Editing Empire State Building (section)

==== Steel structure ====
[[File:Old timer structural worker2.jpg|thumb|A worker bolts beams in 1930 during construction; the [[Chrysler Building]] can be seen in the background.]]

A structural steel contract was awarded on January 12, 1930,<ref>{{cite news |date=January 12, 1930 |title=Steel Contract Let; Empire State Building to Require Total of 50,000 Tons. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/01/12/97787759.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> with excavation of the site beginning ten days later on January 22,{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=85}} before the old hotel had been completely demolished.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=203}} Two twelve-hour shifts, consisting of 300 men each, worked continuously to dig the {{convert|55|ft|m|adj=on}} deep foundation.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=85}} Small pier holes were sunk into the ground to house the concrete footings that would support the steelwork.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=205}} Excavation was nearly complete by early March,<ref>{{cite news |date=March 6, 1930 |title=Excavating Finished For Smith Building; Steel Construction on Empire State Structure Here Will Begin on March 15. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/03/06/118367296.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> and construction on the building itself started on March 17,{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=207}}{{sfn|Jackson|2010|p=413}} with the builders placing the first steel columns on the completed footings before the rest of the footings had been finished.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=206}} Around this time, Lamb held a press conference on the building plans. He described the reflective steel panels parallel to the windows, the large-block [[Indiana Limestone]] facade that was slightly more expensive than smaller bricks, and the building's vertical lines.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=247}} Four colossal columns, intended for installation in the center of the building site, were delivered; they would support a combined {{convert|10000000|lb|kg}} when the building was finished.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=248}}

The structural steel was pre-ordered and [[prefabrication|pre-fabricated]] in anticipation of a revision to the city's building code that would have allowed the Empire State Building's structural steel to carry {{convert|18000|psi|MPa}}, up from {{convert|16000|psi|MPa}}, thus reducing the amount of steel needed for the building. Although the 18,000-psi regulation had been safely enacted in other cities, Mayor [[Jimmy Walker]] did not sign the new codes into law until March 26, 1930, just before construction was due to commence.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=207}}<ref>{{cite news |date=March 26, 1930 |title=Standards For Steel Eased In New City Law; Bill Signed by Walker Allows 18,000-Pound Stress to the Square Inch. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/03/26/113333006.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> The first steel framework was installed on April 1, 1930.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 1, 1930 |title=Start Empire State Building Frame. |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/04/01/96083643.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> From there, construction proceeded at a rapid pace; during one stretch of 10 working days, the builders erected fourteen floors.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=204}}{{sfn|Jackson|2010|p=413}} This was made possible through precise coordination of the building's planning, as well as the [[mass production]] of common materials such as windows and [[spandrel]]s.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=204–205}} On one occasion, when a supplier could not provide timely delivery of dark Hauteville marble, Starrett switched to using Rose Famosa marble from a German quarry that was purchased specifically to provide the project with sufficient marble.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=205}}

The scale of the project was massive, with trucks carrying "16,000 partition tiles, 5,000 bags of cement, {{Convert|450|yd3|m3|disp=sqbr}} of sand and 300 bags of lime" arriving at the construction site every day.<ref name="Poore 1930">{{Cite news |last=Poore |first=C.G. |date=July 27, 1930 |title=Greatest Skyscraper Rises On A Clockwork Schedule; The Empire State Building Soars Upward, As a Modern Army Daily, Defeats Time, Far Above the Throngs on Fifth Avenue |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/07/27/102140403.pdf |access-date=October 23, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> There were also cafes and concession stands on five of the incomplete floors so workers did not have to descend to the ground level to eat lunch.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=222}} Temporary water taps were installed so workers did not waste time buying water bottles from the ground level.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=223}} Carts running on a small railway system transported materials from the basement storage{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}} to elevators that brought the carts to the desired floors where they would then be distributed throughout that level using another set of tracks.<ref name="Poore 1930" />{{sfn|Popular Mechanics|December 1930|p=922}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=222}} The {{convert|57480|ST|LT}} of steel ordered for the project was the largest-ever single order of steel at the time, comprising more steel than was ordered for the Chrysler Building and 40 Wall Street combined.{{sfn|Bascomb|2004|p=246}}{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|p=396}} According to historian [[John Tauranac]], building materials were sourced from numerous, and distant, sources with "limestone from Indiana, steel girders from Pittsburgh, cement and mortar from upper New York State, marble from Italy, France, and England, wood from northern and Pacific Coast forests, [and] hardware from New England."{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=204}} The facade, too, used a variety of material—most prominently Indiana limestone but also [[architectural terracotta]], brick,{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=149}} and [[black granite]] from Sweden.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Morales Demarco |first1=Manuela |last2=Oyhantçabal |first2=Pedro |last3=Stein |first3=Karl-Jochen |last4=Siegesmund |first4=Siegfried |title=Black Dimensional Stones: Geology, Technical Properties and Deposit Characterization of the Dolerites from Uruguay |journal=Environmental Earth Sciences |volume=63 |issue=7–8 |year=2011 |issn=1866-6280 |doi=10.1007/s12665-010-0827-5 |doi-access=free |pages=1879–1909 |bibcode=2011EES....63.1879M }}</ref>

By June 20, the skyscraper's supporting [[steel frame|steel structure]] had risen to the 26th floor, and by July 27, half of the steel structure had been completed.<ref name="Poore 1930" /> Starrett Bros. and Eken endeavored to build one floor a day in order to speed up construction, achieving a pace of four and a half stories per week;{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=212}}<ref name="CNN 1" /> prior to this, the fastest pace of construction for a building of similar height had been three and a half stories per week.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=212}} While construction progressed, the final designs for the floors were being designed from the ground up (as opposed to the general design, which had been from the roof down). Some of the levels were still undergoing final approval, with several orders placed within an hour of a plan being finalized.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=212}} On September 10, as steelwork was nearing completion, Smith laid the building's [[cornerstone]] during a ceremony attended by thousands. The stone contained a box with contemporary artifacts including the previous day's ''New York Times'', a U.S. currency set containing all denominations of notes and coins minted in 1930, a history of the site and building, and photographs of the people involved in construction.<ref>{{cite news |date=September 10, 1930 |title=Smith Lays Stone For Tallest Tower; 5,000 Witness Ceremony as Former Governor Wields Trowel at Empire State Building |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/09/10/118190517.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref>{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=213}} The steel structure was topped out at {{convert|1048|ft|m}} on September 19, twelve days ahead of schedule and 23 weeks after the start of construction.{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=164}} Workers raised a flag atop the 86th floor to signify this milestone.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=212}}<ref name="The New York Times 1930">{{cite news |date=September 20, 1930 |title=Workers Raise Flag 1,048 Feet Above Fifth Av. As Steel Frame of Smith Building Is Finished |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/09/20/102164159.pdf |access-date=October 27, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref>