The Skyscraper Museum is devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future. The Museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence. This site will look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING DOSSIER
Detailed information about the Empire State Building on this site:
VIVA2: The Visual Index to the Virtual Archive 2
The Visual Index to the Virtual Archive 2 is an interactive interface providing access to The Skyscraper Museum's unique collection of more than 1,000 photographs of the construction of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center towers.
Historic postcards of the Empire State Building--and many other New York skyscrapers can be accessed through the Museum's innovative Visual Index to its Virtual Archive, VIVA.
Empire State Building Archival Prints
Exclusive archival prints of the Empire State Building are sold in the Museum's bookstore and can printed on request. You can view these images by visiting VIVA2, the Musuem's interactive interface providing access to The Skyscraper Museum's unique collection of more than 1,000 photographs of the construction of the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center towers. Sample images are provided here.
Building the Empire State (Publication)
A rediscovered 1930s notebook charts the construction of the Empire State Building.
Edited by Carol Willis, with introductory essays by Carol Willis and Donald Friedman, Building the Empire State reproduces the unique rediscovered notebook of the skyscraper's general contractors, Starret Brothers and Eken.
Building the Empire State (Exhibition)
Building the Empire State examined the design and construction of New York's signature skyscraper, drawing together photographs and film of the construction, architectural and engineering drawings, contracts, builders' records, financial reports, and other artifacts. LAUNCH THE EXHIBIT
What is your favorite New York City skyscraper? In 2005, the Museum posed this question to an invited list of 100 knowledgeable New Yorkers and building industry professionals, including architects and engineers, developers, brokers, builders, historians, and critics. Visit the online exhibition archive to see where the Empire State Building ranked!
In 1931, The Empire State Building became the world's largest office building. The Big Building online exhibit examines the history of "jumbo" building and presents volume--as opposed to height--as a means of historical and economical analysis. LAUNCH THE EXHIBIT
The World's Tallest Towers
Illustrating all the structures from 1890 to the present day that have been, successively, the world's tallest building.
