170-465: All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu is the sixth studio album by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright , first released in Canada through Decca Records on March 23, 2010. The album was produced by Wainwright (with Pierre Marchand on three tracks), and mixed by Marchand, who produced Wainwright's second album, Poses (2001). All Days Are Nights is Wainwright's first release since
340-457: A Leonard Cohen song covered by Buckley (and later by Wainwright). "Nobody's Off the Hook" is written to close friend and fellow musician Teddy Thompson . Wainwright and his music have influenced several artists in the music industry. They include Katy Perry , Olly Alexander of Years & Years , Liv Bruce of Pwr Bttm , and Kimbra . In Nick Hornby 's book Slam , the child born to
510-499: A "backup" since signal transmissions from the building were generally of poorer quality. Following the construction of One World Trade Center in the late 2000s and early 2010s, some TV stations began moving their transmitting facilities there. As of 2021 , the Empire State Building is home to the following stations: The site was previously owned by John Jacob Astor of the prominent Astor family , who had owned
680-419: A "medallion" in the very southeast portion of the outline. A compass is depicted in the bottom right and a plaque to the building's major developers is on the bottom left. A scale model of the building was also placed south of the security desk. The plaque at the western end of the lobby is on the eastern interior wall of a one-story-tall rectangular-shaped corridor that surrounds the banks of escalators, with
850-711: A 12-minute documentary from 1998, featuring Wainwright and his family, and a short tribute to the McGarrigle sisters featuring Rufus and Martha. In February 2005, the Pennsylvania Ballet premiered a ballet by Matthew Neenan that was set to Wainwright's music. The Pennsylvania Ballet has performed the work (titled 11:11 ) several times, including during an eponymous program in June 2006. It has been an audience favorite, although critical reviews have been mixed. Stephen Petronio commissioned Wainwright to write
1020-435: A 17-foot-long, black feathered cape for Wainwright. Wainwright acknowledged that touring would be a challenge, as All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu contains some of his "most difficult" and "technically demanding" work. Regarding his tour and ability to face his grief over his mother's death, Wainwright admitted: "This is such new territory for me and there are moments when I think I'm doing fine and two seconds later I'm on
1190-481: A 25-story office building on the Waldorf–Astoria site. The company's president, Floyd De L. Brown, paid $ 100,000 of the $ 1 million down payment required to start construction on the building, with the promise that the difference would be paid later. Brown borrowed $ 900,000 from a bank but defaulted on the loan. After Brown was unable to secure additional funding, the land was resold to Empire State Inc.,
1360-609: A Juno Award for Best Alternative Album, and was nominated by the Juno Awards for Best Songwriter ("Poses" / " Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk " / "Grey Gardens"). From 2001 to 2004, he toured with Tori Amos , Sting , Ben Folds , and Guster , as well as headlining the 2001 and 2002 tour in support of the album. Wainwright became addicted to crystal meth in the early 2000s and temporarily lost his vision. His addiction reached its peak in 2002, during what he described as "the most surreal week of my life". During that week, he played
1530-611: A November 2005 release to coincide with the beginning of a British tour. This version of Want One contains two extra songs: "Es Muß Sein" and "Velvet Curtain Rag". The Want package in the UK has two bonus tracks: "Chelsea Hotel No. 2" (a Leonard Cohen cover) and "In With the Ladies", which replace "Coeur de parisienne – Reprise d'Arletty" and "Quand vous mourez de nos amours" from 2004's augmented edition. Wainwright's fifth studio album, Release
1700-590: A Town ", was released on April 3, 2007, in the iTunes Music Store . The second single released was " Rules and Regulations ", and the third single was a 500-copy (12" vinyl) release of " Tiergarten ", a one-track EP with the Supermayer remix of Tiergarten , which was released exclusively through iTunes and 7digital on October 29. Two music videos were released for the album: "Going to a Town", directed by Sophie Muller , and "Rules and Regulations", directed by Petro Papahadjopoulos and styled by J.W. Anderson. Release
1870-554: A black granite cladding. The second through fourth stories consist of windows alternating with wide stone piers and narrower stone mullions . The fifth story contains windows alternating with wide and narrow mullions, and is topped by a horizontal stone sill. The facade of the tower stories is split into several vertical bays on each side, with windows projecting slightly from the limestone cladding. The bays are arranged into sets of one, two, or three windows on each floor. The bays are separated by alternating narrow and wide piers,
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#17327944369522040-415: A brief flurry of notes to punctuate the occasional phrase, as if he's mustering up the strength to make it through another minefield." After asserting that "darkness" is a central theme to the album, music critic T'Cha Dunlevy wrote that the lack of lush orchestrations and arrangements Wainwright is known for emphasized his solitude, "exposing him in ways we haven't heard before." A reviewer for BBC claimed
2210-486: A cameo role in the UK comedy television program Absolutely Fabulous , spent several nights partying with George W. Bush 's daughter Barbara , enjoyed a "debauched evening" with his mother and Marianne Faithfull , sang with Anohni of Antony and the Johnsons for Zaldy 's spring 2003 collection, and experienced recurring hallucinations of his father throughout. He decided after that he "was either going to rehab or I
2380-557: A combined average of four million visitors per year in 2010. Since opening, the observatories have been more popular than similar observatories at 30 Rockefeller Plaza , the Chrysler Building, the first One World Trade Center, or the Woolworth Building , despite being more expensive. There are variable charges to enter the observatories; one ticket allows visitors to go as high as the 86th floor, and there
2550-550: A crush he once had on a straight man. Other songs address full-blown love and the consequences of falling out of love ("This Love Affair", "Leaving for Paris", and "Peach Trees"). Wainwright also sings about his family relationships. "Beauty Mark", "Little Sister" and "Martha", and " Dinner at Eight " address, respectively, his experiences with his mother, sisters, and father. Several songs deal with his experiences with addiction ("Go Or Go Ahead", "Early Morning Madness" "Baby" and " I Don't Know What It Is "). The song "Matinee Idol"
2720-412: A dedicated broadcast tower began on July 27, 1950, with TV, and FM, transmissions starting in 1951. The 200-foot (61 m) broadcast tower was completed in 1953. From 1951, six broadcasters agreed to pay a combined $ 600,000 per year for the use of the antenna. In 1965, a separate set of FM antennae was constructed ringing the 103rd floor observation area to act as a master antenna. The placement of
2890-483: A few FM stations were relocated to the nearby Condé Nast Building to reduce the number of broadcast stations using the Empire State Building. Eleven television stations and twenty-two FM stations had signed 15-year leases in the building by May 2003. It was expected that a taller broadcast tower in Bayonne, New Jersey , or Governors Island , would be built in the meantime with the Empire State Building being used as
3060-637: A few broadcasters renewed their leases in the Empire State Building. The September 11 attacks destroyed the World Trade Center and the broadcast centers atop it, leaving most of the city's stations without a transmitter for ten days until the Armstrong Tower in Alpine, New Jersey , was re-activated temporarily. By October 2001, nearly all of the city's commercial broadcast stations (both television and FM radio) were again transmitting from
3230-524: A folk group featuring Rufus, his sister Martha , his mother Kate, and aunt Anna . His song "I'm a-Runnin'", which he performed in the film Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller at the age of 14, earned him a nomination for a 1989 Genie Award for Best Original Song . He was nominated for a 1990 Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist of the Year . Wainwright identified as gay while
3400-428: A group of wealthy investors that included Louis G. Kaufman , Ellis P. Earle , John J. Raskob , Coleman du Pont, and Pierre S. du Pont . The name came from the state nickname for New York. Alfred E. Smith , a former Governor of New York and U.S. presidential candidate whose 1928 campaign had been managed by Raskob, was appointed head of the company. The group also purchased nearby land so they would have
3570-729: A headlining tour in Hoboken , New Jersey. Wainwright lived in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City for six months, during which he wrote most of his second album. On June 5, 2001, Wainwright's second album, Poses , was released to critical acclaim but limited sales. The album ranked No. 117 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Poses won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album and
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#17327944369523740-518: A journalist. There are four characters, and the libretto is in French. The opera was originally commissioned by Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb . However, because of a dispute over Wainwright's decision to write the libretto in French and the Met's inability to schedule an opening in the 2009 season, Wainwright and the Met ended their relationship. Instead of a New York opening, Prima Donna
3910-440: A live version of "Zebulon" as a bonus track. Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded eleven studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set Shakespeare's sonnets to music for a theatre piece by Robert Wilson . Wainwright's self-titled debut album
4080-466: A man at a bar. In an interview years later, he described the event: "I said I wanted to go to the park and see where this big concert was going on. I thought it was going to be a romantic walk in the park, but he raped me and robbed me afterwards and tried to strangle me". Wainwright states that he survived only by pretending to be an epileptic and faking a seizure. He has been reported to have stated that he remained celibate for five or seven years after
4250-419: A mezzanine level. At the west end of the lobby, behind the security desk, is an aluminum relief of the skyscraper as it was originally built (without the antenna). The relief, which was intended to provide a welcoming effect, contains an embossed outline of the building, with rays radiating from the spire and the sun behind it. In the background is a state map of New York with the building's location marked by
4420-472: A rare cancer that affects connective tissue such as bone, muscle, nerves, and cartilage. It was the last performance made by his mother before her death in January 2010. In late 2010 Wainwright became engaged to his partner Jörn Weisbrodt . The couple moved to Toronto , Ontario, in early 2012 after Weisbrodt was named artistic director of Toronto's annual Luminato festival. In 2011, Wainwright announced
4590-739: A score for his dance production BLOOM , which was performed at Joyce Theater in New York in April 2006. For the lyrics, the two selected poems by Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson , and Petronio arranged for the Young People's Choir of New York to sing them. Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 103-story Art Deco skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . The building
4760-748: A sense of remorse in Trump. He also endorsed Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. Wainwright has appeared in the films The Aviator , 2011's Silver Bullets and its extended footage follow-up, Stray Bullets , and Heights in addition to his role in Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller but said in a 2010 interview "I definitely enjoy seeing myself thirty feet high, but it's not something that I'm running toward passionately". He has also recorded tracks specially for films, including Brokeback Mountain , I Am Sam , Moulin Rouge! , Shrek , Meet
4930-665: A show, even when it's just him alone at a piano." Stockyard wrote that some of the Shakespeare sonnets Wainwright included on the album came out "difficult, clunky" and less than beautiful when set to music, but noted that "[p]erhaps it's not such an insult to say that [Wainwright has] failed to enhance Shakespeare." Sandra Sperounes called the album "far from perfect", mostly due to its lack of accessibility in "tone, subject and structure". Though Sperounes praised Wainwright for his ambitions, she criticized him for "dwell[ing] on his misery as most of his songs slowly plod along, with only
5100-453: A similar design to the lobby. The rectangular-shaped corridor actually consists of two long hallways on the northern and southern sides of the rectangle, as well as a shorter hallway on the eastern side and another long hallway on the western side. At both ends of the northern and southern corridors, there is a bank of four low-rise elevators in between the corridors. The western side of the rectangular elevator-bank corridor extends north to
5270-523: A storm. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, the ride was closed. An updated version debuted in mid-2002, featuring actor Kevin Bacon as the pilot, with the new flight also going haywire. This new version served a more informative goal, as opposed to the old version's main purpose of entertainment, and contained details about the 9/11 attacks. The simulator received mixed reviews, with assessments of
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5440-427: A symmetrical massing because of its large lot and relatively short base. Its articulation consists of three horizontal sections—a base, shaft, and capital —similar to the components of a column . The five-story base occupies the entire lot, while the 81-story shaft above it is set back sharply from the base. The setback above the 5th story is 60 feet (18 m) deep on all sides. There are smaller setbacks on
5610-477: A teenager. In 1999, he told Rolling Stone that his father recognized his homosexuality early on. "We'd drive around in the car, he'd play " Heart of Glass " and I'd sort of mouth the words, pretend to be Blondie . Just a sign of many other things to come as well." Wainwright later said in another interview that his parents "could not even handle me being gay. We never talked about it really." Wainwright became interested in opera during his adolescent years, and
5780-469: A uniform shape. According to architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern , the building's form contrasted with the nearly contemporary, similarly designed 500 Fifth Avenue eight blocks north, which had an asymmetrical massing on a smaller lot. The Empire State Building's Art Deco design is typical of pre–World War II architecture in New York City. The facade is clad in Indiana limestone panels made by
5950-606: A warm vocal timbre. He often performs with his sister, Martha Wainwright, on backup vocals. Despite critical acclaim, Wainwright has experienced limited commercial success in the United States, although the release of Release the Stars saw increased media attention there, as did the associated 2007 U.S. tour. Wainwright's work contains several recurring themes: opera, literature, pop culture, politics, and love (often unrequited love ). "Foolish Love" and "Danny Boy" are about
6120-477: A work consisting of 15,000 stars and 5,000 circles, superimposed on a 13-by-5-foot (4.0 by 1.5 m) etched-glass installation, in the lobby. The Empire State Building has 73 elevators in all, including service elevators. Its original 64 elevators, built by the Otis Elevator Company , in a central core and are of varying heights, with the longest of these elevators reaching from the lobby to
6290-726: A year after releasing the stand-alone single "Sword of Damocles" in October 2018, Rufus signed a record deal with music publisher and record label BMG Rights Management for a new album. Soon after, the new song "Trouble in Paradise" was released as the first single from the album. In February 2020, the album, Unfollow the Rules , was announced alongside the release of the Joni Mitchell -inspired single "Damsel in Distress" and
6460-442: A year regardless of the weather. The 102nd floor observatory is completely enclosed and much smaller in size. The 102nd floor observatory was closed to the public from the late 1990s to 2005 due to limited viewing capacity and long lines. The observation decks were redesigned in mid-1979. The 102nd floor was again redesigned in a project that was completed in 2019, allowing the windows to be extended from floor to ceiling and widening
6630-417: Is 1,250 ft (381 m) tall to its 102nd floor, or 1,453 feet 8 + 9 ⁄ 16 inches (443.092 m) including its 203-foot (61.9 m) pinnacle. It was the first building in the world to be more than 100 stories tall, though only the lowest 86 stories are usable. The first through 85th floors contain 2.158 million square feet (200,500 m ) of commercial and office space, while
6800-574: Is a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant , the 17th-century Dutch governor of New Amsterdam , later New York. Wainwright has dual US and Canadian citizenship. He attended high school at the Millbrook School in New York (which would later inspire his song "Millbrook"), and later briefly studied piano at McGill University in Montreal. He began playing the piano at age six, and started touring at age 13 with "The McGarrigle Sisters and Family",
6970-562: Is a melancholic song about the "sense of loss you feel after waking from a beautiful vision". In the "sweet-scented" ballad "What Would I Ever Do with a Rose?", Wainwright poetically meditates on love and nature. "Les feux d'artifice t'appellent" is the closing aria from Wainwright's debut opera, Prima Donna , which premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009. On the album, Wainwright taps on
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7140-423: Is a recording of his show at the New York venue. In 2008, Garland's daughter Lorna Luft expressed strong approval of Wainwright's recordings of her mother's songs. The album was nominated for a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album . Wainwright created the concept of Blackoutsabbath in early 2008. In an attempt to become more environmentally conscious, participants are asked to live " off
7310-410: Is an additional charge to visit the 102nd floor. Other ticket options for visitors include scheduled access to view the sunrise from the observatory, a "premium" guided tour with VIP access, and the "AM/PM" package which allows for two visits in the same day. The 86th floor observatory contains both an enclosed viewing gallery and an open-air outdoor viewing area, allowing for it to remain open 365 days
7480-414: Is his highest score on the site equal only to his 2001 LP Poses . On March 7, 2023, Wainwright announced his eleventh studio album, Folkocracy , would be released in June 2023. He said, "This album is almost like a recorded birthday party and birthday present to myself. I just invited all the singers that I greatly admire and always wanted to sing with." On the same day, Wainwright released "Down in
7650-546: The 1916 Zoning Resolution , which was intended to allow sunlight to reach the streets as well. Normally, a building of the Empire State's dimensions would be permitted to build up to 12 stories on the Fifth Avenue side, and up to 17 stories on the 33rd Street and 34th Street sides, before it would have to utilize setbacks. However, with the largest setback being located above the base, the tower stories could contain
7820-586: The Art Deco lobby located at 350 Fifth Avenue. Visitors to the observatories use an entrance at 20 West 34th Street; prior to August 2018, visitors entered through the Fifth Avenue lobby. Although physically located in South Midtown, a mixed residential and commercial area, the building is so large that it was assigned its own ZIP Code , 10118; as of 2012 , it is one of 43 buildings in New York City that have their own ZIP codes. The areas surrounding
7990-505: The B. Altman and Company Building , which houses the City University of New York 's Graduate Center . The nearest New York City Subway stations are 34th Street–Herald Square , one block west, and 33rd Street at Park Avenue , two blocks east; there is also a PATH station at 33rd Street and Sixth Avenue . The Empire State Building was designed by Shreve, Lamb and Harmon in the Art Deco style. The Empire State Building
8160-607: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered the exclusive deal be terminated. The FCC directive was based on consumer complaints that a common location was necessary for the seven extant New York-area television stations to transmit from so that receiving antennas would not have to be constantly adjusted. Other television broadcasters would later join RCA at the building on the 81st through 83rd floors, often along with sister FM stations. Construction of
8330-589: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1980, and were added to the National Register of Historic Places as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. The Empire State Building is located on the west side of Fifth Avenue , between 33rd Street to the south and 34th Street to the north, in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . Tenants enter the building through
8500-548: The New York Knicks ; red, white, and blue for the New York Rangers . The spire can also be lit to commemorate events including disasters, anniversaries, or deaths, as well as for celebrations such as Pride and Halloween . In 1998, the building was lit in blue after the death of singer Frank Sinatra , who was nicknamed "Ol' Blue Eyes". The structure was lit in red, white, and blue for several months after
8670-599: The Willis Tower 's 33 pounds per square foot (1.6 kPa) and the John Hancock Center 's 26 pounds per square foot (1.2 kPa). A December 1930 feature in Popular Mechanics estimated that a building with the Empire State's dimensions would still stand even if hit with an impact of 50 short tons (45 long tons). Utilities are grouped in a central shaft. On the 6th through 86th stories,
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#17327944369528840-578: The collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 . On January 13, 2012, the building was lit in red, orange, and yellow to honor the 60th anniversary of the NBC program The Today Show . After retired basketball player Kobe Bryant 's January 2020 death , the building was lit in purple and gold, signifying the colors of his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers . The evening after iconic actor James Earl Jones died, September 9, 2024,
9010-410: The $ 550 million renovation of the building. An additional elevator connects the 86th and 102nd floor observatories, which allows visitors access the 102nd floor observatory after having their tickets scanned. It also allows employees to access the mechanical floors located between the 87th and 101st floors. The 80th, 86th, and 102nd floors contain observatories. The latter two observatories saw
9180-405: The 103rd floor, there is a set of stairs and a ladder to reach the spire for maintenance work. The mast's 480 windows were all replaced in 2015. The mast serves as the base of the building's broadcasting antenna. Inflatable objects have sometimes been mounted to the spire for promotional purposes. For example, a King Kong balloon was attached to the spire in 1983 to mark the 50th anniversary of
9350-516: The 2 acres (1 ha) needed for the base, with the combined plot measuring 425 feet (130 m) wide by 200 feet (61 m) long. The Empire State Inc. consortium was announced to the public in August 1929. Concurrently, Smith announced the construction of an 80-story building on the site, to be taller than any other buildings in existence. Empire State Inc. contracted William F. Lamb , of architectural firm Shreve, Lamb and Harmon , to create
9520-421: The 34th Street entrance and south to the 33rd Street entrance. It borders three large storefronts and leads to escalators (originally stairs), which go both to the second floor and to the basement. Going from west to east, there are secondary entrances to 34th and 33rd Streets from the northern and southern corridors, respectively. The side entrances from 33rd and 34th Street lead to two-story-high corridors around
9690-565: The 72nd floor to illuminate the top of the building at night so that the building could be seen from the World Fair later that year. The lights were shut off from November 1973 to July 1974 because of the energy crisis at the time. In 1976, the businessman Douglas Leigh suggested that Wien and Helmsley install 204 metal-halide lights , which were four times as bright as the 1,000 incandescent lights they were to replace. New red, white, and blue metal-halide lights were installed in time for
9860-490: The 80th floor. As originally built, there were four "express" elevators that connected the lobby, 80th floor, and several landings in between; the other 60 "local" elevators connected the landings with the floors above these intermediate landings. Of the 64 total elevators, 58 were for passenger use (comprising the four express elevators and 54 local elevators), and eight were for freight deliveries. The elevators were designed to move at 1,200 feet per minute (366 m/min). At
10030-474: The 85th floor and built a laboratory there. In 1934, RCA was joined by Edwin Howard Armstrong in a cooperative venture to test his FM system from the building's antenna. This setup, which entailed the installation of the world's first FM transmitter , continued only until October of the next year due to disputes between RCA and Armstrong. Specifically, NBC wanted to install more TV equipment in
10200-424: The 86th floor contains an observatory. The remaining 16 stories are part of the spire, which is capped by an observatory on the 102nd floor; the spire does not contain any intermediate levels and is used mostly for mechanical purposes. Atop the 102nd story is the 203 ft (61.9 m) pinnacle, much of which is covered by broadcast antennas, and surmounted with a lightning rod . The Empire State Building has
10370-649: The Bank of Manhattan Building) and the Chrysler Building in Manhattan both vied for this distinction and were already under construction when work began on the Empire State Building. The "Race into the Sky", as popular media called it at the time, was representative of the country's optimism in the 1920s, fueled by the building boom in major cities. The race was defined by at least five other proposals, although only
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#173279443695210540-474: The Chrysler Building, and Raskob was afraid that Chrysler might try to "pull a trick like hiding a rod in the spire and then sticking it up at the last minute." The plans were revised one last time in December 1929, to include a 16-story, 200-foot (61 m) metal "crown" and an additional 222-foot (68 m) mooring mast intended for dirigibles . The roof height was now 1,250 feet (380 m), making it
10710-403: The Empire State Building allows for more space overall, with a 1:200 stone-to-building ratio compared to a 1:50 ratio in similar buildings. The original main lobby is accessed from Fifth Avenue, on the building's east side, and is the only place in the building where the design contains narrative motifs. It contains an entrance with one set of double doors between a pair of revolving doors . At
10880-401: The Empire State Building are home to other major points of interest, including Macy's at Herald Square on Sixth Avenue and 34th Street, and Koreatown on 32nd Street between Madison and Sixth avenues. To the east of the Empire State Building is Murray Hill , a neighborhood with a mix of residential, commercial, and entertainment activity. The block directly to the northeast contains
11050-426: The Empire State Building weighs 365,000 short tons (331,122 t) and has an internal volume of 37 million cubic feet (1,000,000 m ). The interior required 1,172 miles (1,886 km) of elevator cable and 2 million feet (609,600 m) of electrical wires. It has a total floor area of 2,768,591 sq ft (257,211 m ), and each of the floors in the base cover 2 acres (1 ha). This gives
11220-579: The Empire State Building would survive the Wall Street Crash of 1929 . The 40 Wall Street tower was revised, in April 1929, from 840 feet (260 m) to 925 feet (282 m) making it the world's tallest. The Chrysler Building added its 185-foot (56 m) steel tip to its roof in October 1929, thus bringing it to a height of 1,046 feet (319 m) and greatly exceeding the height of 40 Wall Street. The Chrysler Building's developer, Walter Chrysler , realized that his tower's height would exceed
11390-469: The Empire State Building's as well, having instructed his architect, William Van Alen , to change the Chrysler's original roof from a stubby Romanesque dome to a narrow steel spire. Raskob, wishing to have the Empire State Building be the world's tallest, reviewed the plans and had five floors added as well as a spire; however, the new floors would need to be set back because of projected wind pressure on
11560-473: The Empire State Building, on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets , was developed in 1893 as the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel . In 1929, Empire State Inc. acquired the site and devised plans for a skyscraper there. The design for the Empire State Building was changed fifteen times until it was ensured to be the world's tallest building. Construction started on March 17, 1930, and
11730-940: The Game , was released in late April 2012 in the UK and Canada and in early May in the US. On August 23, 2012, Wainwright and Jörn Weisbrodt married in Montauk, New York . Artist Justin Vivian Bond officiated. His second opera, called Hadrian , premiered at the Canadian Opera Company as their opening production of the 2018 mainstage season at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto , directed by Canadian Director Peter Hinton, with libretto written by Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor . Hadrian attended
11900-491: The Indiana Limestone Company and sourced from a quarry in south-central Indiana; the panels give the building its signature blonde color. According to official fact sheets, the facade uses 200,000 cubic feet (5,700 m ) of limestone and granite, ten million bricks, and 730 short tons (650 long tons) of aluminum and stainless steel. The building also contains 6,514 windows. The decorative features on
12070-528: The Knitting Factory in downtown Manhattan. Joined by other artists such as Emmylou Harris , Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson , the cast performed original and traditional Christmas-themed songs. In November 2009 Revelation Films released the concert on DVD. Following his 2007–2008 tour, Wainwright began writing his first opera, Prima Donna , about "a day in the life of an opera singer ", anxiously preparing for her comeback, who falls in love with
12240-679: The Robinsons , Big Daddy , Zoolander , and Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man . His recording of " Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered " plays during the closing credits of the film The History Boys . He is seen in the Denys Arcand film Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) , performing two arias . The All I Want DVD, released in 2005, features a full-length documentary ( A Portrait of Rufus Wainwright ), performances at Central Park Summerstage and Cambridge Corn Exchange , studio sessions, music videos, and two bonus Easter eggs :
12410-412: The Stars (2007), and annual Christmas shows billed as the "McGarrigle Christmas Hour", Wainwright intended for his next studio release to be a simpler piano and voice album. The first part of the title, "All Days Are Nights", comes from the final couplet of William Shakespeare 's " Sonnet 43 " ("All days are nights to see till I see thee..."). When asked about the reference to "Lulu", which appears in
12580-506: The Stars , was released by Geffen on May 15, 2007. The album was produced by Wainwright and featured Richard Thompson , friend Teddy Thompson , sister Martha Wainwright , mother Kate McGarrigle , Neil Tennant , Joan Wasser , Julianna Raye, Larry Mullins (also known as Toby Dammit), and actress Siân Phillips . It reached No.2 on the UK Albums Chart , and debuted at No.23 on the Billboard 200 . The first single, " Going to
12750-530: The Stars was certified gold in the UK. The accompanying world tour saw Wainwright visit North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, ending on February 14, 2008, with a concert at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. On June 10, 2006, NPR 's Weekend Edition Saturday broadcast an interview of Wainwright by Scott Simon . The segment concerned Wainwright's sold-out pair of Carnegie Hall shows on June 14 and 15, 2006 in which he performed
12920-753: The Willow Garden", which features Brandi Carlile . On March 24, 2023, Wainwright released the single "Dear World", a piano ballad about healing the world. On September 5, 2023, Wainwright appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in the BBC Proms , performing songs from his albums Want One and Want Two specially arranged for the BBC Concert Orchestra , with conductor Sarah Hicks . In addition to his tenor singing voice, Wainwright plays piano and guitar, often switching between
13090-488: The album by performing an intimate concert at Rose Bar in the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City. Celebrities in attendance included Eva Amurri , Penn Badgley , Drew Barrymore , Alexis Bledel , Alan Cumming , Scarlett Johansson , Michael Kors , Lucy Liu , Natasha Lyonne , Kyle Martino , Lou Reed , Susan Sarandon , Christian Siriano , Amber Tamblyn , and Zachary Quinto . "Who Are You New York?"
13260-573: The album is successfully intimate and intense, and suggested it would be appropriate for "either a wet afternoon or long candlelit nights of soul searching". The Daily Telegraph published a five-star review stating that the album was Wainwright's "most moving and durable album to date" and concluded that his mother would be very proud of the collection. All songs written by Wainwright, unless otherwise noted. iTunes Store pre-order bonus track (Canada, United States) : United Kingdom digipack bonus track : All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu
13430-408: The album was limited; the debut failed to chart in any country, though he ranked No.24 on Billboard' s Top Heatseekers chart. Wainwright toured with Sean Lennon in 1998 and began his first headline tour later that year. In December 1998, he appeared in a Gap commercial directed by Phil Harder , performing Frank Loesser 's "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?". In March 1999, Wainwright began
13600-409: The album was positive. NME ' s Luke Lewis admitted that the album would not be to everyone's tastes, but asserted that lovers of Wainwright's voice will see this collection as its "purest, most uninterrupted expression yet". Furthermore, he complimented Wainwright's theatrical performance (despite his attempt at a stripped-down record), stating that "there's always a sense in which he's putting on
13770-766: The album. Three of the songs on the album are adaptations of Shakespeare's sonnets—" Sonnet 10 ", " Sonnet 20 ", and " Sonnet 43 ". Wainwright composed music for each of the sonnets, along with several others, when collaborating with avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson and the Berliner Ensemble on a project known as "Sonette". The production premiered in Berlin in April 2009, and contained 24 sonnets, each stylized with cross-dressing actors, "lavish costumes, huge hair-dos and [Wilson's] trademark lighting and puppet-like choreography. "Sonnet 10", considered one of Shakespeare's procreation sonnets (which encourage
13940-453: The available colors from nine to over 16 million. The computer-controlled system allows the building to be illuminated in ways that were unable to be done previously with plastic gels. For instance, CNN used the top of the Empire State Building as a scoreboard during the 2012 United States presidential election , using red and blue lights to represent Republican and Democratic electoral votes respectively. Also, on November 26, 2012,
14110-425: The bedroom at all." In April 2010, Wainwright came out publicly in favour of legalizing same-sex marriage in the United States because he wanted to marry Weisbrodt. Wainwright stated, "I wasn't a huge gay marriage supporter before I met Jörn because I love the whole old-school promiscuous Oscar Wilde freak show of what 'being gay' once was. But since meeting Jörn that all changed." In 2014, Wainwright reiterated he
14280-476: The best albums of the year, and named the singer Best New Artist of the year. Wainwright was nominated for four awards by the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards, including Album of the Year, Pop Recording of the Year and Video of the Year, and won for Best New Artist. Rufus Wainwright won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album and a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album. However, commercial success of
14450-435: The birth of his first child, with childhood friend Lorca Cohen, daughter of Leonard Cohen . In July 2011 a 19-disc box set called House of Rufus containing all his studio and live recordings as well as previously unreleased material was released. Wainwright recorded his seventh studio album with producer Mark Ronson . He described the new songs as more "danceable" than his previous material. The album, titled Out of
14620-415: The building capacity for 20,000 tenants and 15,000 visitors. The riveted steel frame of the building was originally designed to handle all of the building's gravitational stresses and wind loads . The amount of material used in the building's construction resulted in a very stiff structure when compared to other skyscrapers , with a structural stiffness of 42 pounds per square foot (2.0 kPa) versus
14790-598: The building design. Lamb produced the initial building design in just two weeks using the firm's earlier designs for the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina , as the basis. He had also been inspired by Raymond Hood 's design for the Daily News Building , which was being constructed at the same time. Concurrently, Lamb's partner Richmond Shreve created "bug diagrams" of
14960-411: The building had its first synchronized light show, using music from recording artist Alicia Keys . Artists such as Eminem and OneRepublic have been featured in later shows, including the building's annual Holiday Music-to-Lights Show. The building's owners adhere to strict standards in using the lights; for instance, they do not use the lights to play advertisements. According to official fact sheets,
15130-471: The building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931. Despite favorable publicity related to the building's construction, because of the Great Depression and World War II , its owners did not make a profit until the early 1950s. The building's Art Deco architecture , height, and observation decks have made it a popular attraction. Around four million tourists from around
15300-617: The building was lit up to look like Jones's iconic Darth Vader villain from “ Star Wars .” In addition to lightings, the Empire State Building is able to do immersive visual projections on the building's exterior. It partnered with Netflix in May 2022 to celebrate the return of Stranger Things fourth season by projecting the Upside Down onto the Empire State Building. In 2012, the building's four hundred metal halide lamps and floodlights were replaced with 1,200 LED fixtures, increasing
15470-400: The busiest sections in the world". The Empire State Building was to be a typical office building, but Raskob intended to build it "better and in a bigger way", according to architectural writer Donald J. Reynolds. While plans for the Empire State Building were being finalized, an intense competition in New York for the title of " world's tallest building " was underway. 40 Wall Street (then
15640-512: The cause. Special guests performing at the concert included Joan Wasser, Jenni Muldaur, and friend and fellow singer-songwriter Teddy Thompson . The organization's official site contains updates about the program and contains links to various tools, green products and services, studies, and groups that promote energy conservation and environmental protection. In December 2008 Rufus performed alongside his sister, Martha Wainwright , and mother, Kate McGarrigle , as well as many more of his family at
15810-464: The central shaft is surrounded by a main corridor on all four sides. Per the final specifications of the building, the corridor is surrounded in turn by office space 28 feet (8.5 m) deep, maximizing office space at a time before air conditioning became commonplace. Each of the floors has 210 structural columns that pass through it, which provide structural stability but limits the amount of open space on these floors. The relative dearth of stone in
15980-447: The character's introduction, and an inflatable dragon was placed on the spire in 2024 to promote the TV series House of Dragon . Broadcasting began at the Empire State Building on December 22, 1931, when NBC and RCA began transmitting experimental television broadcasts from a small antenna erected atop the mast, with two separate transmitters for the visual and audio data. They leased
16150-544: The city. The New York Times lauded the site's proximity to mass transit , with the Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit 's 34th Street station and the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad 's 33rd Street terminal one block away, as well as Penn Station two blocks away and Grand Central Terminal nine blocks away at its closest. It also praised the 3,000,000 square feet (280,000 m ) of proposed floor space near "one of
16320-480: The country's bicentennial that July. After the bicentennial, Helmsley retained the new lights due to the reduced maintenance cost, about $ 116 a year. Since October 12, 1977, the spire has been lit in colors chosen to match seasonal events and holidays. Organizations are allowed to make requests through the building's website. The building is also lit in the colors of New York-based sports teams on nights when they host games: for example, orange, blue, and white for
16490-494: The date the LP was originally due to be released. One more single, a tongue-in-cheek commentary on fame and status relative to geographic location entitled "You Ain't Big" , was released in early June. On July 10, Rufus Wainwright's 10th studio album, Unfollow the Rules , was released. The album was met with a warm reception upon release and has amassed mostly positive critic reviews, with an aggregate score of 82 on Metacritic , which
16660-512: The death of his mother, folk singer Kate McGarrigle , who died from cancer in January 2010. While Wainwright is known for lush orchestrations and arrangements, this album contains piano and voice work, with twelve original songs. Three songs are settings of William Shakespeare 's sonnets (" Sonnet 10 ", " Sonnet 20 ", and " Sonnet 43 "). Following larger projects such as his tribute concert series to Judy Garland and subsequent album release ( Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall , 2007), Release
16830-464: The elevator core, crossed by stainless steel-and-glass-enclosed bridges at the mezzanine floor. Until the 1960s, an Art Deco mural, inspired by both the sky and the Machine Age , was installed in the lobby ceilings. Subsequent damage to these murals, designed by artist Leif Neandross, resulted in reproductions being installed. Renovations to the lobby in 2009, such as replacing the clock over
17000-746: The entire Judy Garland concert album that was recorded there in 1961. He later repeated his performance at the London Palladium , the Paris Olympia , and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Live CD and DVD recordings of the concerts were released on December 4, 2007. The DVD is entitled Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live from the London Palladium . The CD album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall ,
17170-482: The extension. On November 18, 1929, Smith acquired a lot at 27–31 West 33rd Street, adding 75 feet (23 m) to the width of the proposed office building's site. Two days later, Smith announced the updated plans for the skyscraper. The plans included an observation deck on the 86th-floor roof at a height of 1,050 feet (320 m), higher than the Chrysler's 71st-floor observation deck. The 1,050-foot Empire State Building would only be 4 feet (1.2 m) taller than
17340-415: The facade are largely geometric, in contrast with earlier buildings, whose decorations often were intended to represent a specific narrative. The main entrance, composed of three sets of metal doors, is at the center of the facade's Fifth Avenue elevation , flanked by molded piers that are topped with eagles. Above the main entrance is a transom , a triple-height transom window with geometric patterns, and
17510-417: The floorboards so it's uncharted. I'm just figuring it out as I go along. It's what we all go through... but it's still very tough." The whole song cycle of All Days Are Nights was performed by opera singers (Corinne Winters, Liza Forrester, Andrew Garland, and Joshua Jeremiah) at Lincoln Center in New York City on November 17, 2011, under the title Who Are You New York?: The Songs of Rufus Wainwright . It
17680-462: The genre strongly influences his music. (For instance, the song "Barcelona" features lyrics from the libretto of Giuseppe Verdi 's opera, Macbeth .) During this time, he became interested in Édith Piaf , Al Jolson , and Judy Garland . As a youth he trained at Interlochen Arts Camp , studying classical music. At age 14, Wainwright was sexually assaulted in London's Hyde Park after picking up
17850-421: The golden letters "Empire State" above the fifth-floor windows. There are two entrances each on 33rd and 34th streets, with modernistic, stainless steel canopies projecting from the entrances on 33rd and 34th streets there. Above the secondary entrances are triple windows, less elaborate in design than those on Fifth Avenue. The storefronts on the first floor contain aluminum-framed doors and windows within
18020-456: The grid " as much as possible on a designated date by unplugging appliances, walking or cycling for transportation, turning out lights and decreasing energy usage in any other ways possible. As the sun sets on the evening of Blackoutsabbath, participants write ways they can contribute to the Earth's well-being throughout the rest of the year. Annual benefit concerts take place to raise awareness of
18190-668: The height and length of other structures. A symbol of New York City, the building has been named as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers . It was ranked first on the American Institute of Architects ' List of America's Favorite Architecture in 2007. Additionally, the Empire State Building and its ground-floor interior were designated city landmarks by
18360-550: The hotel lease was purchased by Thomas Coleman du Pont . By the 1920s, the old Waldorf–Astoria was becoming dated and the elegant social life of New York had moved much farther north. Additionally, many stores had opened on Fifth Avenue north of 34th Street. The Astor family decided to build a replacement hotel on Park Avenue and sold the hotel to Bethlehem Engineering Corporation in 1928 for $ 14–16 million. The hotel closed shortly thereafter on May 3, 1929. Bethlehem Engineering Corporation originally intended to build
18530-426: The incident, and eventually became promiscuous. Throughout the summer of 1995, Wainwright played weekly shows at Cafe Sarajevo in Montreal. Eventually, he cut a series of demo tapes produced by Pierre Marchand , who later produced Wainwright's second album Poses . The resulting tapes impressed Wainwright's father Loudon, who passed them on to family friend and musician Van Dyke Parks . Parks then in turn sent
18700-412: The inclusion of which may have been influenced by the design of the contemporary Daily News Building . The windows in each bay are separated by vertical nickel-chrome steel mullions and connected by horizontal aluminum spandrels between each floor. The windows are placed within stainless-steel frames, which saved money by eliminating the need to apply a stone finish around the windows. In addition,
18870-466: The ineptitude and pure evil of the Trump administration" in a 2020 interview with NME . In October 2024, he issued a statement in response to the use of his cover of Leonard Cohen 's " Hallelujah " at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on October 14. He described its use at the rally as "the height of blasphemy" but hoped, without much expectation, that listening to the lyrics of the song might engender
19040-525: The information desk in the Fifth Avenue lobby with an anemometer and installing two chandeliers intended to be part of the building when it originally opened, revived much of its original grandeur. The north corridor contained eight illuminated panels created in 1963 by Roy Sparkia and Renée Nemorov, in time for the 1964 World's Fair , depicting the building as the Eighth Wonder of the World alongside
19210-421: The line "My mother's in hospital, my sister's at the opera". The Edmonton Journal ' s Sandra Sperounes described the song as a reenactment of Wainwright's "plodding" steps, which steadily build into a "promise of triumph or, at the very least, temporary relief from pain". Both Wainwright and his mother claimed the song to be one of their favorites, the former even considering it one of the most "profound" pieces on
19380-410: The major and sudden Wall Street Crash , marking the beginning of the decade-long Great Depression . Despite the economic downturn, Raskob refused to cancel the project because of the progress that had been made up to that point. Neither Raskob, who had ceased speculation in the stock market the previous year, nor Smith, who had no stock investments, suffered financially in the crash. However, most of
19550-547: The mast contains four rectangular tiers topped by a cylindrical shaft with a conical pinnacle. On the 102nd floor (formerly the 101st floor), there is a door with stairs ascending to the 103rd floor (formerly the 102nd). This was built as a disembarkation floor for airships tethered to the building's spire, and has a circular balcony outside. It is now an access point to reach the spire for maintenance. The room now contains electrical equipment, but celebrities and dignitaries may also be given permission to take pictures there. Above
19720-564: The nine stations who were broadcasting from the Empire State Building were leasing their broadcast space until 1984, most of these stations moved to the World Trade Center as soon as it was completed in 1971. The broadcasters obtained a court order stipulating that the Port Authority had to build a mast and transmission equipment in the North Tower , as well as pay the broadcasters' leases in the Empire State Building until 1984. Only
19890-465: The north and south are storefronts, which are flanked by tubes of dark rounded marble and topped by a vertical band of grooves set into the marble. Until the 1960s, there was a Longchamps restaurant next to the lobby, with six oval murals designed by Winold Reiss ; these murals were placed in storage when the Longchamps closed. The western ends of the north and south walls include escalators to
20060-427: The observation deck. In 2016, New York City's official tourism website made note of only three lines: the security check line, the ticket purchase line, and the second elevator line. Following renovations completed in 2019, designed to streamline queuing and reduce wait times, guests enter from a single entrance on 34th Street, where they make their way through 10,000-square-foot (930 m ) exhibits on their way up to
20230-408: The observatories. Guests were offered a variety of ticket packages, including a package that enables them to skip the lines throughout the duration of their stay. The Empire State Building garners significant revenue from ticket sales for its observation decks, making more money from ticket sales than it does from renting office space during some years. In early 1994, a motion simulator attraction
20400-432: The old Waldorf–Astoria began on October 1, 1929. Stripping the building down was an arduous process, as the hotel had been constructed using more rigid material than earlier buildings had been. Furthermore, the old hotel's granite, wood chips, and "'precious' metals such as lead, brass, and zinc" were not in high demand, resulting in issues with disposal. Most of the wood was deposited into a woodpile on nearby 30th Street or
20570-484: The other specifications he was given for the final, approved plan: The program was short enough—a fixed budget, no space more than 28 feet from window to corridor, as many stories of such space as possible, an exterior of limestone, and completion date of [May 1], 1931, which meant a year and six months from the beginning of sketches. The contractors were Starrett Brothers and Eken , which were composed of Paul and William A. Starrett and Andrew J. Eken . The project
20740-406: The physical product is extremely important. I am incredibly proud of this album and the way I want you to experience it ideally is listening to it from front to back in the comfort of your living room, reading the lyrics, and looking at the booklet that I carefully designed." This announcement was accompanied by the announcement of a fourth single, "Alone Time" , which was released on April 24, 2020,
20910-577: The piano's sounding board and runs his hands along its strings to simulate the "crackle and cascade" of fireworks (which light up the Paris skyline in the opera). "Zebulon", which has a "slow sad melody", contains references to an old crush, as well as to Wainwright's mother (folk singer Kate McGarrigle ) and sister. Wainwright wrote the song while his mother was sick and staying at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, as evident by
21080-404: The project requirements. The 1916 Zoning Act forced Lamb to design a structure that incorporated setbacks resulting in the lower floors being larger than the upper floors. Consequently, the building was conceived from the top down, giving it a pencil-like shape. The plans were devised within a budget of $ 50 million and a stipulation that the building be ready for occupancy within 18 months of
21250-596: The recordings to DreamWorks Records executive Lenny Waronker , who signed Wainwright to the label in 1996. The singer moved to New York City in 1996, performing regularly at Club Fez . He relocated to Los Angeles that year and began his first studio album, 1998's Rufus Wainwright . Waronker paired Wainwright with producer Jon Brion , and the two spent most of 1996 and 1997 making the record. Wainwright recorded 56 songs in total, on 62 rolls of tape. The sessions cost $ 700,000. Wainwright's self-titled debut received critical acclaim; Rolling Stone recognized it as one of
21420-431: The ride ranging from "great" to "satisfactory" to "corny". The final stage of the building was the installation of a hollow mast, a 158-foot (48 m) steel shaft fitted with elevators and utilities, above the 86th floor. The spire of the Empire State Building was originally intended to serve as a mooring mast for zeppelins and other airships, although the plan was abandoned after high winds made that impossible. At
21590-408: The room where Armstrong's transmitter was located. After some time, the 85th floor became home to RCA's New York television operations initially as experimental station W2XBS channel 1 then, from 1941, as commercial station WNBT channel 1 (now WNBC channel 4). NBC's FM station, W2XDG, began transmitting from the antenna in 1940. NBC retained exclusive use of the top of the building until 1950 when
21760-544: The same name by Alban Berg , which was adapted from Frank Wedekind 's plays Earth Spirit (or Erdgeist , 1895) and Pandora's Box (or Die Büchse der Pandora , 1904), the latter of which inspired the aforementioned film by G. W. Pabst . Images used for the album insert and other promotional material were taken during a photo shoot with photographer Kevin Westenberg on January 5, 2010, at Park Avenue Armory in New York City. On March 15, 2010, Wainwright previewed
21930-525: The second part of the album's title, Wainwright stated in a November 2009 interview that Lulu is a "dark, brooding, dangerous woman that lives within all of us", similar to the Dark Lady character in Shakespeare's sonnets . Wainwright claimed that his Lulu was Louise Brooks in the 1929 movie Pandora's Box . He also stated in an interview with Jian Ghomeshi that Lulu is a reference to the opera of
22100-565: The site since the mid-1820s. In 1893, John Jacob Astor Sr.'s grandson William Waldorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on the site. Four years later, his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV , opened the 16-story Astoria Hotel on an adjacent site. The two portions of the Waldorf–Astoria hotel had 1,300 bedrooms, making it the largest hotel in the world at the time. After the death of its founding proprietor, George Boldt , in early 1918,
22270-623: The song's lyrics include Grand Central Terminal , Madison Square Garden and the Empire State Building . "Sad with What I Have", described as an "abyss of self-pity", contains a reference to Bluebeard , the title character in a 1697 fairy tale by Charles Perrault . "Martha" consists of conversational lyrics inspired by Wainwright's sister Martha . Wainwright claimed the song is about the "finite nature of time – you can go on and on, and one day, everybody's gone and there's nothing you can do about it." One NME reviewer described
22440-706: The sonnets reined in Wainwright's grandiose tendencies, setting them apart from original music featured on the album. To promote the album, Wainwright began touring in April 2010 with a series of concerts throughout Ireland and the United Kingdom. His North American tour began on June 15 at the Luminato festival in Toronto, one night after the North American debut of his opera, Prima Donna . During
22610-405: The space in the observatory overall. An observatory on the 80th floor, opened in 2019, includes various exhibits as well as a mural of the skyline drawn by British artist Stephen Wiltshire . An interactive multimedia museum, with multiple hands-on exhibitions about the building's history, was added during this project. The design of the 10,000 sq ft (930 m ) Observatory Experience
22780-453: The start of construction. Design drawings and construction were concurrent. Steel drawings were completed in mid-January 1930, when foundations were underway. The original plan of the building was 50 stories, but was later increased to 60 and then 80 stories. Height restrictions were placed on nearby buildings to ensure that the top fifty floors of the planned 80-story, 1,000-foot-tall (300 m) building would have unobstructed views of
22950-609: The stations in the Empire State Building became a major issue with the construction of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers in the late 1960s, and early 1970s. The greater height of the Twin Towers would reflect radio waves broadcast from the Empire State Building, eventually resulting in some broadcasters relocating to the newer towers instead of suing the developer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey . Even though
23120-403: The tallest building in the world by far, even without the antenna. The addition of the dirigible station meant that another floor, the 86th, would have to be built below the crown; however, unlike the Chrysler's spire, the Empire State's mast would serve a practical purpose. A revised plan was announced to the public in late December 1929, just before the start of construction. The final plan
23290-459: The time of the skyscraper's construction, their practical speed was limited to 700 feet per minute (213 m/min) per city law, but this limit was removed shortly after the building opened. Additional elevators connect the 80th floor to the six floors above it, as the six extra floors were built after the original 80 stories were approved. The elevators were mechanically operated until 2011, when they were replaced with automatic elevators during
23460-432: The top of each doorway is a bronze motif depicting one of three "crafts or industries" used in the building's construction—Electricity, Masonry, and Heating. The three-story-high space runs parallel to 33rd and 34th Streets. The lobby contains two tiers of marble: a wainscoting of darker marble, topped by lighter marble. There is a pattern of zigzagging terrazzo tiles on the lobby floor, which leads from east to west. To
23630-484: The top of the Empire State Building. In a report that Congress commissioned about the transition from analog television to digital television , it was stated that the placement of broadcast stations in the Empire State Building was considered "problematic" due to interference from nearby buildings. In comparison, the congressional report stated that the former Twin Towers had very few buildings of comparable height nearby thus signals suffered little interference. In 2003,
23800-433: The top would be a conical roof and the 102nd-floor docking station. Inside, the elevators would ascend 167 feet (51 m) from the 86th floor ticket offices to a 33-foot-wide (10 m) 101st-floor waiting room. From there, stairs would lead to the 102nd floor, where passengers would enter the airships. The airships would have been moored to the spire at the equivalent of the building's 106th floor. As constructed,
23970-446: The tour, Wainwright performed songs from the album as a song cycle , with no applause permitted in between. Wainwright toured alone, both due to the simpler piano and voice sound of the album and because declining ticket prices did not allow him to perform with a large band. However, concerts did include an accompanying film by Scottish video artist Douglas Gordon and some "glam-ish costuming" by fashion designer Zaldy Goco , who created
24140-479: The traditional seven. The building's owners installed a series of paintings by the New York artist Kysa Johnson in the concourse level. Johnson later filed a federal lawsuit, in January 2014, under the Visual Artists Rights Act alleging the negligent destruction of the paintings and damage to her reputation as an artist. As part of the building's 2010 renovation, Denise Amses commissioned
24310-527: The two instruments when performing live. While some songs feature just Wainwright and his piano, his later work is often accompanied by rock instrumentation or a symphony orchestra, displaying complex layering and harmonies with an operatic feel. Wainwright is an opera enthusiast and likes Franz Schubert 's lieder . Wainwright's music has been described as " popera " (pop opera) or " baroque pop ". Many of his compositions are densely packed amalgams of strings, horns, operatic choruses, and ragtime rhythms, with
24480-427: The upbeat track "Give Me What I Want and Give It to Me Now!", just over two minutes in length, as a "seemingly ritzy show-tune, undercut by a vague hint of something sinister looming up ahead." Directed towards critics of his opera, Wainwright considers the song one of the most personal tracks on the album. "True Loves" is an aphoristic reflection on love that concludes "A heart of stone never goes anywhere". "The Dream"
24650-415: The upper stories, allowing sunlight to illuminate the interiors of the top floors while also positioning these floors away from the noisy streets below. The setbacks are located at the 21st, 25th, 30th, 72nd, 81st, and 85th stories. The setbacks correspond to the tops of elevator shafts, allowing interior spaces to be at most 28 feet (8.5 m) deep (see § Interior ). The setbacks were mandated by
24820-514: The use of aluminum spandrels obviated the need for cross- bonding , which would have been required if stone had been used instead. The building was originally equipped with white searchlights at the top. They were first used in November 1932 when they lit up to signal Roosevelt's victory over Hoover in the presidential election of that year . These were later swapped for four "Freedom Lights" in 1956. In February 1964, flood lights were added on
24990-586: The workshop Opera Fusion: New Works , a collaboration of Cincinnati Opera and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music , before its premiere. In 2015, Wainwright launched a new version of his first opera, accompanied by a film directed by Francesco Vezzoli , featuring Cindy Sherman as the Prima Donna. The finale was shot in Paris during spring 2015 and produced by Petite Maison Production, before it premiered in Athens in September. Almost
25160-401: The world annually visit the building's 86th- and 102nd-floor observatories; an additional indoor observatory on the 80th floor opened in 2019. The Empire State Building is an international cultural icon : it has been featured in more than 250 television series and films since the film King Kong was released in 1933. The building's size has been used as a standard of reference to describe
25330-693: The young man to marry and father children), marks the first time the poet indicates his own devotion to the young man. Regarding the sonnets, Wainwright stated: "I had never really immersed myself in them and I came out the end with the traditional view that they could be the greatest pieces of literature ever written." NME music reviewer Luke Lewis suggested that listeners might find "Sonnet 43" pretentious due to its "oblique, wonky melodies" and "Sonnet 10" difficult depending on their tolerance for "piano-led whimsy and Elizabethan circumlocution". However, he complimented "Sonnet 20" for its less abstract melodies. The Times music critic Peter Paphides commented that
25500-610: The young protagonists gets called "Rufus" because his mother listened to Rufus Wainwright while recovering from the ordeal of giving birth. Wainwright, a gay man, married German art administrator Jörn Weisbrodt on August 23, 2012. Wainwright has a daughter, Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen, born February 2, 2011, conceived via sperm donation by Wainwright to photographer and antique dealer Lorca Cohen, daughter of Leonard Cohen . She lives with her mother. Wainwright identifies as "a complete libertarian " and stated in 2008, "I don't think any government should encroach on what goes on in
25670-463: Was topped out in 1970 ; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was New York City's tallest building until it was surpassed in 2012 by One World Trade Center . As of 2024 , the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City , the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States , and the 57th-tallest completed skyscraper in the world . The site of
25840-448: Was a "complete libertarian", and explained that while he did not initially support President Barack Obama , he said he has "become a very big Obama fan", expressing support for his agenda, including women's healthcare and government-provided health coverage. Wainwright has publicly opposed 45th US President Donald Trump , addressing him in the music video for his song " Sword of Damocles " in 2018 and stating "It's impossible to minimise
26010-419: Was built on the 2nd floor, as a complement to the observation deck. The original cinematic presentation lasted approximately 25 minutes, while the simulation was about eight minutes. The ride had two incarnations. The original version, which ran from 1994 until around 2002, featured James Doohan , Star Trek's Scotty , as the airplane's pilot who humorously tried to keep the flight under control during
26180-569: Was burned in a swamp elsewhere. Much of the other materials that made up the old hotel, including the granite and bronze, were dumped into the Atlantic Ocean near Sandy Hook , New Jersey. By the time the hotel's demolition started, Raskob had secured the required funding for the construction of the building. The plan was to start construction later that year but, on October 24, the New York Stock Exchange experienced
26350-510: Was calling it All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu . The album was released on March 23 in Canada, April 5 in the UK and April 20 in the US, with the first single "Who Are You New York?". In December 2009, Wainwright appeared with sister Martha Wainwright and mother Kate McGarrigle at the Royal Albert Hall in London, raising $ 55,000 for the Kate McGarrigle Fund, which was established in 2008 to raise awareness of sarcoma ,
26520-471: Was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from " Empire State ", the nickname of the state of New York . The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna . The Empire State Building was the world's tallest building until the first tower of the World Trade Center
26690-424: Was financed primarily by Raskob and Pierre du Pont, while James Farley 's General Builders Supply Corporation supplied the building materials. John W. Bowser was the construction superintendent of the project, and the structural engineer of the building was Homer G. Balcom. The tight completion schedule necessitated the commencement of construction even though the design had yet to be finalized. Demolition of
26860-472: Was first released as a single in digital format on the Canadian iTunes Store on March 2, 2010. In the album's opening track, "Who Are You New York?", Wainwright uses rolling arpeggios while recounting an "obsessive search for an unnamed object of desire". The song was originally written for a film, but was rejected by the movie's producers (to Wainwright's apparent relief). References to New York City in
27030-470: Was first released through Decca in Canada on March 23, 2010, followed by the United Kingdom through Polydor on April 5, the European Union on April 12, and the United States through Decca on April 20. A digipak version of the album released in the U.K. contained an alternate version of "Les feux d'artifice t'appellent" as a bonus track . Canadians that pre-ordered the album using iTunes received
27200-657: Was going to live with my father. I knew I needed an asshole to yell at me, and I felt he fitted the bill." He subsequently spent a month in a rehab facility in Minnesota. In 2003, Rufus released the full-length album Want One . Then Wainwright's album Want Two , from which four songs were released as the EP Waiting for a Want , was released by DreamWorks / Geffen on November 16, 2004. The live iTunes Sessions EP entitled Alright, Already: Live in Montréal
27370-406: Was inspired by the plans and designs of the original Empire State Building. According to a 2010 report by Concierge.com , the five lines to enter the observation decks are "as legendary as the building itself". Concierge.com stated that there were five lines: the sidewalk line, the lobby elevator line, the ticket purchase line, the second elevator line, and the line to get off the elevator and onto
27540-893: Was presented by the New York City Opera prior to the US premiere of Wainwright's opera Prima Donna at the NYCO. On March 1, 2012, Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta performed the complete song cycle in a concert at the Jane Mallett Theatre in Toronto, and has continued to perform selections regularly in recital. The song cycle was also sung by soprano Janis Kelly and mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager during concerts with Wainwright on March 9, 2014, in Sankt Pölten , Austria and June 14, 2015, in Ludwigsburg , Germany. Overall, critical reception of
27710-456: Was released in 2009, followed by the studio albums All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu (2010) and Out of the Game (2012). The double album Prima Donna (2015) was a recording of his opera of the same name . His ninth studio album, Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets (2016), featured nine adaptions of Shakespeare's sonnets . Rufus' 10th studio album, Unfollow the Rules , was released on July 20, 2020. His 11th, Folkocracy ,
27880-517: Was released on June 2, 2023. Wainwright is the son of musicians Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle , and the older brother of singer Martha Wainwright . Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck , New York, to folk singers Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III . His parents divorced when he was three, and he lived with his mother in Montreal , Canada, for most of his youth. His father
28050-511: Was released on March 15, 2005. A DVD entitled All I Want , featuring a biographical documentary, music videos, and live performances, was released internationally in 2005. That same year, Wainwright made two major contributions as a solo vocalist to a pair of records: the Mercury Prize -winning Antony and the Johnsons ' I Am a Bird Now and Burt Bacharach 's At This Time . Want One and Want Two were repackaged as Want for
28220-448: Was released through DreamWorks Records in May 1998. His second album, Poses , was released in June 2001. Wainwright's third and fourth studio albums, Want One (2003) and Want Two (2004), were repackaged as the double album Want in 2005. In 2007, Wainwright released his fifth studio album, Release the Stars , and his first live album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall . His second live album, Milwaukee at Last!!! ,
28390-413: Was sketched within two hours, the night before the plan was supposed to be presented to the site's owners in January 1930. The New York Times reported that the spire was facing some "technical problems", but they were "no greater than might be expected under such a novel plan." By this time the blueprints for the building had gone through up to fifteen versions before they were approved. Lamb described
28560-647: Was slated for an April release. A third single, "Peaceful Afternoon" , was released on digital platforms in March, with a French version, "Pièce à vivre", as a B-side. In early April, the album release was delayed until July after escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic , Wainwright stating that "The CD's and vinyl LP's of my new album Unfollow The Rules are stuck in the warehouses they had to shut down to make way for all essential businesses being able to operate at full speed", adding "You know that I am an old school guy and for me
28730-559: Was staged during the Manchester International Festival , where the first performance took place at the Palace Theatre on July 10, 2009. Reviews for the performance were mixed, with one publication suggesting Wainwright "may struggle to convince critics he is worthy of a place among the greats". Prima Donna won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Musical/Opera in June 2011. In November 2009, Wainwright announced that he had finished recording his sixth studio album, and
28900-402: Was written about River Phoenix . "Memphis Skyline" is a tribute to the late singer Jeff Buckley , whom he met briefly in the 1990s when Wainwright was an up-and-coming act. By this time, Buckley had already released his first album Grace , and was well on his way to stardom. The two met several months prior to Buckley's drowning, during a gig by Wainwright. The song references " Hallelujah ",
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