Empire State Building

Why go

This is a visit to the tower itself as much as to the view. The observatory experience includes exhibits on the second and 80th floors, giving the ascent more substance than an elevator ride. The building’s Fifth Avenue location also puts its architecture within a broader Midtown walk.

What to look for

• The 86th-floor deck opens directly to the air.
• Floor-to-ceiling windows enclose the 102nd-floor viewpoint.

The full story

Completed in 1931, the Empire State Building held the world’s height record for nearly four decades, until the original World Trade Center’s North Tower overtook it in 1970. That long reign helps explain why its profile became a shorthand for New York, even as later towers changed the skyline. William F. Lamb of Shreve, Lamb and Harmon drew on earlier skyscraper designs to develop the building. Its limestone and Art Deco form belong to a period when commercial towers expressed ambition through both height and carefully designed surfaces. The site had previously held the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, a gathering place for the city’s social elite. Thinking of that change from hotel to skyscraper makes this block a compact example of Midtown’s reinvention. The name draws on New York State’s nickname, the Empire State.

Useful to know

• Compare the deck options before selecting the experience.
• Allow for the exhibits as well as the view; the outdoor deck is exposed to weather.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.