{"nrhp_refnum":"82001192","name":"Empire State Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"350 Fifth Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.74848943150005,"lon":-73.98577081433474,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-11-17","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1986-06-24","areas_of_significance":["Engineering","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 102-story skyscraper at 350 Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, New York City, built between March 1930 and March 1931 to designs by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as New York's best-known architectural landmark and the final, most celebrated product of the 1920s skyscraper boom. It argues the building was the finest work of designer William Lamb and a notable engineering and construction feat. Its slender silhouette and observatory made it the city's most recognized symbol even after losing the title of world's tallest.","narrative":"Rising 1,250 feet on a half-block between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, this Manhattan skyscraper was built in 1930-31 on the former Waldorf-Astoria hotel site. Designed by William Lamb of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon for General Motors executive John J. Raskob, it sits on a five-story base with a tower that steps back to an observatory and a mooring mast, later topped by a television antenna added in 1953. Its limestone walls and continuous vertical window strips with aluminum spandrels reflect a tight budget, fixed schedule and the need for fast construction. The architects described its style as the result of practical demands rather than any fashionable label. The building completed midtown's change from a social elite's residential area to a commercial center. Raskob's advertising helped make it famous, and more than forty million people have visited its observatory. It remains the city's best-known symbol.","period_of_significance":"1930-31","architect_builder":"Shreve, Lamb & Harmon","architectural_style":"Modernistic (Art Deco-era skyscraper; the architect himself rejected the Art Deco label)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in commercial use, in excellent condition and altered; several storefronts and interior elements have been changed, and the original elevator cabs do not survive.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.122965-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82001192.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001192/f37efe9d0f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001192/f37efe9d0f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Domenico Convertini from Zurich, Schweiz","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empire_State_Building_from_Rockefeller_Center_(51197886181)_(cropped).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Domenico Convertini from Zurich, Schweiz</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Empire_State_Building_from_Rockefeller_Center_(51197886181)_(cropped).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319473","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9188"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/empire-state-building-82001192/"}