The Empire State Building

It was built on the site of the Waldorf – Astoria Hotel and took 410 days at the rate of 41/2 floors a week to complete. The building was opened on 1 May 1931 by remote control, when President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington DC. The workforce – 3400 at its peak – took seven million men – hours to complete the building. The cost was $40,948,900 including the land. It weighs 331,122 tonne, including a 54,431 – tonne steel frame, 10 million bricks and 662 tonne of aluminium and stainless steel. The Empire State is served by 73 lifts and contains 3,194,547 light bulbs, 80 km of radiator pipes and 113 km of water pipes. The lighting conductor was struck 68 times in the buildings first ten years. On St Valentine’s Day, couples can marry on the 80th floor. More than 2.5 million tourists a year go up to the observatories on the 86th and 102nd floors.