Ahhh, New York City! The home of 8.1 million people. The land where about 88 languages are spoken on a daily basis. The city where 5,150 high rise buildings stand proud. It is the 3rd largest city in the world and the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the world which consists of 21.2 million people.
New York is home to the World's first tall commercial buildings and has a heritage of skyscraper history like no other city.
New York, located in one of the World's great harbors, was settled by Dutch traders in 1624. It never lost the aggressive, business-like spirit they planted here. After the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it surpassed Boston as America's business capital. By 1870, real estate values in lower Manhattan were forcing buildings into the air, made possible by technical advances such as the elevator and innovative iron framing. The first tall office building to go up was 130' Equitable Buidling. Within five years, the height was doubled by the 260' Tribune Building.
Conservative New York lost the lead in skyscraper innovation to Chicago during the 1880's. But the mid-1890's, it had caught up with Chicago's advances, and the race to the sky was on, By the Depression, skyscrapers were sprouting in large numbers around Grand Central Terminal in Midtown. Today, Midtown ranks as the World's largest downtown area, while the Wall Street district is so big that the 12 million square feet of office space lost on 9/11/01 equals that of Cincinnati.
A tragic chapter was added to New York's history in September, 2001. Despite this dramatic setback, optimists hope to rebuild downtown better than ever. Through it all, New York has remained the Gateway to America and the Capital of the World.
Here is 3 pictures that I put together of the Empire State Building. I couldn't fit the entire building in one picture.
This pic was taken from the observatory on the 86th floor of the Empire State Building facing south towards lower Manhattan. You can see the gap in the buildings where the World Trade Center once stood. To the right of that you can see Ellis Island, the home of the Statue of Liberty.
Here you can see Midtown Manhattan, the home of Times Square and the famous Broadway plays. The flat looking building all the way to the right is the United Nations Building. The most noticable black building is the Trump World Tower and to the left of it is the Crysler Building which was once the World's tallest for a little over a year until this building that I'm standing on surpassed it in 1931. Standing at 319 meters, the Crysler Building was also the first building to surpass the largest man-made structure which was at the time the Effel Tower in Paris, France which stands 294 meters. To the left of the Crysler is the MetLife Building which is better known as the former Pan Am Building.
Of course here you can see the skyline of Midtown Manhattan.
Of course the next couple of pics are of Times Square at night.
Here is me in Times Square.
Here are three pics of where the World Trade Center once used to stand proud in lower Manhattan.
Here you can see lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn Bridge.
