Empire State Building

Empire State Building

The world's most famous skyscraper, the Empire State Building is a limestone and stainless-steel landmark, a worldwide icon of Gotham grandeur, and sophistication. Located on ritzy Fifth Avenue between 33rd and 34th streets (where once the glamorous Waldorf-Astoria rose), the building stands over 1,400 feet, rises 102 stories, boasts 1,860 steps, 73 elevators, 365,000 tons of materials and indisputably breathtaking views of all Manhattan from either of its two observatory floors (the 86th and 102nd). Contracted just before the devastating stock market crash of 1929 -- and built during the depths of the Great Depression in just 410 days -- the building was seen as a visionary testament to the indomitable spirit of a new American urbanism and commercialism, and as a tribute to the limitless possibilities of the exuberant twenties. Nevertheless, Depression New York needed upscale commercial real estate like fish need bicycles--and most of the building went unoccupied until the postwar boom, when it finally shook the nickname "the Empty State building." Thanks to September 11, the Art Deco masterpiece has regained the title of New York's tallest building (though it ranks a lowly fourth in the world). At night, the upper tiers are floodlit with a variety of colors depending on the occasion--green for St. Patrick's Day, red and green during Christmastime, lavender for Gay Pride Weekend, and patriotic red, white, and blue for most days in between.