Editing Empire State Building (section)

==== Completion and scale ====
[[File:Zeppelin bij Empire State Building in aanbouw - Zeppelin near the Empire State Building under construction (6943970242).jpg|thumb|During construction in October 1930; the [[USS Los Angeles (ZR-3)|USS ''Los Angeles'']], [[ZMC-2]] and a [[J-class blimp]] seen overhead]]
Work on the building's interior and crowning mast commenced after the topping out.<ref name="The New York Times 1930" /> The mooring mast topped out on November 21, two months after the steelwork had been completed.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=213}}<ref>{{cite news |date=November 22, 1930 |title=Empire State Tower Mast Up; Steel Workers Raise Flag |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1930/11/22/102190133.pdf |access-date=October 28, 2017 |issn=0362-4331 }}</ref> Meanwhile, work on the walls and interior was progressing at a quick pace, with exterior walls built up to the 75th floor by the time steelwork had been built to the 95th floor.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=214}} The majority of the facade was already finished by the middle of November.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}} Because of the building's height, it was deemed infeasible to have many elevators or large elevator cabins, so the builders contracted with the [[Otis Elevator Company]] to make 66 cars that could speed at {{convert|1200|ft/min}}, which represented the largest-ever elevator order at the time.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=215}}

In addition to the time constraint builders had, there were also space limitations because construction materials had to be delivered quickly, and trucks needed to drop off these materials without congesting traffic. This was solved by creating a temporary driveway for the trucks between 33rd and 34th Streets, and then storing the materials in the building's first floor and basements. [[Concrete mixer]]s, brick hoppers, and stone hoists inside the building ensured that materials would be able to ascend quickly and without endangering or inconveniencing the public.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=214}} At one point, over 200 trucks made material deliveries at the building site every day.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}} A series of relay and erection [[derrick]]s, placed on platforms erected near the building, lifted the steel from the trucks below and installed the beams at the appropriate locations.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=208}} The Empire State Building was structurally completed on April 11, 1931, twelve days ahead of schedule and 410&nbsp;days after construction commenced.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}} Al Smith shot the final rivet, which was made of solid gold.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=213–214}}

[[File:Icarus, Empire State Building MET DP106525.jpg|thumb|alt=A photograph of a cable worker, taken by Lewis Hine as part of his project to document the Empire State Building's construction|Photograph of a cable worker taken by [[Lewis Hine]]]]

The project involved more than 3,500 workers at its peak,{{sfn|Jackson|2010|p=413}} including 3,439 on a single day, August 14, 1930.{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|pp=130–133}} Many of the workers were Irish and Italian immigrants,{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=204}} with a sizable minority of [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] [[ironworker]]s from the [[Kahnawake]] reserve near [[Montreal]].{{sfn|Willis|Friedman|1998|p=204}}{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|pp=390–391}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Weitzman |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mEIGAwAAQBAJ |title=Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City |publisher=Roaring Brook Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4668-6981-3 |pages=85, 87–88 |access-date=October 23, 2017 }}</ref> According to official accounts, five workers died during the construction,{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|p=398}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=221}} although the ''New York Daily News'' gave reports of 14 deaths{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=86}} and a headline in the socialist magazine ''[[The New Masses]]'' spread unfounded rumors of up to 42 deaths.{{sfn|Flowers|2001|p=72}}{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=221}} The Empire State Building cost $40,948,900 to build (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|40,948,900|1931}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}),{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}} including demolition of the Waldorf–Astoria. This was lower than the $60&nbsp;million budgeted for construction.<ref name="Sinclair, M. 1998">{{cite book |author=Fodor's |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SsovU3y-zUYC |title=Exploring New York City |last2=Sinclair |first2=M. |publisher=Fodor's Travel Publications |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-679-03559-6 |series=Fodor's Exploring Guides |page=101 |access-date=October 25, 2017 }}</ref>

[[Lewis Hine]] captured many photographs of the construction, documenting not only the work itself but also providing insight into the daily life of workers in that era.{{sfn|Langmead|2009|p=85}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Lewis Wickes Hine: The Construction of the Empire State Building, 1930–31 (New York Public Library Photography Collection) |url=http://catalog.nypl.org/iii/encore/record/C%7CRb11970057%7CSLewis+Wickes+Hine%7CP0%2C6%7COrightresult?lang=eng&suite=pearl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090221183839/http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/spe/art/photo/hinex/empire/empire.html |archive-date=February 21, 2009 |access-date=October 11, 2010 |publisher=New York Public Library }}</ref>{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=283}} Hine's images were used extensively by the media to publish daily press releases.{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|pp=283–284}} According to the writer [[Jim Rasenberger]], Hine "climbed out onto the steel with the ironworkers and dangled from a derrick cable hundreds of feet above the city to capture, as no one ever had before (or has since), the dizzy work of building skyscrapers". In Rasenberger's words, Hine turned what might have been an assignment of "corporate flak" into "exhilarating art".{{sfn|Rasenberger|2009|pp=398–399}} These images were later organized into their own collection.<ref name="Young Young 2007 p. 144" /> Onlookers were enraptured by the sheer height at which the steelworkers operated. ''New York'' magazine wrote of the steelworkers: "Like little spiders they toiled, spinning a fabric of steel against the sky".{{sfn|Tauranac|2014|p=208}}