Empire State Building

Empire State Building, New York, skyscraper located on 5th Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets, which, when it was completed in 1931, was the tallest building in the world. Because of its elegant stepped design it is often regarded as the ultimate American skyscraper.

The Empire State Building consists of 102 storeys of office space. There are also public viewing platforms, and a radio and television mast that was added in 1951. Built of prefabricated blocks, it was completed in less than two years, and the construction records that it set in the process have not been challenged since; one 14y-floor section was erected in a week. Since its completion, the building has become an icon of the American city. A model of the building was used in the 1933 version of the film King Kong, in the sequence in which the giant ape clings to its upper storeys while fighting off squadrons of fighter-planes. A race up its 86 flights of stairs is run annually.