When the Empire State Building opened on May 1, 1931, New York Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt praised the skyscraper as a testament to “vision and faith,” capturing the optimism behind a project that was undertaken during the Great Depression, when much of the nation was struggling economically.
Standing 1,250 feet at the roof and 1,454 feet at the tip of its antenna, the building debuted as the tallest in the world, a title it held until 1970, when the North Tower of the World Trade Center topped out.
Construction on the Empire State Building began on March 17, 1930, on the original site of the Waldorf Astoria hotel, which had been demolished after its sale in 1929. Former General Motors executive John Jakob Raskob and a team of investors spearheaded the project, seeking to outdo the Chrysler Building and claim the title of the world’s tallest skyscraper.
Completed in just over one year, the building’s rapid construction came at a human cost. The framework went up at an astonishing rate of roughly four and a half stories per week, and five workers died during the project (with some unofficial estimates reaching higher). The total cost reached $40.95 million — about $880 million in present-day value — at a time when the global economy was collapsing. Investors hoped the building would stimulate commercial activity and stand as a beacon of American industrial capability.
In the years since, the Empire State Building has undergone extensive modernization, including major upgrades to its windows, insulation and mechanical systems. These renovations have significantly improved the building’s energy performance, making it far more efficient than most structures of its era.