Brief Summary Purpose Of The Empire State Building

The most astonishing statistic of the Empire State, though, was the extraordinary speed with which it was planned and constructed. By the summer of 1929, the property was in the hands of new owners— the Empire State Building Corporation— who asked Shreve & Lamb to design a more refined building for the site. They wanted an office build­ ing, pure and simple. The first plan for the Empire State Building called for a sixty-fivestory structure. The owners decided that they wanted something taller, even more refined, so Shreve & Lamb started carving away from the base and adding to the height to create a slimmer, more elongated tower. Experts considered eighty stories the highest a building could seriously be considered, and that was the height

“You put it down on your calendar.” Although May 1, 1931, was at their throats, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon remained calm. The special retail zoning plan that had gone into effect the former spring ruled out the loft building of the original plan, so they had to devise, build, and equip an entirely different structure. They worked closely with the board of directors, the real estate agent, and the building manager, the group that would sit as a building committee. Their goal was to design a building that would provide space that was bright enough to justify premium rentals. Once they had determined the basic floor plan, the architects felt that the mass of the building would take care of itself. The speed required for the construction would determine the characteristics of the design, including a simple cladding. They were dealing with an exceptionally large plot. If interior spaces were used for extra elevator shafts, the building could be taken high enough “so that the additional rentals, even though proportionately less, may be applied to increase the return on the total investment, including construction and ground costs,” said Shreve. The developers of the Empire State building were intentional toward creating a first-class building with the mindset of entering the construction and real estate business for the