Talk:Empire State Building

Competing Claims in Intro

The competing claims in the intro that the empire state building is the 6th-tallest freestanding structure in the western hemisphere, but also the 7th-tallest building in new york city is logically inconsistent. The other buildings in New York City alone are themselves also freestanding structures in the western hemisphere, right? 68.197.183.151 (talk) 02:12, 28 January 2024 (UTC)

It depends on whether architectural or pinnacle height is used. For skyscrapers usually architectural height is used since antennas can be and sometimes are swapped out, so pinnacle height is not fixed. For example at one time the pinnacle of the ESB was 1,472 ft, however following in antenna swap it is now 1,454 ft. But when dealing with the larger category of "all freestanding structures" it is common to use pinnacle height instead despite its impermanence since sometimes the entire structure in question is not intended to be permanent. I think a footnote here would be helpful to avoid confusion though. 71.62.176.24 (talk) 20:05, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Actually it looks like User:Furius has removed it already and trying to explain what the different criteria are for different categories and why in order to provide appropriate context and avoid confusion might just be too much intricate detail for the lead section come to think of it. 71.62.176.24 (talk) 20:10, 1 February 2024 (UTC)

Design time

I've already changed the statement that "the drawings were done in two weeks" to something more realistic. Nobody, least of all in 1928, designs and engineers a house in two weeks, much less a 103-story building. I think an initial concept came out in two weeks, and from what I see from an unciteable-but-probably-correct blog, the seventeenth variation was taken for development in October 1928. Shreve, Lab & Harmon were contracted on September 9. There is no doubt that it was fast-tracked, but we need to stay away from confident assertions that design was completed on two weeks - that would result in unbuildable drawings, or just plain disaster. Construction didn't start until March 1930, and the site wasn't even fully assembled until November 1929. Design took about a year. I'm looking for definite sources that don't repeat what WP says. Acroterion (talk) 04:11, 3 March 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 27 May 2024

Navigating from the introduction to the 'Zeppelin' page, I noticed that the section under 'spire' in the 'Architecture' article mentions rather ambiguously mentions "docking", and only later in the paragraph refers to "airships"

Thus, for clarity, in the first paragraph of the Architecture > Spire > Above the 102nd floor section, I would suggest inserting this sentence copied directly from the introduction to the article on Zeppelins after the first sentence; "... above the 86th floor."

"The spire of the Empire State Building was originally designed to serve as a mooring mast for zeppelins and other airships, although it was found that high winds made that impossible and the plan was abandoned.[5]", as well as its corresponding footnote. Revloren (talk) 17:46, 27 May 2024 (UTC)

 Done ABG (Talk/Report any mistakes here) 06:19, 30 May 2024 (UTC)

Impire state building

It was planned to be built as a airship docking station in the late 1920s like to read more about it 2600:1009:B00E:9A8B:D80A:DFAB:767C:C681 (talk) 11:51, 30 October 2024 (UTC)