Lewis W. Hine's world-famous documentary photographs taken at the Empire State Building construction site tell the story of how America in the 1930s toiled with nature and technology to make monuments. The 102-story, 1450-foot Empire State Building was an unprecedeted feat, marrying steel and back-breaking labor to produce what for many years was the world's tallest building. Hine pays tribute to the human spirit by dramatically contrasting man and the mammoth scale of the structure in brilliant black-and-white photos that make the skyscraper into a metaphor for human endeavor.
This building, completed in 1931 in the middle of the Great Depression, tells the tale of how people struggled against all odds in the greatest city on earth: 60,000 tons of steel, 475 miles of electrical wire, and 70 miles of water pipes were laid into the building's mass, an effort that reflects the Empire State Corporation's commitment to company image. Thousands of construction workers, electricians, and other technicians risked their lifes daily to ensure that the skyscraper rose to its new legendary height. Hine's genius lay in observing these men about their work, and creating a photo-journalistic record of their daring and perseverance. His photos give give us a surprising glimpse into blue collar America at a time when jobs were scarce and morale, due to spiraling unemployment, was at rock bottom. The faces of the men swinging from cables, dangling from beams, and relaxing on the Empire State's unfinished steel peaks convey anything but despair - instead, their determined expressions and sure smiles suggest that they, like the nation, know how to challenge adversity and overcome it.

The facts of the building strain credulity in their enormity and precision. According to one of the Empire State's architects, a wind blowing at 4,500,000 pounds pressure would be required to knock it over; the building is vertical to within five-eights of an inch; its weight is 365,000 tons, but its great load is distributed so evenly that the weight on any given square inch was no greater than that normally borne by a French heel. There are 10 million bricks in the building, 27 miles of main and counterweight rails used for the tracks of the elevators, about 200,000 cubic feet of Indiana limestone, and 6,400 windows. The completed building contains 37 million cubic feet. The 210 columns at the base support the entire weight of the building.

More basic facts
Excavation: Begun on January 22, 1930
Construction: Commenced March 17, 1930. The framework rose at a rate of four and a half stories per week.
Masonry: Completed on November 13, 1930
Total time: 410 days, opened May 1, 1931
Man hours: 7,000,000
Cost: $40,948,900
Area of site: 79,288 square feet
Foundation: 55 feet below ground
Total height: 1,454 to top of lightning rod
Floors: 102
Elevators: 73 including 6 freight elevators

1) Convert all anglo-saxon units in the text to metric units.

2) How was it possible to complete a building that large in 410 days?

3) What safety precautions were taken to minimize risk for the construction workers?

4) With what kind of picture made Lewis W. Hine a reputation for himself? What did he fight for with his camera?

5) Why didn't Hine shoot color pictures?

6) How are architectural pictures shot that show no distortion?

7) Search the internet for the Great Depression. What did it mean to the U.S. population of the 1930s? Write a composition.

8) Who was the successor of President Herbert Hoover and what was the name of his anti-depression program?

Books:
'The Empire State Building' by Lewis W. Hine, ISBN 3-7913-1996-5
'The Empire State Building - The making of a Landmark' by John Tauranac, ISBN 0-312-14824-0
'The Chrysler Building' by David Stravitz, ISBN 1-56898-354-9