A B-25 bomber crashed into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building in 1945.
On a foggy Saturday morning in July 1945, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 Mitchell bomber lost visibility and crashed directly into the north side of the building between the 78th and 80th floors. Despite structural damage and fires that killed 14 people, the building’s steel frame remained intact, and parts of the building reopened for business two days later.
It holds a Guinness World Record for an elevator survival story. During the 1945 plane crash, elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a catastrophic 75-story drop inside an elevator car after the plane’s engine severed the cables. Cables coiled at the bottom of the shaft and air trapped beneath the car cushioned the fall, making it the highest survived elevator fall in history.
The top of the Empire State Building flexes back and forth a few feet (a meter) in heavy winds.
It was built in just 13 months and completed ahead of schedule. Construction moved at a breakneck pace, progressing at an average rate of four and a half stories per week. Between March 1930 and April 1931, roughly 3,400 workers completed the 102-story structure in just 410 days—finishing under budget and well ahead of schedule.
The original spire was designed as a docking station for dirigibles. The top 200 feet of the building were originally constructed to serve as a mooring mast for commercial airships (Zeppelins). The idea was for airships to tie up to the spire, allowing passengers to disembark via an open-air gangplank on the 102nd floor, but high winds and safety hazards forced the idea to be abandoned after only a couple of brief tests.
It was involved in a fierce “Race to the Sky.” During the late 1920s, developers in Manhattan competed aggressively for the title of the world’s tallest building. The Empire State Building’s designers modified their plans mid-construction—specifically adding the mooring mast—to surpass both 40 Wall Street and the Chrysler Building, securing the crown of world’s tallest building for 41 years until 1972.
It generates more revenue from its observatories than from office rents. While hundreds of businesses lease office space across its lower floors, the 86th and 102nd-floor observation decks consistently bring in more money than commercial real estate leases, generating over $100 million annually from millions of global tourists.
It serves as its own zip code. Due to its massive scale, thousands of daily workers, and high volume of mail, the United States Postal Service assigned the Empire State Building its own unique zip code: 10118.
Its famous tower lights require a dedicated team and change color daily. The building introduced light displays in 1932 to announce Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidential victory. Today, a state-of-the-art computer-controlled LED system displays over 16 million colors to recognize holidays, sports teams, global organizations, and cultural events.
It is an iconic lightning rod, struck around 25 times per year. Standing tall over Midtown Manhattan, the building’s top spire acts as a massive lightning rod for the city. It features a heavy grounding system that channels millions of volts safely into the earth, preventing structural damage and keeping visitors inside completely safe during storms.
Athletes race up its 1,576 steps in an annual footrace. Every year since 1978, the building hosts the Empire State Building Run-Up. Runners from around the world sprint up the 86 flights of stairs from the ground lobby to the main observatory, with top competitors finishing the vertical climb in under ten minutes.
