in the world.

This building has 102 floors,

and with it's antenna stands at a height of 1,454 feet tall.

It is located on the East Coast of the United States,

in the state of New York, in New York City,

on the island of Manhattan,

on 5th Avenue in between West 33rd and West 34th streets.

To get an idea for where we're at,

here's Times Square, Central Park, the Chrysler Building,

And over here is the One World Trade Center building

that was built in 2013.

Let's look at a timeline.

Here's World War 1, the Roaring 20's,

the Great Depression and World War 2.

The Empire State Building took only 410 days to complete;

from January 20th, 1930 to April 11th, 1931.

What's even more impressive is that this was at the

beginning of the Great Depression; when many other

construction projects were halted due to lack of money.

After it was built, much of the building remained empty

until the 1950s.

Originally it was the tallest building in the world.

It had surpassed the Chrysler building by 408 feet.

It remained the tallest building in the world for 40 years

until the World Trade Center Twin Towers were built in

the early 70s.

Today there are many buildings that are taller than the

Empire State Building.

The Burj Khalifa that was built in 2010 is currently the

tallest building in the world.

The shape of the building was heavily influenced

by city zoning regulations.

Skyscrapers were still new, and many people were

fearful that with each new skyscraper

the streets below would be without

sunlight and fresh air.

Once a building reached a certain height,

it had to be set back to use less area.

Once the building reach 30 floors, there was no

height restriction; as long as each floor

didn't exceed more than 25% of the area of the site.

The 1st floor of the building is home to mostly retail stores.

There are 5 entrances to the building.

If you're a tourist, you'll want to use the 5th Ave lobby.

Hundreds of tenants use this building every day,

so the elevator system is very important.

The higher you go, the less elevators are needed to

service the floors.

When the building was built there was initially 64 elevators,

but today there are 9 more that have been added.

Here's a typical floor layout;

there's room for offices, open work areas, and conference rooms.

At the center of the floor is what we call the Service Core.

This is where you'll find

the elevators, the bathrooms, stairs, and

vertical shafts to carry water, air, and

power to each of the floors.

Here's the Observation Deck,

it's located on the 86th floor.

You can walk outside and around the building to see

most of New York City.

There's also a fence to prevent anything

from falling off the edge.

Tourists can pay a little extra to go to the 102nd floor.

The building officially has a 102 floors, but

there's a stairway to the 103rd floor,

which is apparently a popular place for celebrities.

This whole top part is called the Mooring Mast.

This was originally advertised to be a docking port for

Airships, also known as Dirigibles or Blimps.

It wasn't long before this idea was dropped because

it was far too dangerous.

There was to much wind at the top of the building, and

there was no place to tie up the other end of the Airship.

The Empire State Building may not be the World's tallest

building anymore, but it stands the test of time and

remains a favorite place to visit in New York City.