Completion of the Empire State Building

In Depression-era New York the 102-storey, 381-metre Empire State Building went up in little over a year — for nearly forty years the tallest building in the world.

In the 1920s New York was in the grip of a skyscraper race, with the Chrysler Building among the rivals. Begun in March 1930, the Empire State Building rose at more than a storey a day and was finished in a year and 45 days, opening on 1 May 1931. At 381 m and 102 storeys it became the tallest building in the world.

The photographer Lewis Hine recorded the workers high on its steel frame. With the Depression, its offices at first stood empty and it was mocked as the “Empty State Building”, but it remained the world’s tallest building until the World Trade Center rose in 1970, and became a symbol of New York.