Entry from May 15, 2005
Empty State Building (Empire State Building’s 1930s nickname)
The Empire State Building opened in 1931, during the Great Depression. It had a problem finding tenants and was soon derided as the "Empty State Building." This nickname is not used today.
"They call it the 'Empty State' building here for the depression has hit the town and no one wants to rent an office" was printed in The Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH) on March 28, 1932.
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http://www.esbnyc.com/index2.cfm?CFID=11851495&CFTOKEN=87032301
On May 1, 1931, the building opened. Al Smith, ex-governor of NY and unsuccessful presidential candidate, his wife and two grandchildren, cut the ribbon; NY Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt and NYC Mayor James J. Walker were on hand as well. Pres. Hoover flicked a switch in Washington, DC, "turning on the building's lights". The Hotel McAlpin Band played "The Star Spangled Banner", telegrams were read, CBS and NBC had hook ups so that the dedication ceremony could be heard on radio. New York City officially dedicated and welcomed the building and it was almost a holiday atmosphere. The New York Times called it "Building in Excelsis" (NYS motto is "Excelsior"). For more information, two books are great sources: "Building the Empire State" by Carol Willis and "The Empire State Building" by John Tauranac.
(...)
The building is 1,453 feet, 8 9/16 inches or 443.2 meters to the top of the lightning rod. Yes, it is the tallest in New York at this time.
The Empire State Building Replaced the Chrysler building as the tallest in the world. The Woolworth building, at 790 ft., became the world's tallest building in 1914. It was overtaken in 1929 by the Bank of Manhattan, and then in 1930 by the Chrysler Building. The reign of the Chrysler Building was brief. Neighboring ground was already being prepared for the Empire State Building.
The Empire State Building took only one year and 45 days to build, or 7 million man hours. This is still a record for a skyscraper of such a height.
John Jacob Raskob (creator of General Motors), Coleman du Pont, (president of E.I. Du Pont de Nemours), Louis G. Kaufman, and Ellis P. Earl formed Empire State, Inc. and name Alfred E. Smith, former Governor of New York and Presidential candidate, to head the corporation that built the Empire State Building in a competition with the founder of the Chrysler Corp. (Walter Chrysler) to build the world's tallest building.
Thank you for visiting us!
The ESB Online Team
The Empire State Building - Official Website
12 February 1932, Birmingham (AL) News, "The Coal Bin" by Henry Vance, pg. 6, col. 6:
We were speaking and writing of Al Smith's empty Empire State Building the other day when a friend remarked: "Yeh, that building is the second emptyest skyscraper in the world, and it's running the Washington Monument a close race for first place!"
28 March 1932, The Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH), "Miss Jane Hull Greatly Enjoys New York Visit," pg. 3, col. 1:
"They call it the 'Empty State' building here for the depression has hit the town and no one wants to rent an office."
17 September 1932, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. A4:
The Evening Standard of London, for example, prints a daily American depression story. All the hoary chestnuts, like "building a monument in the United States to the unknown solvent," that we are now known as God's frozen people, and that the Empire State Building is now the "Empty State Building," are haled forth every day to become tender morsels on many British tongues.
22 July 1934, Washington (WA) Post, pg. B4:
Just why I should have gone up in the Empire State - or as they call it in New York, "the Empty State Building" - I don't know.
18 May 1936, New York (NY) Times, pg. 13:
"Which is greater, the Empire State Building, sometimes called the Empty State Building, or the mind of the architect who conceived it?"
"They call it the 'Empty State' building here for the depression has hit the town and no one wants to rent an office" was printed in The Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH) on March 28, 1932.
.
http://www.esbnyc.com/index2.cfm?CFID=11851495&CFTOKEN=87032301
On May 1, 1931, the building opened. Al Smith, ex-governor of NY and unsuccessful presidential candidate, his wife and two grandchildren, cut the ribbon; NY Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt and NYC Mayor James J. Walker were on hand as well. Pres. Hoover flicked a switch in Washington, DC, "turning on the building's lights". The Hotel McAlpin Band played "The Star Spangled Banner", telegrams were read, CBS and NBC had hook ups so that the dedication ceremony could be heard on radio. New York City officially dedicated and welcomed the building and it was almost a holiday atmosphere. The New York Times called it "Building in Excelsis" (NYS motto is "Excelsior"). For more information, two books are great sources: "Building the Empire State" by Carol Willis and "The Empire State Building" by John Tauranac.
(...)
The building is 1,453 feet, 8 9/16 inches or 443.2 meters to the top of the lightning rod. Yes, it is the tallest in New York at this time.
The Empire State Building Replaced the Chrysler building as the tallest in the world. The Woolworth building, at 790 ft., became the world's tallest building in 1914. It was overtaken in 1929 by the Bank of Manhattan, and then in 1930 by the Chrysler Building. The reign of the Chrysler Building was brief. Neighboring ground was already being prepared for the Empire State Building.
The Empire State Building took only one year and 45 days to build, or 7 million man hours. This is still a record for a skyscraper of such a height.
John Jacob Raskob (creator of General Motors), Coleman du Pont, (president of E.I. Du Pont de Nemours), Louis G. Kaufman, and Ellis P. Earl formed Empire State, Inc. and name Alfred E. Smith, former Governor of New York and Presidential candidate, to head the corporation that built the Empire State Building in a competition with the founder of the Chrysler Corp. (Walter Chrysler) to build the world's tallest building.
Thank you for visiting us!
The ESB Online Team
The Empire State Building - Official Website
12 February 1932, Birmingham (AL) News, "The Coal Bin" by Henry Vance, pg. 6, col. 6:
We were speaking and writing of Al Smith's empty Empire State Building the other day when a friend remarked: "Yeh, that building is the second emptyest skyscraper in the world, and it's running the Washington Monument a close race for first place!"
28 March 1932, The Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH), "Miss Jane Hull Greatly Enjoys New York Visit," pg. 3, col. 1:
"They call it the 'Empty State' building here for the depression has hit the town and no one wants to rent an office."
17 September 1932, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. A4:
The Evening Standard of London, for example, prints a daily American depression story. All the hoary chestnuts, like "building a monument in the United States to the unknown solvent," that we are now known as God's frozen people, and that the Empire State Building is now the "Empty State Building," are haled forth every day to become tender morsels on many British tongues.
22 July 1934, Washington (WA) Post, pg. B4:
Just why I should have gone up in the Empire State - or as they call it in New York, "the Empty State Building" - I don't know.
18 May 1936, New York (NY) Times, pg. 13:
"Which is greater, the Empire State Building, sometimes called the Empty State Building, or the mind of the architect who conceived it?"
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