Designed by the architects named Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, it was built at a time when many people were trying to make the world's tallest building, but the Empire State Building won. The old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was destroyed so that the Empire State Building could be built. The Empire State Building was completed in 410 days. It opened on May 1, 1931, when United States President Herbert Hoover pushed a button in Washington, D.C. to turn on the lights. The Empire State Building's design was based on the 21-story Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, built in 1929. In the 1930s, the Empire State Building was called the "Empty State Building" because not many people worked in the building.