Discover the Top 12 Unbelievable Fun Facts About the Empire State Building!

1. Annual Tower Race

In a huff and puff New York minute: The Empire State Building hosts an annual tower race where competitors scale the dizzying heights of the 86th-floor observatory on foot, navigating an exhausting 1,576 steps. But fear not, elevator enthusiasts – the building boasts 73 speedy Otis lifts to whisk you up to the views without working up a sweat in your stylish leisurewear.
Source => esbnyc.com

2. Tallest LEED-certified Building

If King Kong had a green thumb, he'd surely love the Empire State Building: This iconic skyscraper is carbon-neutral and boasts the LEED Gold certification, making it the tallest LEED-certified building in the United States, with ESRT buying carbon offsets equal to 55 million kilowatt hours of renewable energy per year.
Source => archerhotel.com

Discover how the iconic Brooklyn Bridge made its debut in 1883 as the world's longest suspension bridge, now carrying over 120,000 vehicles and 4,000 pedestrians daily while maintaining its National Historic Landmark status. 🌉

=> Fun Facts about The-Brooklyn-Bridge

3. Swaying Myths Debunked

Hold on to your hats – or, y'know, your 102-story buildings: The Empire State Building doesn’t actually do the hula in high winds, despite popular belief. In reality, it only sways a modest 1.48 inches during a blustery 110 miles per hour storm. Its off-center movement is restricted to a mere one quarter inch, which means its total measurable jiggle is just half an inch. The engineering marvel that it is, this iconic skyscraper refuses to be shaken by resonance or tempted into a samba!
Source => engineering.com

4. Quick Construction Record

When it comes to building skyscrapers, the folks behind the Empire State Building seriously knew how to hustle and tower-ously put up floors like flapjacks on a breakfast griddle: Completed within a jaw-dropping twenty months, the breathtaking Empire State Building was home to 3,500 hardworking construction workers who managed to erect its iconic eighty-six floor steel frame in just six measly months, putting the "steel" in steal-the-show!
Source => skyscraper.org

5. Wedding Club Perks

Whoever said love isn't an elevator clearly hasn't visited the Empire State Building: Couples who tie the knot on its 80th floor become instant members of the Empire State Building Wedding Club, gaining them free admission to the observatory every Valentine's Day for life.
Source => cnn.com

6. Era of Elevator Music

Before playlists were curated for every mood and smartphone alarms set the tone for our day, there was an omnipresent background music innovation that frankly, nobody asked for: elevator music. Fear not, though, the Empire State Building wasn't to blame! In actuality, elevator music was introduced in the early 1930s to counter the boredom of long trips and waits rather than calm passengers' nerves. Its classy vibes even permeated the entire building, signaling financial prosperity. Alas, tastes changed, and by the 60s and 70s, elevator music found itself on the decline – much like the elevators themselves!
Source => atlasobscura.com

7. Airship Docking Dream

Before the days of "Get to the chopper!", the Empire State Building architects thought, "Get to the airship!": Originally designed with a 200-foot mooring mast, the idea was for airships to transport visitors to and from the skyscraper's pinnacle, but it was abandoned due to dangerous logistics like irregular air currents and rotating walkway requirements, leaving the mast as a purely decorative feature on the spire.
Source => onverticality.com

8. Brave Window Cleaners

Balancing act worthy of a tightrope walker: The Empire State Building, completed in 1931, had an initial cleaning crew of eight brave souls who would teeter on two-inch-wide ledges to wash each of its 6,500 windows, with the tower's veteran No. 1 man boasting a remarkable tenure of nineteen years!
Source => newyorker.com

9. Hoover's Illumination

When President Hoover played "let there be light" from the comfort of his Washington, D.C. digs: He inaugurated the Empire State Building in 1931, which stood tall as the world's tallest building for a whopping 40 years until the pesky World Trade Center's North Tower took the crown in 1972, only to regain its throne after the tragic 9/11 attacks – but alas, no longer the world's or the U.S.'s tallest.
Source => architectuul.com

10. Ever-changing Light Shows

The Empire State Building: a skyscraper with more mood lighting options than a teenager's bedroom. This iconic building has been putting on its own light shows since 1932, with the debut being to celebrate Franklin D. Roosevelt's election to the presidency: Over the years, the bright top of the building has welcomed the "Freedom Lights," donned red, white, and blue for the American Bicentennial, and evolved into a color-changing spectacle thanks to automation. Nowadays, the lighting system features a whopping 204 metal halide lamps and 310 fluorescent lamps, flaunting its many colors to honor special events, national holidays, and local interests!
Source => baruch.cuny.edu

11. Energy-Efficient Makeover

Who needs the gym when you can save 105,000 metric tons of weight just by retrofitting an iconic skyscraper? That's right: The Empire State Building underwent a $20 million energy-efficiency makeover in 2009, cutting its energy use by 38% a year by 2013 and saving a cool $4.4 million annually. With eight major upgrades, like window retrofitting, insulation, and cooling plant improvements, this eco-friendly fashionista is strutting its sustainable style and serving as a blueprint for the whole world!
Source => nytimes.com

12. LED-a-palooza Extravaganza

In a colorful display of illuminating swagger, the Empire State Building orchestrated its very own LED-a-palooza in 2012, as if taking a cue from the song, "This girl is on fire:" with a brand new LED tower lighting system that boasts over 16 million color options, and flashy effects like ripples, cross-fades, and strobes, all revealed in a glitzy light show accompanied by the music of Alicia Keys herself.
Source => laughingsquid.com