Architecture de l'Empire State Building

The Empire State Building was designed by the firm of Shreve, Lamb & Harmon Associates, led by William F. Lamb and built by Starrett Bros. & Eken. Lamb's tower went up between March 17, 1930 and May 1, 1931, a build of one year and 45 days that still stands as a record for a tower this tall.

The Empire State Building Art Deco design question has a clear answer: it is Art Deco, not Art Nouveau. You can read the style in the building's architectural features: stepped setbacks, a strong vertical line, and flat geometric patterns in metal and stone rather than the curved, floral ornament for which Art Nouveau is known. Empire State Building interior design carries the same style indoors.

The Empire State Building lobby on Fifth Avenue is an Art Deco interior built around a ceiling mural of a celestial sky, worked in 23-karat gold stars, sunbursts, and gears. Marble walls, metal detailing, and gilded elevator doors carry the same style through the rest of the interior spaces.

Artisans and historians recreated more than 12,000 feet of the Empire State Building's historic glasswork and replaced damaged marble with new stone under the ReBuilding program. The lobby ceiling alone took two years and 20,000 working hours before it was unveiled in 2009. 

Yes, the Empire State Building is a protected landmark three times over. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated it in 1981, the National Park Service named it a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and the Fifth Avenue lobby carries a separate interior designation. The American Institute of Architects also ranked it first on its list of America's Favorite Architecture in 2007.