the steel for the empire state building came from pittsburgh.
the steel for the empire state building came from pittsburgh.
where did the steel for the empire state building come from?
pittsburgh
Na
Na
while plans for the empire state building were being finalized, an intense competition in new york for the title of "world's tallest building" was underway. 40 wall street (then the bank of manhattan building) and the chrysler building in manhattan both vied for this distinction and were already under construction when work began on the empire state building. the "race into the sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities. the 40 wall street tower was revised, in april 1929, from to making it the world's tallest. the chrysler building added its steel tip to its roof in october 1929, thus bringing it to a height of and greatly exceeding the height of 40 wall street. the chrysler building's developer, walter chrysler, realized that his tower's height would exceed the empire state building's as well, having instructed his architect, william van alen, to change the chrysler's original roof from a stubby romanesque dome to a narrow steel spire. raskob, wishing to have the empire state building be the world's tallest, reviewed the plans and had five floors added as well as a spire; however, the new floors would need to be set back because of projected wind pressure on the extension. on november 18, 1929, smith acquired a lot at 27–31 west 33rd street, adding to the width of the proposed office building's site. two days later, smith announced the updated plans for the skyscraper that included an observation deck on the 86th-floor roof at a height of , higher than the chrysler's 71st-floor observation deck.
empire state building