Empire State Building

Construction on the Empire State Building employed as many as 3,400 well-paid workers on any given day, and they worked so quickly that, during certain periods, the frame grew by more than four stories per week. The team behind the project ordered some 57,480 short tons of steel--the largest single steel order at the time--for the new tallest building in the world.

See more buildings, bridges, and innovations from the 1930s in our 1930s timeline, part of our yearlong celebration of AISC's Centennial!