Abstract
THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING is the archetypal skyscraper, the one to which all others must inevitably be compared. Its silhouette of a broad, 197-by-425-foot platform; low, massed setbacks; free-standing tower; and romantic, winged spire can be recognized in a thousand tchotchkes, from pencil erasers to key-chain thermometers. It is perhaps the ultimate example of the skyscraper as stadtkröne, the crown of the city, which derives from the tradition of the Gothic cathedral. The lobby is dominated by a marble panel with aluminum relief that depicts the Empire State with the sun rising behind its mast.
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© 2005 Princeton Architectural Press
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(2005). Empire State Building. In: Manhattan Skyscrapers. Princeton Archit.Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-56898-652-1_35
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-56898-652-1_35
Publisher Name: Princeton Archit.Press
Print ISBN: 978-1-56898-545-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-56898-652-4
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