Having so much money that you can demolish your huge family house to build a hotel bigger than your cousin's so you can stick it to him... can't say I relate.
@@corygolden6772 The rich don’t spend that money to create jobs, they hoard it while they exploit the working class to gain more. That’s why you have billionaires. Nobody needs that much, especially not when millions of people live in poverty.
Linda, Natalie Merchant has a music video. These are the days. She preforms dancing on the gargoyles on the corners of the building. Obviously Green screen. Neat footage though. I got a good view from the Empire state building when I visited it years ago.
There is something incredibly impressive about the roof-line of these old late 19th and early 20th century buildings. They have an impressive and cozy mix of beautifully designed roofs with long and elegant shapes that almost reminds you of historic castles. So many spots to look at. They are like oil paintings that you can look at for HOURS and still discover something new. *edit: typo*
@IPA SOLÉ yes, it is a perfect combination and merging between of the century old art of architecture and modernity. It showed you could build modern while still preserving the class and dignity of historic architecture. I wish someone today would embrace this style again. Because i am sick to death of these faceless glass-steel-concrete bricks they place everywhere.
And the new super-high towers going up now are ruining the character of Manhattan that these old buildings established. They have no style or mystery. Cold, flat slabs of glass and metal do not feed the soul.
And strong enough to hold a 25-40 foot Ape a number of times throughout it's existence. 1year and 45 day completion is incredible. Awesome building still to this day.
You can complain about this building's "waste", but that pales in comparison to Dubai's skyscraper. ...who's biggest complaint, is the lack of connections to a surrounding sewer system. The people call the armada of trucks that daily empty its septic tanks the "Poo Parade".
The steel workers were incredible guys. You had to have a cast iron pair to work that high up. Imagine being 102 stories up catching red hot rivets and drilling them in while standing on a girder. Very special men.
I had a by chance opportunity to visit the empire state building in 1999. I was driving from Miami Beach to Montreal and stopped just to see the building. It only cost $6 to go to the observation deck. Extremely fascinating. I can't remember the exact amount of elevators but I think it was 73 elevators. Not all elevators went to the top. Also, when they were building the empire building, they were looking for a way to shave off 5 minutes on each window install. That doesn't sound like much , but times that by 4400 windows and that turns into months. When I visited the empire state building, it was September 9th 1999. It was a hazy day and you couldn't see the world trade center clearly. So, I didn't get any pictures of it. I was going to head to WTC and check that out too. But, I didn't as I had to get back on the road. No one could've predicted that almost two years to the day later, they would be gone. I definitely regret not going to WTC that day. Had the weather been that hazy in 2001, I don't think the terrorists would have been successful. Bastards! If you have never visited the empire state building, do so. It's something that you'll never forgot.
The Empire State Building shows that ART DECO is simply timeless. It STILL looks futuristic, impressive and just breathtaking. When Skyscrapers weren't just faceless postmodern Tetris blocks.
Also, to think the Empire State Building was also able to withstand a hit by a plane in the 1940s shows that it was well-engineered. Will you do a video about that event some time as a follow-up?
@@ericdarkgoat4050 Sorry to burst your bubble eric but but a 747 wings can NEVER pierce a steel skyscraper (like shown on the Fake video played over and over by MSM )that was designed to withstand a plane impact YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO
One of the crazy stories I heard of the construction gave special mention to the riveters. Apparently to save time they only set up a kiln to heat the rivets every few floors and would just have the guy heating them use his giant tongs to hurl the red-hot rivets up or down a floor or two to the riveters where a catcher with asbestos gloves and a metal funnel would grab them.
In the 1930s, the fanciful idea of blimp travel enchanted people. Blimps were so wildly futuristic that C.B. Demille included a crazy aerial party aboard a blimp in his 1930 movie MADAM SATAN. YT's got a 3-minute preview clip of the blimp boarding sequence, plus another showing dozens of performers in a wildly Art Deco number, the "Ballet Mechanique." It's pure madness!
AND, for yet-more of that same contemporaneously do see "JUST IMAGINE" right here on that LAST BASTION of free-free-free speech unimpeded totally: good old Y-T. And remember that "Old Fashioned Girl" and, to "NEVER Swat a Fly!" Plus, while you're about it, search for "The Lost Zeppelin" from olde '28, I believe it was.
My thoughts woulda been the wind load of the blimp on the building structure. Also imagine it weather vanning and swinging around as people were boarding.
The wind load at the top of any tall building would never have permitted a zeppelin or blimp to safely dock. It was a stunt, and the closest the Empire State Building ever came to docking a blimp was when newspapers were dropped down to it from a blimp.
I've had the pleasure of visiting the Empire State building several times in my life. My late father took my younger brother and me there in the 1950's. Later I accompanied several friends there in the 1970's. We lived in New Jersey at the time. I worked in midtown at the Mcgraw-Hill building and can remember a huge balloon of King Kong attached to the building. It was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie in 1933. Anybody else remember this ? Great video Mister It's History.
One title The Empire State Building will always have have in my book. Is The Most Classiest Building in the World. It's elegance is frozen in time. A must see for anyone visiting Manhattan.
At 1:29 the narrator mentions Queen Elizabeth the Second, however, the Royal (pictured) is Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was queen-by-marriage to King George VI, and coincidentally, shared the same first same as her daughter. After her husband King George VI died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter who became Queen Elizabeth the Second (queen-by-succession) upon the death of her father in 1952. Queen Elizabeth was crowned the following year in 1953. On 30 March 2002, at 15:15 GMT, Elizabeth Queen Mother died at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, at the age of 101, with her surviving daughter Queen Elizabeth II by her side. She had been suffering from a chest cold since Christmas 2001. At 101 years and 238 days old she was the first member of the British royal family to live past the age of 100. She was the longest-living member of the British royal family at the time of her death. Her surviving sister-in-law, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester exceeded that, dying at the age of 102 on 29 October 2004. She was one of the longest-lived members of any royal family.
Perfect! AND . . . drum-roll . . . cymbal-crash . . . her maiden name was . . . Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon. Gotta know that for tidiness' sake
The spire and "Port" was an after thought once the construction began. It was tried once to deliver newspapers and never again because of unpredictable wind patterns and velocities against the building which made it impossible to dock a blimp to.
It was designed to have a blimp dock, but the wind currents wouldn't allow it and because they didn't know that (how would they?), the tests were done to see if it was possible.
One problem that the Empire State can never overcome is it's location. No subway stop is nearby. The Chrysler building on the other hand is situated perfectly and filled up quickly due to it's location. I personally like the Chrysler building over the Empire State.
Some additional facts: Raskob made his money by getting involved in a start-up company that was called General Motors and also introduced the concept of financing a car. Thus the rivalry with Chrysler. The stock market crashes before they decided to press ahead but Raskob thought it important that this project go forward for jobs and as a symbol of hope (part of the reason for its name). At one point Raskob turned to his architects and put an architect pencil on its end with its point in the air and asked, 'how tall can you build it without it falling over." Things were so efficient that the steel was poured in Pittsburgh and was still warm by the time it arrived at the site. Raskob gave all of his money away to a charity supporting Catholic activities around the world. Oh, and he was a New Yorker. Amazing man.
Great channel! I'm sure you get MANY suggestions for future episodes and, as a life long resident of Chicago, tried to think of a different and unique subject you could cover. The interesting, unique, and unexpected history of the old Ford City shopping center on Chicago's south-side is certainly worthy of examination, given what the property was originally. As a young boy, I remember being lead through , 'secrect' tunnels.
It was for both. A Dirigibles is both a Blimp and a Rigid Airship - the only difference between the two is that Blimps have no internal frame structure and that their shape is maintained by internal gas pressure where as a Rigid Airship has an internal frame structure covered by an external fabric skin and its gas is contained in internal gas bags. The name BLIMP is actually a military designation "B" for balloon "LIMP" for no frame. "DIRIGIBLE" simply means a large aircraft without wings, consisting of a large bag filled with gas that is lighter than air and driven by engines Blimps and Rigid Airships are both Dirigibles
I think for that first docking attempt, the airship did something the designer's hadn't anticipated. The airship released ballast water, drenching pedestrians below for blocks. The ESB has about 30% more material than it needs to stand; it survived a direct hit from a B-25 Mitchell bomber.
Building the frame, floors and exteriors is just the start. Imagine all the plumbing, knob and tube maybe?! Electrical, plaster, etc. amazing achievement.
Another outstanding piece of research. I'm an aviation writer, and I've been fascinated with the notion of landing an airship on the ESB's mast. But landing even relatively small airships like the Goodyear Blimp is not a pretty sight to fixed-wing pilots like me. It's somewhere between roping in a cruise ship by hand and wrestling Paul Bunyon's ox to the ground. It takes a lot of real estate, cooperative winds and a large crew of people hauling on ropes. Attempting this a quarter-mile above Manhattan would have been a nightmarish folly.
Yeah, I was going to bring that up too. One of the Astors (there've been at least 8 named John Jacob) may very well have contributed to the Empire State building project, but the image shown at 10:40 is definitely of that of John Jacob Astor IV who died on the Titanic more than 15 years before the building's construction.
Fun fact the RJ Reynolds building in North Carolina was built first by the same architect as the Empire State building so it is the Empire State building of North Carolina
There's a whole sub-culture of ESB history regarding the huge broadcast tower atop the building. During the 1960s a multi-station FM broadcast antenna was installed on bands around the 102nd floor observation room. This antenna is now a backup; the new master FM antenna is on the broadcast tower.
Theres a show on automotive history and they talked about the GM executives competing in building the sky scrapper with chrysler if I remember I think it was because of ford and dodge brothers leaving them building their first automobile then partnering with with walter chrysler. Dodge at tge time was ahead of ford. GM then had a new competetor and I believe they lost.
Nice video! Got little carried away here: No part of Hancock movie was filmed at Empire State building. The ironworkers were not "thousands of feet" up in the air.
An excellent documentary. I am an architectural historian and love the building. I have a few comments. First, the name. I am a California native and have lived in New York State for the past 28 years. I insist that the building is The Empire State....Building. Most people here call it the Empire....State Building. If, in fact, New York City was the capital of a Galactic Empire, there would be a building for matters of state, The Empire....State Building. The second is the style. I love Art Deco, but the Empire State...Building is of a later, simpler design, Streamline Moderne, with, to be sure, some Art Moderne features.
Thank you for clarifying that. Also, I think a lot of people, as I was when younger, are intimidated by the endless list of design styles and architectural movements, many of which overlap. Streamline Moderne is Art Deco to some, while Art Moderne is to others. I think it should be made clear that Art Deco encompasses many sub-styles from the 1920s through the '30s, including the two you specifically mention.
One of the interesting story's about the Empire State Building is that it was hit by a plane during WW 2. While there were fatalities (the planes occupants) this happened on a Saturday and most of the offices were closed.
I never knew about the Waldorf hotel that came before it. Those cousins were maniacs to rival each other to such a degree that they demolished their own family homes to start a dck measuring competition.
back in the 1920s Many people actually believed the Zeppelin would become a luxurious means of transportation for the rich in the near future. The airplane proved to be a much safer vehicle. An ultra tall skyscraper in the center of Manhattan would be a good place to dock an airship if the engineers ever came up with a solution to the problem of too much wind. The new need for such a tall building occurred when they needed to put an antenna to broadcast radio there. This huge office building was completed at about the same time the great depression began, so it was a financial failure.
A Zeppelin landing at Lakehurst took as many as 200 ground crew members to secure it (depending on whether it made a "high" or "low" approach). Where are you going to put them on a skyscraper? When I lived in Albuquerque, NM, I crewed for several years at the Balloon Fiesta. Each balloon needed at least six ground crew members to collapse and roll it up for transport. (What other hobby lets you drink champagne at six a.m. and drive down city streets at 70 mph like a maniac, "chasing" your respective balloon so you'd meet it when they landed?) We had a blast, and the balloon pilot tried to always give each ground crew member a ride.
@@Gail1Marie I saw a man on TV who was in the crew. He says he was able to jump out of the Burning Zeppelin, land on his feet and then he set a new record for the 100 meter dash!
@@jenniferthomas3875 Somewhere, years ago, I read that the hydrogen didn't cling to the clothes of the victims the way gasoline or other flammable liquids would. That evidently saved a lot of lives because once you got out of the hydrogen (unless your clothes or hair had been set on fire) you were relatively safe. Or I guess the guy could've lucked out and gotten under one of the water ballast dumps and gotten soaked to the skin.
My grandparents took me to a special touring of the room right below the dock that was normally closed. I just remember the difference between the nice decor kf the rest of the building and the chippy green paint and vinyl stick on floors and how tiny it was. Only a few people at a time could fit.
Ryan, Thank you for the history of NYC. its amazing that so much has gone on within 10 miles from my home in NJ. I didn't know about the Singer Building that was an interesting fact. and the Subway Sub Stations, I enjoyed that because I worked in the Power industry. (Never with Coal but Gas and Oil). Thanks Keep finding and posting History facts
17:20 You forgot the only. Ergo, that *only* five people died when erecting a building of this magnitude during this period was an accomplishment in and of itself.
OK, this is all nitpicking, and I fully know that. But based on the name of the video, I feel somehow compelled to pick some nits. 1. The "port" was designed for rigid airships, which are very different from "blimps." It's kind of like comparing a bus to a bicycle. Both are wheeled vehicles, but one is far more complicated and capable...rigid ships were just ahead of their time, as almost all major rigid ship losses could have been prevented with just a modicum of modern aeronautical technology. 2. While the image at 10:55 is of Los Angeles (ZR-3), at 10:57 we have Hindenburg doing a flyby, at 11:08 we have the Goodyear blimp Columbia, and at 12:29, the ship you identify as Los Angeles is actually USS Akron, ZRS-4, simply overflying the city. I want to be clear, this in no way changes or invalidates your narrative; all of that is 100% accurate, to the best of my knowledge (except for the term blimp being somehow synonymous with rigid airship). Keep up the excellent work; I do enjoy your videos immensely.
When I think of most iconic landmarks in the US I always think of 3, The Empire State Bldg, Golden Gate Bridge and Mount Rushmore. Let’s be real though, nothing beats the epic Empire State Bldg, it’s just an incredible behemoth that has stood for over a century…it’s a testament to American ingenuity.
Everytime I see one of these videos of a beautiful buildings being torn down it really ticks me off as a native New Yorker. I worked in the Empire State (handsomely romantic), The Chrysler (awesome interiors) and the World Trade Center (yes the 9/11 towers-ugly and empty) The Waldorf Astoria had a fantastic lobby with a panio restaurant lounge nursing my drinks popping cash into the tip jar (done that many times) a very elegant joint with high end shopping mezzanine and several restaurants purchased by the Chinese and turned the place into millionaire condos. They put the party terrise back on the roof after a hundred years. Very smart. I know all of them very well. The Empire building is a strict text book example of high deco just like Rockefeller Center with heroic sculptures in brass and bronze inlayed low reliefs in stone and sleek streaming deco lines and lots of smooth limestone. It doesn't get old every time you walk in with the polished hot waxed floors even on a rainy day (the only apes🦍 climbing the building are the tourists who are very annoying standing around blocking sidewalks and pathways we've got things to do get out of the way). Most of the building had small business office renters and as far as I could tell everyone had a great window view. And yes you can open the windows if you've got the stomach for the heights. I sure as hell don't. I remember a little sandwich place in the lobby but it gone too.🍎🗽
I have often been curious on how you would disembark a blimp to the observation deck when the gondola that's several yards from the building when attached to the spire. If you have some kind of bridge, where dose it go when not in use, and would you really want to walk all that way to the gondola from that height? It would seen very dangerous if they had high winds.
The High Piece, Make a piece, one that's high. So that if anything knows how to fly, it works its way down, by and by that you can see anywhere. When we can see anywhere, and to those who can see, we then say that it's a high piece. Haven't you ever imagined what it would be like to figure out a way to climb up any building, and if life was all a play, then what should I dress in and wear and even say if I saw things simply that way. Then when would I be taking the role more seriously? If there was anything that a role could say until it was just another role that didn't have a role. Then would I be looking at every building from above? To say that in life we can play? Then if I was to say that something was more, then it was more in this way, then it's a matter of family matters, until the family says it matters, then the family looks to what isn't in its family as a high piece. -Austin Hyde
I'm still wondering how they expected passengers to disembark. Some sort of rotating platform with a telescoping stairway. 🤷♂️ One that would have move in and out as the tail moved up and down.
The building was hit by a WW2 Bomber in 1945. I wonder if you can still see any sign of the damage from the plane. Like discoloration or burn marks or cracks or even repair seams????
Having so much money that you can demolish your huge family house to build a hotel bigger than your cousin's so you can stick it to him... can't say I relate.
No one should have that much money
@@mellowyellow6572 no one should have enough money to create jobs?
@@corygolden6772 The rich don’t spend that money to create jobs, they hoard it while they exploit the working class to gain more. That’s why you have billionaires. Nobody needs that much, especially not when millions of people live in poverty.
@@mellowyellow6572 that was before income tax. Unfortunately JJA IV died in 1912 before it passed.
@@mellowyellow6572 cry about it
I find the Chrysler Building to be one of the most esthetically pleasing in the entire world.Such beautiful art deco styling
Yes it’s one of the most beautifully designed building of its time. No building till this day can top it.
Linda,
Natalie Merchant has a music video. These are the days. She preforms dancing on the gargoyles on the corners of the building. Obviously Green screen.
Neat footage though.
I got a good view from the Empire state building when I visited it years ago.
MOST DEFINITELY MATE, MY FAVORITE AS WELL
Noo
It's my favorite. But I like the ESB, too
The old Waldorf was a pretty damn impressive building in it's day. Still would be now if it were still standing.
@Thomas Cibula tartarian?
You would think they could have found less impressive building(s) than the Waldoft to replace.
@Thomas Cibula sorry, I don’t follow. They took the Waldorf down because it raised what questions? And why were there no photos of its construction?
There is something incredibly impressive about the roof-line of these old late 19th and early 20th century buildings. They have an impressive and cozy mix of beautifully designed roofs with long and elegant shapes that almost reminds you of historic castles. So many spots to look at. They are like oil paintings that you can look at for HOURS and still discover something new. *edit: typo*
@IPA SOLÉ yes, it is a perfect combination and merging between of the century old art of architecture and modernity. It showed you could build modern while still preserving the class and dignity of historic architecture. I wish someone today would embrace this style again. Because i am sick to death of these faceless glass-steel-concrete bricks they place everywhere.
The skyscrapers they build now look like a box the older skyscrapers were shipped in.
And the new super-high towers going up now are ruining the character of Manhattan that these old buildings established. They have no style or mystery. Cold, flat slabs of glass and metal do not feed the soul.
And strong enough to hold a 25-40 foot Ape a number of times throughout it's existence. 1year and 45 day completion is incredible.
Awesome building still to this day.
Lol
You can complain about this building's "waste", but that pales in comparison to Dubai's skyscraper. ...who's biggest complaint, is the lack of connections to a surrounding sewer system.
The people call the armada of trucks that daily empty its septic tanks the "Poo Parade".
Just pipe it out the side of the building. It'll eventually wash down the waste water system
@@Thoroughly_Wet lol
@@Thoroughly_Wet lol
It's really fascinating to see that today's bustling 5th avenue was once a place of mansions with lots of greenery around them.
Handcock was such an underrated movie.
@mipmipmipmipmip dude… 😂
The steel workers were incredible guys. You had to have a cast iron pair to work that high up. Imagine being 102 stories up catching red hot rivets and drilling them in while standing on a girder. Very special men.
True
Without a doubt, a different breed of men.
I'm surprised that there were so few deaths.
Tough times made tough men
And now "men" claim they have ptsd because their manager yelled at them to get off of their phone. Wtf happened??
Had to laugh when you referred to the movie Hancock as "Hand-cock!" Lol.
Scrolled down to see if anyone else noticed!
Saaame lollll
Me too! Lmfao
yup
beat me to it
I had a by chance opportunity to visit the empire state building in 1999. I was driving from Miami Beach to Montreal and stopped just to see the building. It only cost $6 to go to the observation deck. Extremely fascinating. I can't remember the exact amount of elevators but I think it was 73 elevators. Not all elevators went to the top. Also, when they were building the empire building, they were looking for a way to shave off 5 minutes on each window install. That doesn't sound like much , but times that by 4400 windows and that turns into months. When I visited the empire state building, it was September 9th 1999. It was a hazy day and you couldn't see the world trade center clearly. So, I didn't get any pictures of it. I was going to head to WTC and check that out too. But, I didn't as I had to get back on the road. No one could've predicted that almost two years to the day later, they would be gone. I definitely regret not going to WTC that day. Had the weather been that hazy in 2001, I don't think the terrorists would have been successful. Bastards!
If you have never visited the empire state building, do so. It's something that you'll never forgot.
9-11 happened.
I visited NYC on Sept 9th 2001 on a Sunday. It was a early birthday present cuz my bday is on the 13th. I was 12 yes old in sixth grade wen
The Empire State Building shows that ART DECO is simply timeless. It STILL looks futuristic, impressive and just breathtaking. When Skyscrapers weren't just faceless postmodern Tetris blocks.
It looks terrible and super out dated, not classic or modern
McKinley D terrible and super outdated? tf
Also, to think the Empire State Building was also able to withstand a hit by a plane in the 1940s shows that it was well-engineered.
Will you do a video about that event some time as a follow-up?
Of course NOT because it will expose 9ine Eleven as a FRAUD
@@ericdarkgoat4050 Sorry to burst your bubble eric but but a 747 wings can NEVER pierce a steel skyscraper (like shown on the Fake video played over and over by MSM )that was designed to withstand a plane impact YOU HAVE BEEN LIED TO
@@ericdarkgoat4050 Huh ? yeah and building 7 was reported to have fallen 30 minutes before it was actually controled demo'd
@@ericdarkgoat4050 the entire event was a a "sacrifice" and an op to usher in the BS we are dealing with now
a b25 mitchell, lots of impact. empire is tough!
Very good video but I'm abit disappointed you didn't mention the B-25 that smacked into it at the end of the war
Wasn't it a B-25?
It was a B25
@@eldorados_lost_searcher yeah it was my mistake
@@theunlawfulsponge5908
No worries, it's an easy one to make, since 9 and 5 phonetically can get crossed, as I've learned at a loud workplace.
I’ve noticed that he didn’t mentioned the plane that crashed into the building.
One of the crazy stories I heard of the construction gave special mention to the riveters. Apparently to save time they only set up a kiln to heat the rivets every few floors and would just have the guy heating them use his giant tongs to hurl the red-hot rivets up or down a floor or two to the riveters where a catcher with asbestos gloves and a metal funnel would grab them.
That catcher would've made it to the Big Leagues if his hand didn't fall off from a mysterious onset of cancer!
I believe there is footage of them doing this. Pretty sure I've seen film of it somewhere.
Don't forget "Sleepless in Seattle" not to mention the movie that inspired it, "An Affair To Remember."
This is my fav building in the world and you put together a great video. Good job. Hoping to move in soon.
Awesome! Thank you!
The picture you showed of royalty visiting the empire state is actually of Queen Elizabeth Bowles-Lyon (the queen mother) not Queen Elizabeth the 2nd.
In the 1930s, the fanciful idea of blimp travel enchanted people. Blimps were so wildly futuristic that C.B. Demille included a crazy aerial party aboard a blimp in his 1930 movie MADAM SATAN. YT's got a 3-minute preview clip of the blimp boarding sequence, plus another showing dozens of performers in a wildly Art Deco number, the "Ballet Mechanique." It's pure madness!
AND, for yet-more of that same contemporaneously do see "JUST IMAGINE" right here on that LAST BASTION of free-free-free speech unimpeded totally: good old Y-T.
And remember that "Old Fashioned Girl" and, to "NEVER Swat a Fly!"
Plus, while you're about it, search for "The Lost Zeppelin" from olde '28, I believe it was.
My thoughts woulda been the wind load of the blimp on the building structure. Also imagine it weather vanning and swinging around as people were boarding.
The Chrysler building and the Woolworth building are my favorites.
The wind load at the top of any tall building would never have permitted a zeppelin or blimp to safely dock. It was a stunt, and the closest the Empire State Building ever came to docking a blimp was when newspapers were dropped down to it from a blimp.
I thought the same thing.
That was in the video. Did you watch it?
@@653j521 Nope. Already knew the answer. Just responding to the click-bait style thumbnail.
@@jayswartzbaugh8553 Wow, you are insufferable
I've had the pleasure of visiting the Empire State building several times in my life. My late father took my younger brother and me there in the 1950's.
Later I accompanied several friends there in the 1970's. We lived in New Jersey at the time.
I worked in midtown at the Mcgraw-Hill building and can remember a huge balloon of King Kong attached to the building. It was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the release of the movie in 1933.
Anybody else remember this ?
Great video Mister It's History.
One title The Empire State Building will always have have in my book. Is The Most Classiest Building in the World. It's elegance is frozen in time. A must see for anyone visiting Manhattan.
Looking at the pictures of the fearless working men working so high above New York City streets made me feel nervous.
Hollywood should make a movie about Skyboys.
@@dharkling I agree!!!!!
The photo with Queen Elizabeth II is NOT her, But her mother, Who was also name Elizabeth & Was know as Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother
I was going to report that too :)
I always thought of the Chrysler building’s spire as a giant metallic middle finger to the competition. Oh the lolz it inspires.
AIRSHIP port! the mast was meant for airships. blimps are nonrigid vessels.
I am addicted to this channel. I LOVE history!
At 1:29 the narrator mentions Queen Elizabeth the Second, however, the Royal (pictured) is Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was queen-by-marriage to King George VI, and coincidentally, shared the same first same as her daughter.
After her husband King George VI died, she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter who became Queen Elizabeth the Second (queen-by-succession) upon the death of her father in 1952. Queen Elizabeth was crowned the following year in 1953.
On 30 March 2002, at 15:15 GMT, Elizabeth Queen Mother died at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, at the age of 101, with her surviving daughter Queen Elizabeth II by her side. She had been suffering from a chest cold since Christmas 2001.
At 101 years and 238 days old she was the first member of the British royal family to live past the age of 100.
She was the longest-living member of the British royal family at the time of her death. Her surviving sister-in-law, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester exceeded that, dying at the age of 102 on 29 October 2004. She was one of the longest-lived members of any royal family.
Perfect!
AND . . . drum-roll . . . cymbal-crash . . . her maiden name was . . .
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon.
Gotta know that for tidiness' sake
🇬🇧
The spire and "Port" was an after thought once the construction began. It was tried once to deliver newspapers and never again because of unpredictable wind patterns and velocities against the building which made it impossible to dock a blimp to.
It was designed to have a blimp dock, but the wind currents wouldn't allow it and because they didn't know that (how would they?), the tests were done to see if it was possible.
16:46 Building the Empire State building while the Empire State building looms in the background. Great video!
One problem that the Empire State can never overcome is it's location. No subway stop is nearby. The Chrysler building on the other hand is situated perfectly and filled up quickly due to it's location. I personally like the Chrysler building over the Empire
State.
@Ashura Exactly! Chrysler is beautiful and the Empire State is more utilitarian.
It’s like comparing the SS Normandie to the RMS Queen Mary. Both are Art Deco but one is a stunner while the other is an also ran.
the B D F M N Q R and W Subway lines are on the same block as the Empire State Building
Some additional facts:
Raskob made his money by getting involved in a start-up company that was called General Motors and also introduced the concept of financing a car. Thus the rivalry with Chrysler.
The stock market crashes before they decided to press ahead but Raskob thought it important that this project go forward for jobs and as a symbol of hope (part of the reason for its name).
At one point Raskob turned to his architects and put an architect pencil on its end with its point in the air and asked, 'how tall can you build it without it falling over."
Things were so efficient that the steel was poured in Pittsburgh and was still warm by the time it arrived at the site.
Raskob gave all of his money away to a charity supporting Catholic activities around the world.
Oh, and he was a New Yorker. Amazing man.
Great channel! I'm sure you get MANY suggestions for future episodes and, as a life long resident of Chicago, tried to think of a different and unique subject you could cover. The interesting, unique, and unexpected history of the old Ford City shopping center on Chicago's south-side is certainly worthy of examination, given what the property was originally. As a young boy, I remember being lead through , 'secrect' tunnels.
No, the dock was for dirigibles, not blimps
It was for both. A Dirigibles is both a Blimp and a Rigid Airship - the only difference between the two is that Blimps have no internal frame structure and that their shape is maintained by internal gas pressure where as a Rigid Airship has an internal frame structure covered by an external fabric skin and its gas is contained in internal gas bags. The name BLIMP is actually a military designation "B" for balloon "LIMP" for no frame. "DIRIGIBLE" simply means a large aircraft without wings, consisting of a large bag filled with gas that is lighter than air and driven by engines Blimps and Rigid Airships are both Dirigibles
I think for that first docking attempt, the airship did something the designer's hadn't anticipated. The airship released ballast water, drenching pedestrians below for blocks. The ESB has about 30% more material than it needs to stand; it survived a direct hit from a B-25 Mitchell bomber.
Wow, I love the Empire State Building and it indeed built in 1931! A+ for you!
amazing building .. and fyi , that's queen Elizabeth the queen mother not the ii
Building the frame, floors and exteriors is just the start. Imagine all the plumbing, knob and tube maybe?! Electrical, plaster, etc. amazing achievement.
Another outstanding piece of research. I'm an aviation writer, and I've been fascinated with the notion of landing an airship on the ESB's mast. But landing even relatively small airships like the Goodyear Blimp is not a pretty sight to fixed-wing pilots like me. It's somewhere between roping in a cruise ship by hand and wrestling Paul Bunyon's ox to the ground. It takes a lot of real estate, cooperative winds and a large crew of people hauling on ropes. Attempting this a quarter-mile above Manhattan would have been a nightmarish folly.
Wow another awesome history lesson of this building. Would love to get a video of the Chrysler building. It’s my favorite building ever!
But Jacob Astor died in 1912 on the Titanic.
Yeah, I was going to bring that up too. One of the Astors (there've been at least 8 named John Jacob) may very well have contributed to the Empire State building project, but the image shown at 10:40 is definitely of that of John Jacob Astor IV who died on the Titanic more than 15 years before the building's construction.
LOVING the newer videos man, much easier to watch for some reason! Keep it up
Fun fact the RJ Reynolds building in North Carolina was built first by the same architect as the Empire State building so it is the Empire State building of North Carolina
There's a whole sub-culture of ESB history regarding the huge broadcast tower atop the building. During the 1960s a multi-station FM broadcast antenna was installed on bands around the 102nd floor observation room. This antenna is now a backup; the new master FM antenna is on the broadcast tower.
Theres a show on automotive history and they talked about the GM executives competing in building the sky scrapper with chrysler if I remember I think it was because of ford and dodge brothers leaving them building their first automobile then partnering with with walter chrysler. Dodge at tge time was ahead of ford. GM then had a new competetor and I believe they lost.
Nice video!
Got little carried away here:
No part of Hancock movie was filmed at Empire State building.
The ironworkers were not "thousands of feet" up in the air.
Amazing how fast things got built back then. A 3 year project then would be a 12 year today!!
im glad you guys found your footing with videos like these
Dang. This video is super fantastic. I loved it.
An excellent documentary. I am an architectural historian and love the building. I have a few comments. First, the name. I am a California native and have lived in New York State for the past 28 years. I insist that the building is The Empire State....Building. Most people here call it the Empire....State Building. If, in fact, New York City was the capital of a Galactic Empire, there would be a building for matters of state, The Empire....State Building. The second is the style. I love Art Deco, but the Empire State...Building is of a later, simpler design, Streamline Moderne, with, to be sure, some Art Moderne features.
Thank you for clarifying that. Also, I think a lot of people, as I was when younger, are intimidated by the endless list of design styles and architectural movements, many of which overlap. Streamline Moderne is Art Deco to some, while Art Moderne is to others. I think it should be made clear that Art Deco encompasses many sub-styles from the 1920s through the '30s, including the two you specifically mention.
One of the interesting story's about the Empire State Building is that it was hit by a plane during WW 2. While there were fatalities (the planes occupants) this happened on a Saturday and most of the offices were closed.
Amazing photos!
Superb video, thoroughly enjoyed it
I never knew about the Waldorf hotel that came before it. Those cousins were maniacs to rival each other to such a degree that they demolished their own family homes to start a dck measuring competition.
Beautiful Video 👌👌👌🌹🌹🌹
back in the 1920s Many people actually believed the Zeppelin would become a luxurious means of transportation for the rich in the near future. The airplane proved to be a much safer vehicle.
An ultra tall skyscraper in the center of Manhattan would be a good place to dock an airship if the engineers ever came up with a solution to the problem of too much wind.
The new need for such a tall building occurred when they needed to put an antenna to broadcast radio there.
This huge office building was completed at about the same time the great depression began, so it was a financial failure.
Jennifer Thomas It was a luxurious means of transportation that airplanes still can't touch.
A Zeppelin landing at Lakehurst took as many as 200 ground crew members to secure it (depending on whether it made a "high" or "low" approach). Where are you going to put them on a skyscraper?
When I lived in Albuquerque, NM, I crewed for several years at the Balloon Fiesta. Each balloon needed at least six ground crew members to collapse and roll it up for transport. (What other hobby lets you drink champagne at six a.m. and drive down city streets at 70 mph like a maniac, "chasing" your respective balloon so you'd meet it when they landed?) We had a blast, and the balloon pilot tried to always give each ground crew member a ride.
@@Gail1Marie I saw a man on TV who was in the crew. He says he was able to jump out of the Burning Zeppelin, land on his feet and then he set a new record for the 100 meter dash!
@@jenniferthomas3875 Somewhere, years ago, I read that the hydrogen didn't cling to the clothes of the victims the way gasoline or other flammable liquids would. That evidently saved a lot of lives because once you got out of the hydrogen (unless your clothes or hair had been set on fire) you were relatively safe. Or I guess the guy could've lucked out and gotten under one of the water ballast dumps and gotten soaked to the skin.
My grandparents took me to a special touring of the room right below the dock that was normally closed. I just remember the difference between the nice decor kf the rest of the building and the chippy green paint and vinyl stick on floors and how tiny it was. Only a few people at a time could fit.
wow - thks
its also the first building to have 100 floors, no building can take that title away
Ryan, Thank you for the history of NYC. its amazing that so much has gone on within 10 miles from my home in NJ. I didn't know about the Singer Building that was an interesting fact. and the Subway Sub Stations, I enjoyed that because I worked in the Power industry. (Never with Coal but Gas and Oil). Thanks Keep finding and posting History facts
17:20 You forgot the only. Ergo, that *only* five people died when erecting a building of this magnitude during this period was an accomplishment in and of itself.
Yup! A common rule of thumb was 1 death for every million dollars spent.
"Handcock"? "Passerbyers"?
What genius wrote this?
For being so in depth, im surprised u didnt mention that a plane crashed into it in the 40's
UNA OBRA DE ARTE REALMENTE !!!👏👏👏
Love this channel, hate that you throw that filter on everything
OK, this is all nitpicking, and I fully know that. But based on the name of the video, I feel somehow compelled to pick some nits.
1. The "port" was designed for rigid airships, which are very different from "blimps." It's kind of like comparing a bus to a bicycle. Both are wheeled vehicles, but one is far more complicated and capable...rigid ships were just ahead of their time, as almost all major rigid ship losses could have been prevented with just a modicum of modern aeronautical technology.
2. While the image at 10:55 is of Los Angeles (ZR-3), at 10:57 we have Hindenburg doing a flyby, at 11:08 we have the Goodyear blimp Columbia, and at 12:29, the ship you identify as Los Angeles is actually USS Akron, ZRS-4, simply overflying the city.
I want to be clear, this in no way changes or invalidates your narrative; all of that is 100% accurate, to the best of my knowledge (except for the term blimp being somehow synonymous with rigid airship).
Keep up the excellent work; I do enjoy your videos immensely.
Crazy to think about how much of downtown NYC used to just be residential mansions
Think I saw this once in sky captain or something…I wish we still used blimps it would be so cool
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Speaking of office buildings..could you please do a video on Chicago's Merchandise Mart. Your videos are great!!
Amazing footage.
When I think of most iconic landmarks in the US I always think of 3, The Empire State Bldg, Golden Gate Bridge and Mount Rushmore. Let’s be real though, nothing beats the epic Empire State Bldg, it’s just an incredible behemoth that has stood for over a century…it’s a testament to American ingenuity.
It's not 100 years old yet close tho
Everytime I see one of these videos of a beautiful buildings being torn down it really ticks me off as a native New Yorker. I worked in the Empire State (handsomely romantic), The Chrysler (awesome interiors) and the World Trade Center (yes the 9/11 towers-ugly and empty) The Waldorf Astoria had a fantastic lobby with a panio restaurant lounge nursing my drinks popping cash into the tip jar (done that many times) a very elegant joint with high end shopping mezzanine and several restaurants purchased by the Chinese and turned the place into millionaire condos. They put the party terrise back on the roof after a hundred years. Very smart. I know all of them very well. The Empire building is a strict text book example of high deco just like Rockefeller Center with heroic sculptures in brass and bronze inlayed low reliefs in stone and sleek streaming deco lines and lots of smooth limestone. It doesn't get old every time you walk in with the polished hot waxed floors even on a rainy day (the only apes🦍 climbing the building are the tourists who are very annoying standing around blocking sidewalks and pathways we've got things to do get out of the way). Most of the building had small business office renters and as far as I could tell everyone had a great window view. And yes you can open the windows if you've got the stomach for the heights. I sure as hell don't. I remember a little sandwich place in the lobby but it gone too.🍎🗽
Sleepless in Seattle.. best movie with this building in it..
Press F to show respect for the original Waldorf
My god they don't make hotels like that anymore :*(
I have often been curious on how you would disembark a blimp to the observation deck when the gondola that's several yards from the building when attached to the spire. If you have some kind of bridge, where dose it go when not in use, and would you really want to walk all that way to the gondola from that height? It would seen very dangerous if they had high winds.
Honestly those pictures of steel workers up there gives me anxiety.
The High Piece,
Make a piece, one that's high. So that if anything knows how to fly, it works its way down, by and by that you can see anywhere. When we can see anywhere, and to those who can see, we then say that it's a high piece. Haven't you ever imagined what it would be like to figure out a way to climb up any building, and if life was all a play, then what should I dress in and wear and even say if I saw things simply that way. Then when would I be taking the role more seriously? If there was anything that a role could say until it was just another role that didn't have a role. Then would I be looking at every building from above? To say that in life we can play? Then if I was to say that something was more, then it was more in this way, then it's a matter of family matters, until the family says it matters, then the family looks to what isn't in its family as a high piece.
-Austin Hyde
Very well done, you did your homework Ryan! Thanks for posting.
the picture you used for 'queen elisibeth the second ' is infact a picture of her mother
imagine how much money one of those newspapers that was dropped off by blimp to the empire state building would be.
I'm still wondering how they expected passengers to disembark. Some sort of rotating platform with a telescoping stairway. 🤷♂️
One that would have move in and out as the tail moved up and down.
Check the video from the movie “Madame Satan”. You’re guess is pretty accurate.
@@gtlfb okayyyyy I found the boarding scene and um what the h e double hockey sticks was that. Is this when LSD was invented 🥴
The Waldorf hotel good memories 😔
People say that New York City isn't the same without the twin towers.
Imagine a New York City without the Empire State Building
IMO the Chrysler is the better style the lobby is beautiful.
Surprised you didn't mention John Jacob Astor was on the Titanic and died during the sinking. He even gets a mention in the film.
Amazing to think that the refit cost 11 times more than the cost of building it in the first place
you are not counting the inflation the retrofit was expensive no doubt but it did not cost 11 empire state bulidings it cost probably more like 2 or 3
With its rich history, the Empire State Building remains the most iconic. Thanks, in part, to a big ape.
I loved King Kong 😁
Immediately Name a Skyscraper. There is only one that would be announced.
At 1.30 thats Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother... wife of King George... and mother of the current Queen Elisabeth II.
Very insightful 👏
The building was hit by a WW2 Bomber in 1945. I wonder if you can still see any sign of the damage from the plane. Like discoloration or burn marks or cracks or even repair seams????
Clearly my phone has been listening to me while I rewatch Fringe
12:50 early blimp strats
Is the freedom tower bigger?
Yes
Freedom tower is like 300 ft taller ,1776 feet
They didn't know about the wind current they should have asked the men balancing on the beams 100 floors up.
What a pissing contest! 😂 & blimp docking? like seriously?🤣🤣 Buildings are beautiful tho, the Chrysler building looks magnificent 👍👍