Ninety years ago this month, one of the world’s most famous buildings opened: the Empire State Building in New York City. The 1,250-foot skyscraper was the planet’s tallest building until 1970.
The Empire State Building was built during the
Much of the construction was very dangerous. To create the building’s skeleton, workers had to stand on beams only inches wide while hundreds of feet in the air. Their daring was captured in photos, like this one of a steel worker waving during structural work on the 88th floor.
The building, now a National Historic Landmark, attracts millions of visitors annually.