New York attractions: Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is one of New York's best attractions. Find the top things to do, restaurants and bars in and around the Empire State Building.
Since its opening in 1931, the Empire State Building has been one of New York City's most visible attractions, immortalized in countless photos and films, from the original King Kong to Sleepless in Seattle. The enclosed observatory on the 102nd floor is the city's highest lookout point (but the panoramic deck on the 86th floor, 1,050 feet above the street, is roomier). From here, you can see all five boroughs and five neighboring states. Check out our complete guide to the Empire State Building, and what to do nearby, to maximize your enjoyment of this iconic New York attraction.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Find cool historical tidbits about the beloved 102-story structure known as the Empire State Building—and some stellar shots of NYC from atop it, too—by clicking through our slide show.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
The Empire State Building stands (spire included) 1,454 feet tall. It surpassed the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building in the world in 1931, a title it held until the World Trade Center’s North Tower was completed in the early ’70s.
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Photograph: Lewis Hine
In 1930, photographer Lewis Hine snapped this shot of a laborer fastening the building’s steel beams. Construction lasted a mere 11 months and employed more than 3,000 workers.
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Photograph: Courtesy Library of Congress
When this photo was taken in 1930, workers had constructed the first 40 floors of the building.
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Photograph: Courtesy Library of Congress
In 1945, an airplane crashed into the building’s north side during heavy fog, killing 14 people. In this photo, workers cover a hole from the accident on the south side of the building.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Check out this shot of lower Manhattan from the Empire State Building’s 86th-floor observatory. The Empire State Building has two observation decks—an open-air one on the 86th floor and an enclosed one on the 102nd floor.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Here is a view facing north from atop the 86th-floor observatory.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
This is a view facing the East River from the 86th-floor observatory.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
This view from the 86th-floor observatory that overlooks the Hudson River.
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Photograph: William Klein
In our roundup of the top 50 New York City photographs, Art editor Howard Halle described William Klein’s Atom Bomb Sky, New York, which prominently features a towering Empire State Building, as follows: “At the height of the Cold War [1955], Klein rather cheekily bestowed an apocalyptic title to this image of the sun peeking through the haze as it crests over midtown; but it endures as a representation of New York’s splendor.”
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Photograph: Courtesy Museum of Modern Art, Berenice Abbott/Commerce Graphics
Here’s Halle again, writing about Berenice Abbott’s photograph New York at Night: “Taken from an upper floor of the Empire State Building at dusk just before Christmas, 1932, this image imparts a magical twinkle suitable for the season, thanks to a special developer Abbott used to render the contrasts between light and dark.”
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
There are three levels of lights atop the Empire State Building and up to nine colors can illuminate at a time. This rainbow-colored lighting scheme celebrates Pride Week. Track the Empire State Building’s lighting schedule over at the building’s official site.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Red, white and blue lights illuminate the top of the Empire State Building to mark the Fourth of July.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
All three tiers of lights turn green for St. Patrick’s Day.
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The Empire State Building has been referenced in pop culture far too many times to mention here. But we’d be remiss not to include the ending of 1933’s King Kong, a film that nabbed the seventh spot on our 100 best NYC movies feature. In it, writer Alison Willmore notes, “Any list of New York films has to include one of the most famous images of the city ever committed to celluloid: the giant stop-motion ape beating his chest atop the Empire State Building and swiping at the biplanes that have come to take him down.”
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In 1964, Andy Warhol released the eight-hour film Empire, which consists solely of an uninterrupted shot of the Empire State Building.
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The cover of Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, depicts an exaggerated, towering image of the Empire State Building.
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Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis
In our Secrets of classic New York issue, writer Rebecca Dalzell notes that “an unmarked door on the 102nd-floor observation deck conceals one of the most impractical secrets of [the Empire State Building]. Although visitors can't access it, a set of steps leads to a narrow terrace that was once intended to be a docking station. Airships were supposed to moor at the tip of the mast, and passengers would be able to alight there. (But don't be fooled—though this image illustrates what such an event might have looked like, it's a fake.)”
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
A full renovation of the Empire State Building’s lobby, which re-created its original Art Deco design, was completed in 2009.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Here is a close-up of the lobby’s anemometer, which took the place of the clock above the Empire State Building’s information desk during the restoration.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Check out the lobby’s original 1931 ceiling mural.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
The Empire State Building’s elevator bank is to the left. It takes less than a minute for express elevators to shoot up from the lobby to the 86th-floor observatory.
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Photograph: Courtesy Empire State Building Company
Last summer, the permanent exhibit “Dare to Dream,” which details the building’s design and construction, opened on the Empire State Building’s 80th floor. Free with admission to the 86th-floor observatory.
Empire State Building venue and ticketing information
Empire State Building
- Price band: 2/4
High-speed elevators shoot visitors up 1,050 feet to the Art Deco masterpiece’s 86th-floor observatory, where they can either peer out at the city from the comfort of a glass-enclosed pavilion or brave the elements on the open-air decks lining all four sides of the ESB.
- 350 Fifth Ave between 33rd and 34th Sts
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