The Empire State Building is an iconic office building known as "the Most Famous Skyscraper in the World." Built during the Depression between 1930 and 1931, the Empire State Building became the world's tallest office building until 1967. The design of the building changed 16 times during planning and construction, but 3,000 workers completed the building's construction in record time: one year and 45 days, including Sundays and holidays.
Sep, 13. 1930. Carl Russell waves to his co-workers on the structural work of the 88th floor of the new Empire State Building. |
Sept. 29, 1930. Flirting with danger is just routine work for the steel workers arranging the steel frame for the Empire State Building, which will be the world's tallest structure when completed. |
Sept. 29, 1930. |
How could you sleep like that? Or is he actually awake? Either way I cant sit there that comfortably.
Sept. 29, 1930. |
So this guy seems to be drilling or something. But look at his position. He is outside the perimeter of the building balancing on some kind of make shift structure.....amazed yet?
Sept. 29, 1930. |
Most of these guys could make a living in the circus world.....I'm not making fun of them though. Look at the balance on these beams and stuff. this is a whole new set of construction talent to me.
Oct. 29, 1930. A construction worker hangs from an industrial crane during the construction of the Empire State Building. |
Sept. 29, 1930. Erected on the site of the old Waldorf Astoria, this building will rise 1,284 feet into the air. A zeppelin mooring mast will cap this engineering feat. |
The Labour force required for the construction of this building exceeded 3000. In that number there is an account of 6 deaths and numerous injuries. We can understand why based on the safety measure in use visible from these photos.
Even after the construction, the Empire State Building is home to many suicides and suicide attempts, plane crashes and even shootings.
It should be noted that this is not the only construction site that had fatalities in that era. In fact, there are constructs that exist today that had many more fatalities during their construction. Check the following:
- Brooklyn Bridge has recorded 27 deaths during construction.
- Panama canal- over 20, 000 deaths in the first 20 years of construction.
- Hoover dam- 213 recorded deaths including heat prostration, drowning and electrocution, just to name a few.
- San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge- 24 fatalities during construction
(Photos: Bettmann/Corbis, via Mashable/ Retronaut)