Empire State Building 86th and 102nd Floors

The 103 Story Iconic Empire State Building is more than one of the tallest buildings in New York City. When built it was the tallest and was surpassed by the once mighty Twin Towers and today by 1 World Trade Center. Built in the Art Deco style and named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World it is a New York City landmark. It is an example of the mighty building boom that hit NYC in the early 1900’s for the title of the world’s tallest building.

Costing nearly 41 million dollars to build at the time it has 6,500 windows and 73 elevators and 1,860 steps from street level to the 102nd floor. It has 2.77 million sq ft and encompasses 2 acres at its base. It construction was completed in just 410 days and it passed 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building to become the tallest building not just in NYC but in the world.

Its completion marked the beginning of the great depression and early on much of the building remained empty. During these hard times it got the nickname Empty State Building as a result of that low rent rate. It has had many notable and newsworthy events during its long history. They include plane crashes and over 30 suicide attempts. Only two of those who attempted survived.

There are 103 floors total with 85 for commercial office space. There are two observation decks. The main deck is located on the 86th floor and is an indoor and open air observation deck surrounded by high fencing. The remaining floors are part of the Art Deco Tower with a final indoor observation deck on the 102nd floor at a height of 1250 ft.  Capping the tower is a 203ft pinnacle which brings the building to a total height of 1453ft.

Its reign as the tallest man-made structure in the world lasted 23 years and was surpassed by the Griffin TV Tower in Oklahoma and as the tallest free-standing structure in the world for 36 years before it was passed by the Ostankino Tower in 1967. It’s longest world record was as the tallest skyscraper which it held for 42 years until the North Tower of the World Trade Center passes it in 1972.

During our visit we stopped at both observations decks. The 86th floor includes both indoor and outdoor areas surrounded by a high fence to prevent jumpers.  This floor offers 360-degree views of the city and is an impressive way to really experience the height and grandeur of the building. Being up here reminded me of my visit to the World Trade Center in 1990 with my family and it was a great experience to look towards the new tower having recently been completed. Looking down on the city was surreal,  people and cars look like ant’s on the ground and you can watch the planes fly by at eye level.

After the 86th floor we again boarded the elevator for our next stop on the 102nd floor.  The 102nd floor is a small enclosed room with windows overlooking the city. It couldn’t have been more than 400sqft and had large steel beams chopping it up further. They were clearly the support for the super structure above. It was an interesting experience being so high up above the city and nearly on the same level of the World Trade Center observation deck.

I preferred the open air of the 86th floor over the more confined 102nd. There is only one level above and it was designed and planned as a loading dock for zeppelin’s but it was scrapped as a result of the extreme updrafts that shoot up the buildings sides. It is rarely visited and only usually be VIP’s.

We wrapped up our stay after taking many pictures and again boarded the elevator for our long ride back to the 86th floor where we changed elevators which took us back to the main level. The elevators were surprisingly fast and it wasn’t long before we were back down on street level looking up again at the iconic building.