EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

steel-framed 102-story building completed in New York City in 1931. It rises to a height of 1,250 feet (381 m) and was the first skyscraper of such great vertical dimension. It was the highest structure in the world until 1954. A 222-foot (68-metre) television antenna mast, added in 1950, increased its total height to 1,472 feet (449 m); the height was reduced to 1,454 feet (443 m) in 1985 when the old antenna was replaced. The building site is in midtown Manhattan, on Fifth Avenue at 34th Street.