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Sleepless in Seattle has alot to answer for it really does, don't you just think it would be so romantic to be with a drop dead gorgeous man on top of the Empire State Building at sunset? Ok so I ended up the top of the Empire State Building at 9.30am but we can all dream can't we?

The Empire State Building(ESB) was up until 1972 the world's tallest building. It now stands at number 5 in the top 10 worlds tallest building.Not a bad feat for a building that was constructed in the 1930's.Construction began in 1930 on the site of the old Waldorf Astoria hotel on the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street. some 14 months later this 102 storey building was finished. An architectural wonder if you think of the construction methods of the 30's. The building rose at the rate of 4 storeys a week in the marathon race to finish it. Taking some 7 million man hours to complete it.It was official opened by the then President Hoover on May 1st 1931, by the pressing of a button in Washington DC which switched the lights on

The Empire State building consists of 102 storeys, with observation decks on floors 86 and 102.It is some 1,472 tall to the top of the famous antennae.It takes up some 86,000square feet of land, has some 6,500 windows and 1,600 miles of telephone wiring and cost $40,948,900 to build.

The Empire State building was built due mainly to a game of one upmanship! John Raskob -Creator of General Motors wanted to out do his rival Walter Chrysler - another motor manufactor. Both building still stand in different parts of Manhattan and in all honesty the more ornate Chrysler building is more appealing to the eye! Baring in mind that both buildings were constructed at the time of the great depression of the 30's one does wonder of the great folly this was! The Empire State Building was constructive solely for office space, it was never intended to become the tourist attraction that it has done. You should bare in mind that the building is still occupied for business purposes to this day, so any visit to the building will give you limited access ie you'll not be able to roam around it freely.

Fay Wray and an over stuffed teddy named King Kong were in all essence to be the ESB saviors, given that the ESB, was constructed at the height of the great depression of the 30's the building remained semi let due for obvious economical reasons. The 1933 movie King Kong, was to make the ESB a tourist attraction second to none in Manhattan at that time. King Kong might have clambered

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